European and External Relations Committee, 28 Feb 2006

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Official Report 209KB pdf

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G8 and Council of the European Union Presidencies Inquiry (Executive Response)

I am glad to see that we still have the same minister, but flanked by two different officials. Item 2 follows up the committee's inquiry report last year on the G8 summit and the UK presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the Executive's response to that report. Members will be aware of the post-event impact study that was commissioned from consultants by the Executive, on the costs and benefits to Scotland of having hosted the G8 summit. Paper 2 contains a summary that has been provided by the Executive of the figures for the various costs before and after the summit, along with a summary of the inquiry report's recommendations, the Executive's response and a copy of a letter from the minister on meeting the costs that were incurred by Scottish public bodies. I ask the minister to introduce his team and to make an opening statement before we move to questions.

I am joined this afternoon by Ian Donaldson and John Ireland. I wish to take a few moments to put into context our view of the G8 summit, and I thank the committee for the welcome opportunity to do so. We regarded it as a considerable honour for Scotland to be chosen to host the G8 summit. It gave us an opportunity—which we took—to promote our country around the globe. A primary objective for the Scottish Executive's activity around the summit was to ensure that, in hosting the meeting, Scotland took full advantage of the promotional opportunities. In line with the aims of the Executive's international strategy, we wanted to promote two key areas: first, we wanted to promote Scottish policy perspectives, demonstrating that Scottish people and organisations are actively engaged in helping to meet the global challenges that the summit would tackle; and secondly, we wanted to promote Scotland as a great place to live, work, study and do business.

I welcomed the committee's inquiry into the Scottish Executive's preparations for the G8 summit and the contribution that Scotland could make to the event. The convener has referred to my letter to the committee of 16 June 2005, responding to the inquiry's recommendations. I will write to the committee in the near future to update it on the Executive's response to those recommendations.

The Executive undertook a series of initiatives to project its two key areas and to attract and sustain the interest of journalists, delegates and the many other people who attended events around the summit. Those initiatives included the installation at the entrance to the media centre at Gleneagles of the Scotland village, which contained zones that were sponsored by the Executive, VisitScotland, Scottish Development International and Diageo. The screen machine, which is a fully fitted travelling cinema, was installed at the Gleneagles media centre and screened examples of the best of Scottish film and films about Scotland. Journalists visiting the Scotland village were each given a specially created DVD showcasing Scottish business, tourism, education and other sectors.

On the first night of the summit at Gleneagles, the First Minister hosted a media reception, which featured Scottish music and food. At the end of the summit, the First Minister hosted a dinner for some of the most senior outreach leaders, including Kofi Annan and Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa, to discuss ways in which Scotland could contribute to international development challenges.

When Scotland secured the G8 summit, we said that we would commission an independent economic report to assess the full economic benefits. We published the report, which was done by SQW and was entitled "Economic Impact of hosting the 2005 G8 Summit at Gleneagles", on 14 December. It is available from the Scottish Parliament information centre and on the Scottish Executive's website. I will deal with the report in more detail later.

It is important that I emphasise that Scottish local authorities, health boards and police forces that submitted costs for additional expenditure associated with the summit have been fully reimbursed by the Executive for the agreed additional expenditure. The policing of the G8 summit was a first-class police and security operation that underlines once again that Scotland is a great location for world-class events. I believe that we are well placed to capitalise on the way in which we dealt with the summit.

The Scottish police service has received glowing praise from Governments and law enforcement agencies around the world for its exemplary handling of security for the summit and associated events. Given that responsibility for law and order and policing is devolved to the Scottish Administration, it is only right that the Scottish Executive was responsible for the bulk of the cost of the policing operation. The UK Government provided £20 million towards meeting the total policing cost of £71.9 million.

I have already mentioned the SQW report on the G8 summit. It is a comprehensive piece of work that examines in detail the benefits and costs of Scotland's hosting of the summit and associated events such as Live 8 and the make poverty history march. I draw the committee's attention to a number of the report's main findings. The net cost to the Executive of the summit was about £60 million, but additional spending directly associated with it was worth almost £65 million to the Scottish economy. The value of the worldwide media coverage at the time of the G8 has been calculated to be more than £66 million, but the most important impacts of Scotland's holding of the summit will occur over the next few years as the country's higher profile during the event takes effect and is used to create new economic opportunities. In summary, the G8 summit was an unprecedented event that focused the eyes of the world on Scotland. We took advantage of that and will reap the rewards for years to come.

I will do my best to answer any questions.

