Thank you very much, convener.
For this first session on what is, I think, a new budget scrutiny process, I thought that it might be useful to update the committee on progress with delivery of this year’s budget and its priorities. The budget is being delivered as planned. The most substantial element of the autumn budget revisions is planned transfers to Creative Scotland’s grant in aid. These comprise additional funds to offset reductions in national lottery income, as you will be aware; the first tranche of the additional investment in the screen sector; and the annual routine transfers for targeted funding, including the youth music initiative. Other portfolio budget changes are more minor and technical.
There are three main elements of my portfolio, of which the first is culture and historic environment. The cultural priorities for 2018-19 remain in place, as I indicated at the time of the draft budget proposals last December. I highlight the following.
We have increased investment in Scotland’s culture by 10 per cent, including additional funding for Creative Scotland of £6.6 million to maintain the quantum of funding in the face of decreases in national lottery income. The £10 million planned additional investment in the screen sector is under way, with the launch of Screen Scotland in August, a larger production growth fund and a new broadcast content fund, as detailed in my recent letter to the committee.
We have protected free access to Scotland’s national collections, which have seen record visitor numbers—for example, the National Galleries of Scotland has recently reached a landmark figure of more than 2.5 million visitors a year. Earlier this month, Scotland celebrated the opening of the Victoria and Albert museum in Dundee as an exciting addition to our world-class collection of museums. It received international acclaim and has been supported by a substantial Government grant in this, its opening year.
We are investing £9 million in the youth music initiative during Scotland’s year of young people. In March, I launched a report that explained the benefits that young people have received from the initiative in all 32 local authority areas.
Historic Environment Scotland is using the additional income generated by record visitor numbers to invest in the historic estate, and I am pleased to have been able to maintain HES’s external grants at £14.5 million for a further year.
The second element of my budget is tourism and major events. We are committed to increasing sustainable tourism across Scotland, and the funding priorities reflect that. We have increased our capital funding for tourism infrastructure and are spending £500,000 in the south of Scotland and a further £300,000 in Ayrshire to help those areas to develop as tourist destinations. The £3 million for the rural tourism infrastructure fund will help to deliver improvements to support sustainable growth in rural tourism hotspots.
On major events, we hosted the inaugural European championships—a new event that brought together in Scotland the championships of six major Olympic sports, including golf. That was the result of an investment of £63 million over five years, which was complemented by Glasgow City Council’s investment of £27 million. It really was a triumphant success: more than half a million people attended a range of free and ticketed events and 20 million viewers enjoyed the BBC coverage. The international coverage was really quite staggering, as I have heard from the European Broadcasting Union; it is still trying to collate all the information, but the figures were very much higher than it anticipated, so that was a great success. The fact that we in Scotland have played a key role in making the event a new and innovative highlight of the European sporting calendar reflects our capability in the events arena.
With the completion of our European championships commitment, the major events budget line will reduce substantially in 2019-20, because we have completed that major spend this year. That is something to look out for in the draft budget.
The year of young people continues to fulfil its commitment to celebrate the very best of young people through cultural and educational activities co-designed with young people, using a budget of £3.46 million over three years for programme delivery.
The third strand of my portfolio is external affairs. The key priorities for that budget remain consistent. They include consolidating our network of offices outwith Scotland, including in London, Berlin and Dublin, which are funded from the economy portfolio. They will mature and evolve as we seek to deepen our relationships and strengthen our impact in those priority locations. It is clear that, following the European championships, there is a great opportunity for us to follow through on the relationship with Berlin. As members have seen in the programme for government, the network will work to identify and create opportunities for Scotland’s cultural and creative provision, complement trade and investment, and influence activity.
We continue to play our part in addressing global challenges through our international development funding, and we seek to support the attainment of the United Nations sustainable development goals outside Scotland. That work is clearly embedded in our national performance framework as well. Our inaugural report on our contribution to international development, which was published earlier this month, sets out practical examples of how that contribution is being achieved more widely across Government.
Maintaining the Government’s key focus on migration is a priority. That focus is not just confined to my portfolio responsibilities. It is absolutely the case that our ambitious plans for Scotland cannot be delivered without growing our population and attracting a skilled and talented workforce to come here and make Scotland their home. That will be a considerable focus of our activity.
We will also take forward a range of activities to support European Union citizens who currently live here or who want to make Scotland their home. We will work with partners to develop a welcome to Scotland resource, make provision for an advice and support service for the 235,000 EU citizens who reside in Scotland during this uncertain time, and consider how best to build on the success of the we are Scotland social media campaign.
I hope that that gives members an overview of the portfolio priorities and where we are on the delivery of some of them this financial year. However, this is a new budget process, and I will be interested to know the committee’s priorities or interests in exploring how the portfolio is performing to budget.