The Committee is undertaking pre-budget scrutiny of the culture spending portfolio ahead of the publication of the Scottish Government’s Budget.

The Committee will hear from individuals, groups and businesses involved with and operating in the culture sector. These views will help the Committee to make recommendations to the Scottish Government ahead of its Budget for 2026-27.

The Committee agreed to take a cumulative approach to budget scrutiny over Session 6.

Some of the issues that have emerged over the course of the current session of Parliament include:

• Funding challenges for the culture sector, contributed to by long-term budget pressures, reduced income generation, and increased operating costs
• Sectoral confidence, and the need for greater clarity regarding future funding
• Multi-year funding outlooks
• Preventative spending, mainstreaming culture and cross-portfolio funding for culture, and the potential for culture spending to progress other Scottish Government priorities such as health and wellbeing
• Strategic approaches to culture spending, which maximise the impact of increased funding and support the long-term resilience and stability of the sector
• Alternative funding models and the opportunities presented by such models for additional support for the culture sector