I have just one question, which is about what you have just said. One of the conclusions of the SQW report is that Scotland will feel the benefit of having hosted the G8 summit only in the next few years, as the country's higher profile takes effect. Must we simply accept that Scotland will benefit or can that benefit be tracked?

There may be some indicators on that; for example, we are experiencing an unprecedented rise in the number of visitors to Scotland. Although people are reluctant to link that to events such as the G8 summit, in my view it is not unreasonable to assume that the coverage that our country got at that time—which was, in the main, extremely positive—at least has something to do with it. VisitScotland is confident that the exposure that we received in the summer will result in a continuing upward trend in the number of visitors to Scotland, with all the associated economic benefits that that brings.

I have some experience of that phenomenon. Through the sampling of visitors, the tourism authorities in Glasgow have been able to track follow-up visits resulting from the city's hosting of the UEFA champions league final between a Spanish football team and a German team in 2002. Although it was mainly individual males who attended that event, Spanish and German families have visited Glasgow in subsequent years because one member of the family had been there for the football match, had received a warm welcome and wanted to come back to experience the city's wider tourism assets. In the tourism industry, it is well established that a big event can give people a reason to come to a country and there are means of tracking the ensuing repeat visits.

Do you intend to conduct sampling through VisitScotland?

VisitScotland does such work as a matter of course and is doing it in ever greater volumes. That reflects the success that we are enjoying in attracting large numbers of visitors to our country.

You said that spending that was directly associated with the G8 was worth £65 million and that worldwide media coverage at the time of the summit had a value of £66 million, but in your letter to the committee of 11 January this year, you said:

"the report estimated the longer-term pattern of coverage to be £618 million over the six months up to and including the Summit despite the inevitable impact of the London terror attacks".

That is publicity that we could not buy—or rather, we could buy it, but it would cost us £618 million to do so. Will you or one of your officials explain how that figure was arrived at? In addition, if any of the coverage from other G8 countries or from African countries has been compiled, perhaps you could share the material with us, perhaps by placing it in the Scottish Parliament information centre. That would give us a feel for the amount of publicity that Scotland was given elsewhere.

Our assessment is that we have done very well indeed. At the very least, our level of success is comparable with that of other countries that have held similar summits in the past.

We felt that we were perfectly entitled to present the figure of £618 million in the report, but we also made it clear that that was an extrapolation from the methodology that was applied to the Sea Island summit. We did not want to mislead people unduly.

You were correct to point out the magnificent way that the police handled the G8. That sets a good image for Scotland and perhaps the wider UK, given that the Scottish police forces relied to a large extent on back-up from other UK police forces. Is that correct?

Very much so. Our heritage and history is such that Scotland has taught the world a great many important things. Law enforcement agencies around the world will see the approach that the Scottish police took to that event. The methods that they applied proved to be highly successful. They expressed in advance great reluctance to use equipment such as water cannons; they managed to avoid using such equipment and thus avoided the distressing scenes that go along with its use. Our Scottish police demonstrated outstanding professionalism. That they managed to do that over the course of the summit in spite of the tragic events that took place south of the border reinforces further how well we are served by our police forces, and the professionalism that exists within them.

Glasgow and Scotland are making a bid for the Commonwealth games in 2014. Will that good image serve us well in the case that we present for hosting those games?

It cannot do us any harm. If our country portrays itself in that manner, backed up by some of the stunning images of the country that were relayed around the world, it can only contribute positively to that case.

You referred to the advantages that the publicity gained us at the time of the G8, and to the longer-term impact. However, as we all recollect, memories can be short. The G8 did not quite equate with the UEFA champions league final in Glasgow to which Mr Gordon referred, because 100,000 individuals came to that whereas the G8 was attended principally by world leaders. How do we keep the spotlight on the advantages that we have gained from highlighting Scotland during the G8 summit? How do we remind people of Scotland's success and the beauty of Scotland that provided the setting for the summit?

We can do that in a variety of ways. We can do it through the work that VisitScotland does through its offices around the world and we can do it through the work of the Scottish ministers. For instance, we will in the near future again attend the tartan week celebrations in the United States. Over seven days, we will use that opportunity to promote the best aspects of our country—not only our tradition and scenery, but our world-class reputation in life-science research and our expanding activity and professionalism in financial services.

As we go around the world, we will take all such opportunities to reinforce the messages that have already been sent. We accept that promoting Scotland is not a one-hit job; it must be refreshed and sustained if we are to make maximum use of the advantage that we gained from the exposure during the G8 summit.

