I begin by welcoming Neil Bibby to his new position. I look forward to working with him constructively where we can. It is a shame that we do not have a lot of clarity from his question about Scottish Labour’s position on European alignment.

I grew up with a Scottish Labour Party that included names such as Bruce Millan, a European commissioner, David Martin, a vice-president of the European Parliament and Janey Buchan, a long-standing MEP in the European Parliament. It is not the same party that we are hearing today—indeed, it is not the same party questioning what the Scottish Government is doing. There was no welcome for the target of remaining aligned with the European Union and there was the chimera—the imaginary situation—that the Labour Party is going to “clear up” the Tories’ Brexit mess by sticking with the same policy. It is inconceivable that there will be any difference whatsoever.

Notwithstanding the fact that Anas Sarwar has described Brexit as an “economic disaster”, the Labour Party is going to continue with it. A party that is led by Keir Starmer is saying that it is not going to reconsider the UK’s position within the European Union, not going to reconsider the United Kingdom’s position in the single market and not going to reconsider the disaster of the ending of free movement of people. Labour really must do much better. It should embrace the policies and approach of the past, not ape the Tories, as it has sadly done again today.

First, I take the opportunity to say a huge “Thank you” to everybody that works in Scotland house in Brussels—the representational office of Scotland in the capital of the European Union. That office was, I think, initiated under the Scottish Conservatives and opened under the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, and it continues to operate to this day. It does hugely positive work both in its relations with the multilateral organisations—primarily the European Union—based in Brussels and in bilateral relations with the Government of Belgium. The address, for those who do not know of the Scottish Government office in Brussels, is on Rond-point Robert Schuman, so there is a nice circularity in our proceedings this afternoon about all of that.

The challenge that Brexit has brought on the cultural front, in particular, is regularly raised by people in our culture and arts scene, in that that those of our artists who wish to tour can face great difficulty in doing so elsewhere in Europe. We continue to press the UK Government to seek changes, but the European Union has made it clear that to have free movement so that our cultural and artistic community can travel and perform across Europe is only possible if one accepts free movement of people. The UK Government is not prepared to do that. We will continue to press for it. In the meantime, the likes of Scotland House in Brussels will not only be working on optimal relations with the European Union but will host a wide range of cultural events.

I am running out of time, but I will take a very brief intervention.

I begin by extending my warm thanks to Sharon Dowey for providing the opportunity to highlight and discuss the importance of protecting the historic environment for the benefit of everybody in Scotland and people who travel to this country wishing to enjoy it. I also underscore my appreciation for the entirely positive tone and approach from right across the parties to the challenge that our historic environment faces.

In addition to Sharon Dowey, we heard from Fiona Hyslop, who has been a consistently strong advocate for Linlithgow palace, and her call was echoed by Stephen Kerr. We heard from Foysol Choudhury and Murdo Fraser, who said, among many other things, how important it is to understand the scale of the issues that our historic environment faces and the challenge that that poses, given that we are a country full of castles, abbeys and other historic sites that are being challenged by the 21st century environment.

The motion mentions the important benefits that the historic environment sector delivers, and the Scottish Government very much agrees with that. Those benefits feature heavily in the revised strategy for Scotland’s historic environment, “Our Past, Our Future”. The strategy focuses on priorities that have been identified through extensive consultation with the sector and the people of Scotland. Those priorities include the core themes of

“Delivering the transition to net zero”

in response to climate change,

“Empowering resilient and inclusive communities and places”

and “Building a wellbeing economy”, all of which align with Scottish Government ambitions. I therefore commend the strategy to all members who have taken part in the debate or who have been in the chamber throughout it. The strategy was published on 28 April, and I look forward to its formal launch in June.

Regarding the closure of historic sites, I appreciate the great frustration that Sharon Dowey, other members across the chamber and the wider public feel when they see some of our historic properties with access restrictions. I think that we all understand that. However, it is vital that we recognise the reasons for those restrictions, which we have heard about, because the health and safety of visitors, Historic Environment Scotland staff and our contractors, and the associated challenges, must be of paramount importance. Therefore, safety must remain our top priority while the inspection programme progresses and while work to repair our historic properties takes place.

I recognise that Historic Environment Scotland acted responsibly with the speed at which access was restricted at affected sites when it became aware of significant high-level masonry concerns. Those concerns make it clear that the increasing effects of climate change are having a marked effect on our built environment. Historical structures were not designed or built to withstand the current levels of precipitation or the fluctuation in temperatures that have now become commonplace. Those stresses are felt not only on the original fabric of our historic buildings but on repair work, which has exacerbated weaknesses in our historic high-level masonry.

The situation is not unique to Scotland because, as we know, climate change is having an impact across the world. Although the situation is far from ideal, I am heartened that Scotland’s lead public body for the environment, Historic Environment Scotland—known by many of us as HES—quickly put in place a prioritised inspection programme to assess our historic properties. That programme of work has allowed sites deemed safe to reopen as soon as possible—Sharon Dowey outlined the number that were able to open, which I welcome—or partial access to be provided when it is safe for that to happen.

