I am saddened to hear about the temporary closure of the People’s Story museum, which tells the important history of the lives of ordinary working people in Edinburgh, and I hope that it reopens as a priority. I also recognise the challenges that Scotland’s museums face, which is why we are continuing to support the sector with £2.7 million of funds in 2024-25 to Museums Galleries Scotland, Scotland’s national museums and galleries development body. I urge the City of Edinburgh Council to continue discussions with key stakeholders, including Museums Galleries Scotland, to see whether there is a way forward.

I am very much in favour of providing budget clarity to everybody in the culture sector, but I am sure that Mr Stewart would agree that that happens as part of the budgetary process. As soon as we have been able to go through the budget, I hope that we will be on the way to continuing to increase culture spending in Scotland to that annual target of an additional £100 million by 2028-29.

That is subject to normal budgetary processes and would support the introduction of—among other things, and it is very important to the sector—multiyear funding for organisations and venues the length and breadth of the country.

I hope that the Government will have the support of all parties and all members for the budget process and for the vote on the budget.

It is important to understand the trends in culture spending both in Scotland and in the rest of the United Kingdom. There has been a reduction in the culture budget for England this year, with a similar approach from the Welsh Government, whereas, in Scotland, this year we have committed £15.8 million more for 2024-25. That is the first stage in our commitment to an additional £100 million annually by 2028-29. I believe that I am right in saying that that would constitute the biggest-ever increase in culture funding since the beginning of devolution.

I thank Neil Bibby for his question. That reflects a view across the chamber that there should be a review of Creative Scotland’s future operations. There has not been any such inquiry since 2010. We are currently considering the modalities of the review, and I want it to take place as soon as possible. I will not be sitting at the head of it—I can assure him of that. If Neil Bibby has any suggestions as to people whom he thinks are best qualified to lead such a review, I would be grateful to hear them. Nobody has been ruled out and nobody has been ruled in. If he thinks that there are people who are well qualified to do it, I would be keen to hear from him.

The value of the international offices has been borne out over the years. We should not forget their genesis. The first international office, in Brussels, was hosted by the then Conservative UK Government and then by the Scottish Executive. It is now hosted by the Scottish Government, and additional offices have been added to the network. Those are civil service-staffed offices—sadly, they are not embassies but representative offices—similar to those that are operated by Quebec, Flanders, the German Länder and many others internationally.

Clare Adamson’s point about the value that they provide in the promotion of Scotland and the securing of inward investment and jobs is something that everybody in this Parliament should get behind. They do tremendous work, and it would be helpful if colleagues from all parties took the opportunity to commend them for their efforts.

I do not think that things are formatted in that way, but I am happy to write to Mr Mountain to point out where all the figures are listed. I am sure that he was not trying to suggest that, when I travel internationally, I am supported by a delegation of 23 members of staff on any individual visit. I am not.

I am responsible not only for the visits that I undertake but for the visits that colleagues across Government undertake. I make absolutely no apology for Scottish Government ministers travelling internationally to promote inward investment, jobs, tourism and education—and, yes, that costs. I note for the Official Report that Mr Mountain is making a money sign. Yes, it costs to travel, and that is worthwhile. That is why every other Government in the world does it, and that is why the Scottish Government does it. Investment depends on it, jobs depend on it and our international relations depend on it. It provides value for money, and I am sorry that Mr Mountain cannot get behind it.

I totally agree on the importance of Burns night and the opportunity to celebrate it domestically and internationally. I think that Mr Smyth is aware that I wrote an open letter to the culture sector in relation to festivals, and I will see whether I have been contacted by the festival that he has named. If he wishes to forward to me any correspondence that he has on that, I will look closely at it.

A stakeholder meeting in relation to the festivals partnership was held this week, at which the issue of winter festivals was a subject of discussion. I give a commitment to the member that I view the issue as important. Whether it be in relation to the event that he has mentioned or any other event that could benefit from consideration with regard to support for festivals, I would be pleased if constituency members and others raised issues with me directly.

