I can confirm one thing for certain: since last week, there has been no shortage of cultural and arts organisations welcoming the proposed uplift in cultural and arts spending and making proposals for support for local organisations, as the member has just highlighted.

Of course, we already have a cultural and arts organisation—Creative Scotland—that is responsible for disbursing funding in large part, but we also have national performing companies and a range of funding streams, so I would encourage any member or party in the chamber that has particularly strong feelings about the best way in which funding can be disbursed to make their case. I am open to their suggestions about how we can ensure that we disburse the £100 million of additional funding—a doubling of the culture budget, which I hope the Scottish Liberal Democrats welcome—to ensure that it reaches all parts of the country and has a profound and positive impact on the future of the culture and arts sector.

I am keen that we work as well as we can to promote Scottish culture internationally. We have a forthcoming cultural diplomacy strategy, which will be published in full. I make it extremely clear that we should use each and every opportunity to promote Scottish culture internationally. I certainly hope and expect that the United Kingdom Government will not pursue any measures that would undermine that strategy, to the detriment of the culture sector in Scotland.

I apologise to you, Presiding Officer, and to members in the chamber that, exceptionally, owing to the change in parliamentary business timings, I will not be present at the close of the debate. I am particularly grateful for Neil Bibby’s understanding of the circumstances. Incidentally, I commend him for securing today’s debate, if not for the motion, which cannot bring itself to welcome a doubling in planned culture spending.

I fully appreciate that this is an incredibly challenging time for the sector. It has had to endure the shocks of Brexit fallout, the pandemic, the energy crisis and the mismanagement of the economy by the United Kingdom Government, which have sent prices spiralling.

From my first day in office, I have been in discussions with the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister on how the Scottish Government can best support the sector in navigating this perfect storm. I put on record my appreciation for their understanding and support.

The First Minister’s announcement last week not only responds to those pressures but signals our ambition. The Scottish Government will more than double our investment in Scotland’s art and culture by £100 million over the next five years.

That is one area in which an institute could play a really important role. I think that all parties are aware that the issue of misinformation is a live one, and that public information about it is extremely important.

A number of countries take the issue extremely seriously—not least, our Nordic and Scandinavian neighbours. We have much to learn from them. I would be very supportive of the institute playing a significant role in helping to explain—to the new generation of young voters, in particular—why misinformation is a fundamentally challenging and dangerous development. I would wish to see the institute playing a leading role in that.

I take this opportunity—at the first culture questions since the announcement—to welcome the appointment of Anne Lyden as the next director general of the National Galleries of Scotland. I am sure that, across the chamber, we wish her well.

In answer to Karen Adam’s question, our investment in culture and the arts is nationwide and our funding reflects the diverse communities across the country. The First Minister’s announcement last week is a vote of confidence in Scotland’s culture sector. The increase in funding for culture and the arts—by £100 million per year by 2029—will drive up opportunities for participation in creative pursuits, support the production of new works and ensure that Scotland’s cultural output has platforms across Scotland and abroad.

Our culture strategy makes it clear that we want everyone in Scotland to have access to cultural opportunities, regardless of where one lives. That is why we fund a range of organisations that provide access to culture in rural communities. For example, via our regular funding to Creative Scotland, we support 12 organisations across the Highlands and Islands, including Atlas Arts on Skye and the Highland Print Studio in Inverness.

Ms Burgess is right to highlight the importance of ensuring that our increased arts and culture budget is distributed in a way that benefits all communities in Scotland and supports the resilience of cultural organisations in rural areas. Although decisions on how the additional budget will be allocated will be subject to the budget process, I assure members that that will be taken fully into account.

I will begin by saying how sorry I was to learn about the death of Donald Cameron of Lochiel. I extend condolences via Alexander Stewart to his colleague Donald Cameron MSP, who is not in his place today for very obvious reasons, and to Donald Cameron’s family at this sad time.

In answer to Alexander Stewart’s question, I give him an absolute guarantee that all organisations and agencies that work in the cultural sector that are funded by and work with the Scottish Government are seized of any particular problems that are being faced in venues or organisations. As we know, there have been extraordinary pressures—I do not need to list the number of organisations in Scotland or elsewhere in the United Kingdom that have been feeling those pressures—and I encourage any member who is aware of any distress, financial or otherwise, that is being felt by organisations to ensure that there can be timeous intervention so that we maintain and support cultural infrastructure the length and breadth of Scotland.

I declare an interest as a past career journalist and as a past long-standing member of the National Union of Journalists.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the sustainability of the public interest journalism sector. A free independent press is the bedrock of every well-functioning democracy, and local news publications play a crucial role by empowering and informing communities and by holding institutions to account.

In January 2021, the Scottish Government set up the public interest journalism working group, which published recommendations later that year. We responded in June 2022, and, following that, we convened a round table at which a steering group, independent of Government, was formed to progress work towards a strong and sustainable future for the sector.

I pay tribute to Martin Whitfield, who has been a doughty campaigner for Lammermuir Festival. He is right to acknowledge that we have been in correspondence about the matter. It will be no surprise to him that I repeat the point—which I have made a number of times during this question session—that financial decisions by Creative Scotland in relation to specific organisations or events are for Creative Scotland, and it is not for Government ministers to be directly involved in them.

That said, Martin Whitfield is absolutely right to point out—although I am not sure whether he was welcoming it—that the Scottish Government is proposing to double the culture budget. That should be hugely welcome in all corners. I encourage Lammermuir Festival and all others that are in such circumstances to make clear their plans, hopes and aspirations to Creative Scotland for forthcoming funding decisions.