It is important to note that many of the properties in care are routinely closed during the winter months, and Historic Environment Scotland recently announced the reopening of more than 20 sites as part of its seasonal reopenings. I think that we can all welcome that. It has also fully reopened or increased access at more than 40 sites as part of the high-level masonry inspection programme.

I am pleased that Sharon Dowey has had the opportunity to visit Crossraguel abbey, which is affected by high-level masonry issues, to witness at first hand the work that is being undertaken by Historic Environment Scotland. I encourage other members with affected properties in their constituency or region to take up Historic Environment Scotland’s offer for site visits in order to learn more about the challenges at individual properties.

Indeed. Taken with the commercial income of HES, which is showing strong signs of recovery, the current funding means that HES’s operating budget for this financial year is £114.5 million, which is 22.4 per cent higher than it was before the pandemic.

I draw members’ attention to the increase in visitors to the top-five visited properties in 2021-22. Visitor numbers to all those increased by more than 300 per cent. Glasgow cathedral was visited by seven times more people than it was in 2020-21.

I will briefly take the opportunity to encourage everybody in the chamber and anyone who is watching the debate to join Historic Environment Scotland, which is an extremely effective way of supporting the organisation.

I have been asked specifically about skills training, which is extremely important. A short-life working group has been established with a diverse membership to investigate the skills gaps and the demand for stonemasons. The working group will report shortly, and I will ensure that members are updated on its work.

However, it is important to point out that the shortage of skilled craftspeople has not yet had an impact on the high-level masonry inspection programme, as there are other more relevant restricting issues, as Sharon Dowey correctly highlighted. Those issues include the availability of the limited stock of specialist heavy plant hire to undertake high-level work; the remote location of many sites, which causes access issues for equipment; and the protection of certain species of nesting birds, badgers and bats, which delays some inspections. Therefore, there is a variety of complications for Historic Environment Scotland.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the protection and conservation of our historic environment and is proud to champion the role that it plays, not only as a defining waypoint in our past but in presenting opportunities to build a fairer and more sustainable future for Scotland.

I again thank Sharon Dowey for bringing the debate to the chamber and other members for their interest in and support for the historic environment. I welcome the views that have been expressed in the debate, which have been helpful in raising the profile of these important issues. I will forward the points raised today to the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development to inform her future discussions with Historic Environment Scotland regarding this vital issue.

I will certainly be raising the issues that Stephen Kerr has raised with my colleague the Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, who takes the lead on that matter within the portfolio.

Undoubtedly, substantial resources are required to undertake the high-level masonry inspection programme and subsequent conservation work. We are providing HES with unprecedented levels of funding: £72.7 million in 2023-24 to maintain Scotland’s heritage and historic environment. That is an 82.6 per cent increase from the £39.8 million of support that it received in 2019-20, before the impact of the pandemic.

Ivan McKee raises some important issues. The Scottish Government is taking action to attract people with the skills that Scotland needs from the rest of the United Kingdom. Our RUK talent attraction programme will continue to be informed and supported by the industry advisory group. As a priority action, we are working with the group to develop an aerospace and space sector talent attraction pilot, which includes the implementation of a recruitment toolkit and marketing activities. People moving from the rest of the United Kingdom to Scotland are extremely welcome.

All that I can say to Willie Rennie is that nobody on these benches is a tectonic separatist. We are in favour of the best possible trading relations across these islands, but we also want to be part of the biggest single market in the world, which is the European Union’s single market.

I am not one of those people—perhaps Willie Rennie is—who are pleading for Scotland to remain dependent on a single market the size of the United Kingdom. Why does he not embrace the credible historical European support of the Liberal Democrats for the European idea and join Scottish National Party members by seeking our place in the European single market?

It should not come as a surprise to Sharon Dowey—or to any members on the Conservative benches, who lost the last Scottish Parliament election—that the parties that won the election were elected on a manifesto to hold a democratic referendum in Scotland. There is no technical reason why the UK Government cannot transfer the responsibility to have a referendum, which is, after all, the policy favoured by the majority of MSPs in this Parliament.

It would be entirely incorrect and false for this Government not to make the necessary preparations. We want people to be as informed as possible, and I would hope that democrats would all agree that, if a Government is elected to do something, it should be able to get on with it.

In 2021, the ministerial population task force published Scotland’s first population strategy, a key building block of which is ensuring that Scotland is an attractive and welcoming country. Inward migration supports our community, strengthens our public services and grows our economy. The talent attraction and migration service will encourage more people to come and live in Scotland. It will help employers to navigate the UK Government’s complex and, sadly, bureaucratic immigration rules, in an effort to help them to meet their skills needs. The service will provide good-quality information and advice to help people to move here and settle into communities.