The increased costs to the sector introduced by the United Kingdom Labour Government could lead to a reduction in employment, wages or services. The Scottish Government is committed to investing at least £100 million more annually in culture and the arts by 2028-29. It is disappointing that the UK Government has chosen to erode the benefits of that. We are clear that it should have asked the people with the broadest shoulders to contribute more, not tried to balance its budget on the back of cultural organisations, charities and the health service.

I recognise that the sector is hugely concerned about public funding for culture and about what the immediate and longer-term futures hold. It is not right that those organisations should be disadvantaged by the UK Government’s policy change. There is significant uncertainty about whether the UK Government will adequately and properly cover the costs of the changes to national insurance contributions. That will be the subject of detailed discussions between the Scottish and UK Governments as we proceed with our budget steps.

Public libraries are devolved to local authorities, which have a statutory duty to secure the provision of adequate library facilities in their area.

We encourage library usage through our support for the Scottish Library and Information Council. That support includes £450,000 for the public library improvement fund, which supports creative, sustainable and innovative public library projects throughout Scotland and is on top of our general revenue funding to local authorities.

First, on local government finance, I am sure that Mr Fraser will be listening closely to the budget statement later this afternoon.

I am open to all suggestions about ensuring that Scotland—a country of libraries—can maintain the level of service that the public support. I appreciate that there are cost pressures in local government and that there are challenges, particularly in rural areas. I have given Alex Rowley an undertaking that I will look at the issue, and I will happily share my response to him with Murdo Fraser.

I understand that a review has been undertaken in Perth and Kinross. No doubt, Mr Fraser has made a submission to that—given how important the issue is, I am sure that he will have done so. If he forwards that submission to me so that I can understand better the challenges in Perth and Kinross, I will look closely at that.

I give Alexander Stewart the assurance that, particularly at this time of year, a lot of thought goes into ensuring that we maximise funding. As members would expect, as the culture secretary, I have impressed on colleagues why it is important to have the appropriate funding in place. Our conversations with funding bodies such as Creative Scotland and with the national performing companies, which I met earlier today, revolve extensively around the best use of taxpayers’ money to ensure that we support culture and the arts in the best way possible. If Alexander Stewart has any views in that regard, I urge him to feed them into the Creative Scotland review process, and I am sure that they will be taken very seriously.

I strongly urge Ariane Burgess to remain where she is and wait for the budget. I am sure that she will hear much more about the subject.

In passing, I put on the record my appreciation to Findhorn Bay Arts and many of the arts and cultural organisations that emanate from the Universal hall and Findhorn more generally. Speaking as a former member of Parliament for Moray, I know how talented the arts organisations that are based there are.

I am a big fan of community arts projects, but I would be in breach of protocol if I gave previews of what is in the budget. I encourage Ariane Burgess to remain in her seat to listen to the details later.

Gordon MacDonald is absolutely right to highlight the fact that the UK Labour Government is cutting revenue funding through the DCMS for the culture sector in England. It is worth noting that the Labour Government in Wales is also cutting culture funding, whereas spending in Scotland is up.

I assure Mr MacDonald that I am committed to supporting arts and culture in the community. I know at first hand how important that is. After the publication of the Scottish budget this afternoon, I will be happy to set out in more detail how we will continue to support community arts.

The review of Creative Scotland is a necessary part of a wider piece of work to maximise the impact of public funding. Our belief is that public sector funding should lever in wider societal benefits, such as the promotion of fair work, to support the development of a sustainable and successful wellbeing economy that is fair, green and growing over the long term.

The fair work task force is due to present its recommendations in June 2025. That will allow them to be considered during the review.

We are talking about the UK Government’s announcement on national insurance contributions, and Pam Gosal is absolutely right to highlight that the changes will have an impact on the third sector and on culture and the arts. Through our communications with the UK Government, we will do everything to stress that it is for it to ameliorate the problems. The Scottish Government’s job is not to make good on bad decisions by the UK Government but to use our powers in devolved areas of responsibility to deliver certainty and growth. We will try to do that as much as we can, but, given how detrimental the UK Government’s decision on national insurance contributions will be, we will have to persuade it to make good on its damaging decision.

Since brand Scotland was established by the Scottish Government in 2018, it has gone from strength to strength and has evolved into a multi-award-winning nation brand. The cross-organisational partnership continues to play an instrumental role in improving Scotland’s positive reputation abroad by building and maintaining strong relationships with other nations and attracting people to Scotland to live, work, study and do business.

I extend my congratulations to the teams working across the brand Scotland partnership on winning five awards this year, the most recent of which was at the City Nation Place global awards 2024, in which the partnership achieved the best communication strategy award.