I will be helpful in amplifying Willie Rennie’s point. I suggest that anybody who is interested in the point that he is making should visit www.scotland.org, which is the portal that shows how Scotland is promoted internationally. Yes, it is about heritage and where people have come from, but it is also about cutting-edge technology, culture, education and all the other things that he is right to mention. Scotland is many things to many different people, and we will do our best to ensure that we speak to them all.

I am pleased and honoured to move the motion in my name. It is an honour and a privilege to launch this debate on the Scottish connections framework, Scotland’s new approach to diaspora engagement.

The opening line in the “Scottish Connections Framework” states:

“Scotland’s diaspora is an extension of Scotland itself—our living bridge with people, organisations and communities around the world.”

Today, I will explain how the Scottish Government will bring reality to that pledge. I will give the background to that important work, explain why we plan to redouble our efforts to engage Scotland’s diaspora and set out some proposals.

I hope that the ambitions set out in our framework are welcomed across the chamber. I was delighted to see colleagues from the Scottish and United Kingdom Parliaments attend tartan week in New York this year, which shows support for engaging Scotland’s diaspora.

This Government pledged to expand our connections with the diaspora in the programme for government 2021-22. Given the amount of diaspora activity already undertaken by other Governments, and by members of the diaspora, we commissioned independent research to shape our approach and to learn from others. Both pieces of research are available on www.gov.scot. The research underpinned the “Scottish Connections Framework”, and I am grateful to all the researchers for their work.

The research suggested that upwards of 40 million people consider themselves to have Scottish heritage. Many represent Scotland in their own ways, from organising St Andrew’s societies, Burns suppers and Highland games to teaching traditional dance or the Gaelic language.

Scots have long travelled the world, which is evident in place names such as Neu Schottland or Nowe Szkoty in Poland and its namesakes in Nueva Escocia in Argentina and Nova Scotia in Canada. They travelled for different reasons: as traders, economic migrants or victims of the Highland clearances, or simply to make a better life for their families. Many were also part of Britain’s imperial adventures, including the transatlantic slave trade. We have committed to being open and to learning from less comfortable chapters in our history while embracing those who descend from those times.

Thousands of Scots migrated to countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, seeking better opportunities. Many families in Scotland therefore have links to those countries today.

More than 5 million Americans claim Scottish heritage. The Scottish Government’s office in Washington DC and Scottish Development International offices across the country collaborate with our trade envoys and GlobalScots to increase trade and investment between our two countries. They also work closely with a range of US-based organisations, such as the New York Caledonian Club, the American-Scottish Foundation, the Saint Andrew’s Society of the State of New York and the Clan Campbell Society, to deliver a spectacular and growing series of events at tartan week. Tartan week draws huge crowds, providing a platform for Scottish business, higher education, culture and tourism to be showcased to many Americans.

Canada’s 2021 census confirmed that 4.4 million Canadians claim Scottish descent. Our Ottawa office engages Canadian Scots across the country, from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia via Toronto and Montreal to Whitehorse, Yukon, on the edge of the Arctic. More than a quarter of Nova Scotians claim Scottish heritage, and many of them speak Gaelic and regularly celebrate Scotland’s culture. The province also dedicates two weeks of the year to Celtic Colours, a festival that took inspiration from Celtic Connections in Glasgow, which lets Scottish artists bring their talents to new audiences while supporting our own indigenous language.

More than 2 million Australians identify as having Scottish ancestry, as do many New Zealanders. I was delighted to receive the proposal from my colleague Stuart McMillan MSP that we promote Scotland via tartan week in Australia, and I look forward to discussing that further with him.

Large Scottish communities also exist in Argentina, which has been home to the St Andrew’s Scots school since 1838 and is home to Balmoral College, which was established in 1959. They also exist in Brazil, where Scottish traders and industrialists imported football, only to see their newfound compatriots improve the game.

I thank everyone who commits to keeping our country’s traditions alive around the world. As somebody who lived abroad for a decade, I understand the pull of home and desire to celebrate and gather with other like-minded diaspora Scots. That is why we have decided to expand our approach to adopt a broad and inclusive definition of diaspora. We want to strengthen and expand Scotland’s links not only with those with Scottish heritage, but with those who have lived in Scotland for any reason. That includes alumni of Scotland’s world-leading educational institutions and those who have lived and worked in Scotland, including our fellow Europeans who came here under European Union freedom of movement and contributed so much to our country.

Scotland’s relationship with Europe remains strong. The Caledonian Society of France celebrated its centenary in 2022. There is a Scotland hub at the university of Mainz, promoting Scottish culture. Diaspora and community is one of the priority areas in the Ireland-Scotland joint bilateral review.

Beyond that, we will reach out to those with professional, business, cultural or other links to Scotland—our affinity diaspora.

