Since the previous external affairs questions, the United Nations has concluded its review of the report of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which has delivered aid in Gaza for the Scottish Government. Germany is now resuming aid through UNRWA, joining the European Union and many others. We wish to put on record that we call on the United Kingdom Government to follow the lead of Germany and help the people of Gaza.

In answer to Maurice Golden’s question, our culture strategy sets out our ambition for culture to thrive across Scotland. We have supported a range of initiatives in the north-east of Scotland, including the North East Culture Collective. One of the projects in the programme has supported creative practitioners to work with young people who are experiencing homelessness to co-design a safe space to enable them to feel connected to their community.

In addition, through funding to Creative Scotland, we support organisations such as Hospitalfield in Angus, Creative Dundee, Deveron Projects and Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Aberdeenshire, to name but a few.

As Beatrice Wishart knows, there is no quick fix for the challenges that lead to depopulation. However, the action plan to address depopulation sets out how we will work with regional, local and community partners to ensure that we collectively deliver a sustainable solution to those challenges.

Beatrice Wishart is absolutely right to point to the role that the census and census data can play in our understanding of differences in population and other important information that can steer local and national decision making. There is the possibility that the data might be updated not just every 10 years but in between.

I refer to what I said in response to Jamie Halcro Johnston’s question. I extend to Beatrice Wishart the opportunity to speak to those who compiled and worked on the most recent census to better understand what we can learn from it and the ways in which it is compiled now and will be going into the future. I am sure that it will be of significant benefit to her constituents in Shetland.

As Colin Smyth knows, I am very committed to supporting festivals right across Scotland. We have such fantastic festivals—they one of the jewels of our creative sector. I have already outlined the significant support that has been extended to festivals in Dumfries and Galloway.

Colin Smyth raises some concerns, which I am sure that Creative Scotland will have heard. He is well aware that Creative Scotland is an arm’s-length organisation and that it is beyond governmental decisions whether to support one festival or project or another—that is for Creative Scotland to determine. I will make sure that, when I next meet Creative Scotland, I draw its attention to the specific questions that he has asked about festivals in Dumfries and Galloway.

It is the view of the Scottish Government that creative professionals should be added to the list of visa-exempt business travellers that are already contained in the EU-UK trade and co-operation agreement. That could be easily done through the review clauses of the TCA.

Scottish Government ministers and officials have regular discussions with their UK Government counterparts to make the case for an agreement to minimise all those barriers and for that issue to be raised with the European Commission. As set out in our international culture strategy, we will continue to push the UK Government to negotiate such an agreement and, incidentally, to rejoin creative Europe.

Of course, the Scottish Government wishes to see an independent Scotland rejoin the European Union, allowing touring artists to benefit once again from freedom of movement. Our recent paper, “Culture in an independent Scotland”, sets out our priorities for that to come about.

First, conversations and discussions between the Scottish Government and important festivals, including the Edinburgh festival fringe, are on-going and constant. The fringe is a jewel in our cultural crown—I say that as cabinet secretary for culture, but also in my capacity as a member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh Central. We need to work through the indubitable challenges across the creative and arts sectors; we will do that in partnership with the Edinburgh festival fringe and others.

Secondly, I observe that one of the particular challenges that we have with touring artists—that was the second part of the member’s question—is the difficulty, particularly for younger, less experienced people, of breaking through in the cultural and arts sector. Last week, we had a proposal from the European Commission that would have restored the ability of young people, including artists, to tour without any difficulty right across the European Union. Unfortunately, the first to decline that proposal was the UK Labour Party—incidentally, a party whose front-bench members are not even hearing culture questions today—and the second to decline it was the UK Government. That is extremely disappointing.

I commend Maurice Golden for his long-standing advocacy and Dundee for the flexibility and innovation that it has shown throughout the transformation of the city. That is affirmed in the designation of Dundee as the first and only United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization city of design in the United Kingdom.

The Scottish Government has invested £38 million in the construction of the world-class V&A museum of design as a focal point for the regeneration of the city’s waterfront. We continue our support through annual funding, which helps Dundee to develop a sense of place and a culture of innovation. I have no doubt that that innovative approach will continue as Dundee looks to maximise the opportunities that arise as the Eden Project develops in the city.

Jamie Halcro Johnston is absolutely right to draw attention to the importance of census data to the delivery of public services throughout Scotland, including the north of Scotland and the northern isles, which I know are very close to his heart.

There was a change in the latest census through the inclusion of what is known as administrative data, which allows for greater granularity, using huge data sets that are held throughout Scotland’s public services. I know that that will be of great interest to Jamie Halcro Johnston and other colleagues.

I have said to National Records of Scotland that, when the next tranche of information is released, there should be a meeting for MSPs from across the chamber so that they can understand how that works and raise any needs, interests, concerns and expectations that they might have, so that everyone can have confidence that the census data is as useful as Jamie Halcro Johnston knows it to be and about what lessons need to be learned about the conduct of future censuses and the use of administrative data.

Details of all ministerial engagements are proactively published by the Scottish Government, as per section 9.17 of the ministerial code. Final cost details from the recent attendance at tartan week in the United States are still being finalised. I will write to the member with those details as soon as they are available.

Tartan week was a tremendous opportunity to promote Scotland as an excellent place to live, work, study, visit, invest and do business in. I am particularly grateful to the tartan week organisers in the United States and to the Scottish Government office in the United States, Scottish Development International, VisitScotland and all participants for ensuring that tartan week was such a success.

It is disappointing that Edward Mountain just read out the supplementary that he had prepared before arriving in the chamber and listening to the answer that I gave him—

I did answer the question—[Interruption.] As I said to Mr Mountain—if he will give me the opportunity to answer the question yet again—details of all international trips are, as he knows, published regularly by the Scottish Government.

As I have made clear—[Interruption.] Mr Mountain can huff and puff as much as he likes, but it is simply a statement of fact that, given that I returned from tartan week only recently, the latest travel information has not been finally compiled. As soon as it has been, it will be published, and I have said that we will forward it to the member. That is an entirely reasonable answer to an entirely reasonable question. I am sure that the member would not wish me to pluck numbers from the sky and answer questions without having the facts, which have not yet been compiled.