The Scottish Executive acknowledges that it is learning all the time—we are at the start of a process. However, more and more people in our country recognise that devolution has brought about a renewed confidence about Scotland and it is our job to capitalise on that. It is not solely the Scottish Executive's job—we are assisted by the parliamentarians who inhabit the Scottish Parliament. The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, for example, runs many visits and engagements, and many trips are undertaken on behalf of committees. Such events should be used to reinforce messages about the positive things that our country has given to the world and the opportunities that we have to make equally positive contributions in the future.

That is the overarching umbrella approach, but when we promote ourselves in the future, will we remind people that the organisation of the G8 summit was a great success, even though not everyone thought that the summit had a successful outcome? Jim Wallace mentioned the events in London that overshadowed the summit. However, the hosting of the G8 summit was a successful gamble for Scotland and we should remind people of that time and again.

You are right. We have hosted a number of international events. Mr Gordon referred to a football event in Glasgow and we have hosted the MTV music awards and the G8 summit. Those successes have a cumulative effect and reinforce the impression that Scotland can handle major events and that people welcome the chance to visit Scotland to attend major events. The more we build on that reputation, the more successful we will be in the future. Mr Donaldson might add to that.

VisitScotland has detailed plans to use the G8 summit as a gold-plated case study of Scotland's ability to host high-profile and high-security events. The summit will be mentioned in press releases and media briefings that are put out through public relations agencies not just in the United Kingdom but in North America, Germany and other key markets. VisitScotland will target the general media as well as the travel media and will mention the summit in printed material that it produces, such as guides to arranging travel to Scotland.

I am pleased to hear that.

I am departing slightly from the agenda item, but I want to ask about the other side of G8 and what the summit was supposed to achieve for the underdeveloped world, in particular for Africa. I was not a member of the European and External Relations Committee when it produced its report on the preparations for the G8 summit and the contribution that Scotland could make, but I want to ask about three matters about which the Executive responded positively when it responded to the report in June: first, the extent to which the experience of the G8 summit could inform the Executive's development strategy for Malawi; secondly, the committee's recommendation that Scotland set out on the road to becoming a fair trade nation; and thirdly, the committee's recommendation that the Executive use the G8 agenda on Africa and climate change to promote educational opportunities in Scotland. Such educational work would benefit Scotland and enable Scotland to bring benefits to other parts of the world. How have those matters been progressed since June?

We continue to build on the links that we have established with Malawi and we try to do all that we can do to make a positive contribution to that country's development. There have been visits and other contact since June. Discussions that took place not just at the G8 summit but among other leaders who visited Scotland—I mentioned a couple of leaders who met the First Minister immediately after the summit—have contributed to our thinking about how we can best engage with and contribute to parts of the world that face major challenges, in particular Malawi.

We made a commitment to do all that we can do to expand fair trade schemes. As a result, a number of parliamentarians were inspired to become more involved in the fair trade movement—such matters are not solely for the Executive to address. Since G8, a number of MSPs have taken an interest in promoting fair trade schemes locally by linking with schools and other organisations and by adding their weight to local campaigns to establish fair trade towns. All of that was given an added boost as a result of what went on during the G8 summit and the lessons that we learned from it.

There was a high level of involvement of school children in the summit. At the time, packs were produced and circulated to all Scottish schools to raise awareness of the issues that were to be discussed during the summit, and of the conditions that people who are far less fortunate than us experience. The aim was to ensure that, as our children grow and mature, they understand the problems in other parts of the world and empathise with people there. Progress was certainly made on those matters and there is no indication that the Scottish Executive wants to do anything other than continue to make progress.

Members will remember that, in the near future, Patricia Ferguson will talk to the committee about progress on the international development strategy. I am sure that she will expand on the points that the minister has just made.

I have one observation for the minister. We have congratulated the police and others on the handling of the summit. Does the minister agree that, although every nation has its idiots—particularly the so-called supporters in sport who are not real supporters—the people of Scotland came shining through during the summit, particularly in respect of how they conducted themselves during the march in Edinburgh? Is not that another thing that we can boast about?

We entered the summit with considerable confidence on several matters, one of which was how people in Scotland would react to the issues that were discussed, and exercise their legitimate right to make their views known. In 99.99 per cent of cases, people were exemplars and showed that they respect law and order and other people's right to peaceful existence. They wanted to exercise their right to make a point, which they did very well. I am sure that that 99.99 per cent of the Scottish population cannot see how people running along a street in Auchterarder or Stirling and smashing a car window contributes to the alleviation of poverty in the less-advantaged parts of the world. There is a good understanding of that issue in Scotland. As a nation, we came out of the event with considerable credit.

We will end on that positive note. I thank the minister and his officials for coming along to discuss the issue.