The Scottish Government maintains a £1 million per year humanitarian emergency fund to respond to humanitarian crises globally. Decisions on which emergencies to activate the fund for are based on the recommendations of a panel of eight leading humanitarian non-governmental organisations in Scotland.

As yet, we have not received a request from the humanitarian emergency fund panel to activate the fund in relation to the Lebanon crisis. However, we are extremely concerned about the rapidly increasing violence in the middle east, the high level of civilian casualties and the catastrophic humanitarian situation. We continue to call for an immediate ceasefire on all sides and an increase in the level of humanitarian aid.

I thank Alex Rowley for his encouragement to try to do as much as we can. He is absolutely right that we are limited—sadly, we are not responsible for foreign affairs. We are responsible for our external relations, especially in relation to our devolved functions. We have an international development policy as well as a humanitarian policy, and I have tried to explain the mechanics of how that works. I have not yet had a call in that respect in relation to Lebanon, but it might well come. The situation has been developing in recent weeks; perhaps such a call will be made in the weeks to come, and I will look very closely at that.

The most important thing that can boost people’s confidence is delivery of the commitments that have been made. The commitment that has been made is to an uplift in culture funding, which will be cumulative and will top £100 million of annual increase by 2028-29. This is the first year of that increase, and more than £15 million of the additional £100 million has been disbursed already. As you would expect in the run-up to a budget, I am very involved in discussions internally with Scottish Government colleagues, but I also had discussions last week with Creative Scotland at senior management level to discuss how we can ensure that we are able to deliver the maximum amount of money that we can, as part of that uplift towards the £100 million.

That is no abstract thing, and it is not just a matter of confidence either, although confidence is really important. I acknowledge that. Would people wish it to happen more quickly? Absolutely. I, too, wish it to be as quick as possible, but a very important opportunity that is coming soon, and which I think will profoundly improve much of the culture and arts sector in Scotland, is the delivery of multiyear funding. I appreciate that everybody on the committee will know what that is, but not everybody who watches your deliberations might. It will change the way in which cultural organisations are funded. At present, they have clarity for only one financial year, but in the future they will have clarity for a number of years, which will mean that they can get on with their core task, which is cultural and artistic in nature, rather than financial and bureaucratic.

Creative Scotland has been working very hard behind the scenes as part of a significant change programme to deliver that multiyear funding, which has been supported by the Scottish Government. It was a proposal of my party and is now being delivered. In fact, I think that I am right in saying that Scotland is going to be the first part of the United Kingdom to introduce multiyear funding to our culture and creative sector.

It is a really big change programme, and it will be beneficial. At present, there are just over 100 regularly funded organisations being funded by Creative Scotland. In the last round, it had more than 250 cultural organisations applying for multiyear funding; I would like the maximum number of artistic organisations to receive that funding; if the figure is anything close to that, it will be more than double the number of Scottish cultural organisations that receive multiyear funding.

As committee members will appreciate, there is a huge prize to be delivered if we can secure the increase in funding. However, it is dependent on our having the resources, which is why we are waiting for the UK Government budget. I will try to be as persuasive as I can with Scottish Government colleagues through the budget process, but I also think that members will have heard the First Minister’s answer to a question last week from Foysol Choudhury about support for culture. I know that the First Minister is very seized not only of the opportunity arising from, but the responsibility for, funding the culture sector.

If we can get all the planets in alignment, as I believe we can, we will see a transformation of funding. By that I mean not just the headline number for culture, but how we are doing it. I think that what we do will be profoundly positive for the arts and culture sector. I appreciate, though, that when there has been so much concern about funding and so much existential challenge to a lot of venues and organisations, people will believe it when they see it. They are right to have that feeling, but they can have some confidence, given that we have already begun the uplift in culture funding this year.