Expanding our definition of diaspora means that we must work across many geographies. Tens of thousands of students from China, India, Nigeria, the United States and many other countries—that figure was more than 82,000 in 2021-22 alone—benefit from Scotland’s world-class universities. That not only boosts Scotland’s economy by nearly £5 billion each year—let that sink in: £5 billion annually—but creates a global network of hundreds of thousands of professionals who know Scotland and, I hope, possess a fondness for Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s office in Beijing is strengthening the relationship between Scotland and China. An important part of that is engaging with alumni of Scottish higher education institutions. About 25 per cent of all international students at higher education institutions in Scotland—more than 18,500 in 2020 to 2021—are from China. I hope that that will lead to lifelong relationships with our country.

I am sure that the Presiding Officer would not wish me to answer questions—

Our culture strategy sets out our ambitions for nurturing culture and creativity across all of Scotland’s communities. We support a range of initiatives and organisations in the Cunninghame South constituency, including the Culture Collective programme, the youth music initiative and the Scottish Maritime Museum.

For example, Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland is supported through the Culture Collective and is delivered by Creative Scotland. TRACS brings together artists and people in local communities; one area of its focus is Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire. TRACS has received £345,000 in total to support projects across nine communities.

I thank the member for raising a vital reason why ministers travel overseas—namely, to secure investment and jobs for people in Scotland. My cabinet colleague Neil Gray was in Japan last month, when there was the announcement from Sumitomo, which demonstrates the strength of confidence that investors have in our vision for a net zero economy.

We have a world-beating pipeline of offshore wind projects and the visit demonstrated the important role that Scotland’s international network plays and the value of growing and developing relationships with our partners around the world. The Government will therefore continue to promote Scotland’s interests and fight attempts to undermine devolution.

Ruth Maguire raises an excellent point, and one that is central to the work that we are doing. Our major cultural programmes actively work to break down those sorts of barriers.

Our youth music initiative, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, operates across the country in rural and urban areas. It aims to tackle inequality and to engage young people who would not otherwise be able to participate in meaningful and high-quality music-making opportunities. Our Culture Collective programme, which has been funded by more than £10 million to date, has provided free, engaging, community-focused activity across the length and breadth of the country. Over the past two years, it has focused on access and participation. Later this year, we will publish a refresh of our culture strategy action plan, which will provide much more detail about our ambitions in that space.

I have just given Sharon Dowey an overview of the level of financial commitment right across the arts and culture piece. She asked a very specific question, and I would be happy to write to her to update her on progress in that area. However, I hope that she is assured that the Scottish Government is committed to supporting arts and culture right across Scotland, including in the area that she has highlighted.

I am sure that I will get into difficulty with the Presiding Officer if I repeat the statistics that I read out at the beginning of this interchange with colleagues. The Scottish Government has multimillion pound commitments to the arts and culture sector, which is hugely important, and there is agreement across the chamber that that is worth while.

Foysol Choudhury hits the nail on the head when he highlights that there are significant challenges to cultural institutions, particularly venues. That applies here as well as elsewhere in the United Kingdom and internationally. It is a challenge for all of us—the artistic organisations in question, venue management, our arm’s-length organisation Creative Scotland, which is responsible for working directly with arts organisations, and the Scottish Government, which wants to ensure that we protect as many of our venues as possible.

I assure Foysol Choudhury and other members that we are looking extremely closely at everything that we can do to ensure that the arts and culture infrastructure, including the institutions that he has mentioned, can continue and can thrive in the future. I remain seized of that, and I know that the same will apply to him.

I agree with the member. The Scottish Government warned that the 2020 act would undermine devolution and that it would create confusion and uncertainty for businesses. Sadly, we have been proven right, as the example from the member’s region shows.

Brexit has been used as a pretext for eroding devolution and the powers of the Scottish Parliament. The common frameworks offer one of the few options that are available to us for engagement on mitigating some of the effects of a Brexit that Scotland did not vote for.

The Scottish Government has spent a great deal of time trying to make common frameworks work as intended. We now need the UK Government to show a similar commitment to take full account of the work that has been undertaken collaboratively through the common framework, to agree to an 2020 act exclusion and to lift the threat of the act from Scotland’s deposit return scheme.

As I have noted, a Brexit that Scotland did not vote for is being used to roll back the powers of a Parliament that Scotland did vote for. The 2020 act, which was imposed on this Parliament without its consent, is the result. Despite that, we have acted in good faith to mitigate the act’s worst effects, and we have been engaging through common frameworks to that end. That is what we are doing in respect of Scotland’s deposit return scheme. We need the UK Government to finally recognise the evidence that has been gathered through the common framework, to agree to an exclusion and to remove the threat that the act poses to the scheme.

UK ministers have acknowledged that the Scottish Government has followed the agreed procedure. The fact that we are still waiting for a decision shows the vulnerability of the devolution settlement and the ability of the Scottish Parliament to use its powers to benefit the people of this country.