Chamber and committees

It was definitely the case that, when there was significant financial distress, especially as we emerged from Covid, there was concern in some parts of the country that certain local authorities might make decisions on the provision of some cultural services that raised the potential for funding to be diverted. The Scottish Government would take very seriously the prospect of the likes of Sistema Scotland or the Youth Music Initiative not being able to continue in one part of the country, because they are an important part of our commitment to helping children in more challenged social and economic circumstances to access music and cultural provision. I have been very alive to that possibility. I have been meeting the cultural lead and other representatives of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities throughout my term in office, and meetings have been taking place more widely with the cultural leads of local authorities.

I am optimistic about learning more from the review of Creative Scotland, which has been looking into the availability of cultural services in different parts of the country, as it is not uniform and there is not a uniform approach. There is one issue around local government and another around the local enterprise companies—we have three in Scotland, and they take quite different approaches to culture. That is another layer of understanding: how are things working in different parts of the country?

We must then add the question of the extent to which Creative Scotland’s decision making is about what is funded and what that means in different parts of the country. Are there gaps? I would be keen to understand whether that is the case. I would say in mitigation that both the Culture Collective and Collective Communities funding streams, which are being provided throughout Scotland, offer important mechanisms to ensure that all parts of the country have the ability to draw down funds to support cultural activity.

Your question, convener, about ensuring that there is provision of cultural services is absolutely right, and there is a whole parallel discussion to be had about libraries, which fits into that context, too.

As the committee knows, I walk a fine line between wanting to ensure that we, as the Government, are doing everything that we can to support local government, the enterprise companies and Creative Scotland and respecting our arm’s length relationships—which exist for obvious reasons, as it is not for cabinet secretaries to micromanage what we might personally wish to have more of, whether on stage, on screen or wherever. I leave that to the experts.

Having said all of that, and referring back to the question that you posed, convener, I would say that there is a role for Government in using our convening power and the best possible information to ensure that we have cultural provision across Scotland that can by accessed by people of all backgrounds. In general, that is working well, and I am interested to learn, through the review, whether there any areas where we could be doing more.

I can see a very subtle hand movement from Lisa Baird, who may, I think, want to add something.

If I can take the virtual microphone back for a second, I will add that, in parallel to that, the decisions that we have been able to make with expo funding and in being able to support festivals beyond Edinburgh and Glasgow, working in parallel with the strategic partnership for Scotland’s festivals that we now have, provide another example of our trying to ensure that we have benefit throughout the country from the available funding.

I am looking at Mr Halcro Johnston, who has, I know, an interest in culture in the northern isles, which is a very good example of a place that has tremendous festivals. The Orkney folk festival is an example of that. If we have a tremendous model, as we do through the expo funding route—which really is first class—why would we not want that to be able to support festivals in the rest of the country? We agree with that point.

That is a good example of our trying to add value right across Scotland.

I look forward to hearing about progress on that issue and on all the outstanding issues that Mr Kerr has raised. He will appreciate that some matters lie in the human resource space.

Certain procedures are currently under way, so it would not be appropriate for me to comment on them, save to say that I have confidence that the appropriate processes are being gone through and that, with a new chair, the issues that Mr Kerr has highlighted and that others, I know, will want to highlight, too—I am perfectly happy to take any follow-up questions from colleagues who might want to raise them—will be dealt with. I want people to have confidence in the core delivery of what Historic Environment Scotland manages to perform in Scotland; after all, it is in all of our interests that issues to do with the management and governance that have been raised with members of this committee directly, and with me, are dealt with by the incoming chairman of the board.

I look forward to learning any conclusions that emanate from the HR process and other inquiries that will be undertaken, and I give a commitment to Mr Kerr, and the rest of the committee, that I would wish the committee to be fully informed of all of that. We all need to have confidence that Historic Environment Scotland, which, as Mr Kerr has pointed out, does such important work, is operating as it should.

I would be happy if my colleague Joanna Keating wanted to come in at this stage.

I think that I am right in saying that the most recent pooled aid package towards which we contributed was from April of this year, so not long ago. Ms Keating might have better information than I do, but I imagine that, because of the restrictions on Gaza, parts of that aid package might well not yet have been distributed.

Convener, this is the last committee appearance by Mr Stewart, who has been a tremendous deputy convener of the committee. I am saying all that after he has asked his question, so I cannot be accused of buttering him up before he asks it. I wish him well on the next committee that he takes part in.

First, I will talk about assurance issues. In relation to UNRWA, Mr Stewart will know that an extensive report was compiled by Ambassador Colonna, whom he might have met, because she was the French ambassador to the United Kingdom before she became the foreign minister of France. She pulled together a report that has given the international community the confidence to reinstate its primary support for Gaza through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

That is really good because, where there have been issues—and it is a matter of record that there have been issues—as far as it is possible to ascertain through trusted investigations, such as the Colonna report, we are talking about a very small minority of individuals and a very small number of cases. It is really important that we do not allow such cases to distract us from the scale of the tragedy that is taking place in Gaza and the need for us to work with trusted colleagues. The committee has had evidence on that—Mr Stewart was perhaps not at the session, but if he were, he will have heard Salah Saeed, the Disasters Emergency Committee member, saying the following:

“We have well-established processes to screen, identify and triangulate who we are working with on the ground, and the member charities on the ground have years and decades of expertise. There are international lists that people can cross-reference and, generally speaking, DEC organisations are dealing with international organisations that are helping to import and deliver food. In this kind of crisis it is the UN organisations that deliver food and fill the warehouses, which are then passed on to the international NGOs and local organisations.”—[Official Report, Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, 22 May 2025; c 12.]

It is part and parcel of the work of donor countries and aid organisations to ensure that the aid funding that has been provided goes to the intended recipients.

The challenge in Gaza is not unique, but it is an extreme example of a civilian population, in effect, being held prisoner, with people unable to leave, by an occupying power that is conducting very heavy military operations that have, frankly, flattened a significant part of the territory, killed tens of thousands of people and left the civilian population unable to feed itself. In those circumstances, we must support organisations that have experience of providing support. At present, there is a privatised and militarised operation that is not neutral—it is operated by the Israelis and the Americans—which is why the United Nations is not working with them. That operation has killed hundreds of people who were queuing for food. That is intolerable.

We have to help in so far as we are able to, and we are doing that through the humanitarian aid that we have provided. We understand our limits, but we are using our voice to say that what is happening is not acceptable. We have to hope that a ceasefire will come about and that humanitarian aid will be allowed back into Gaza.

Frankly, there is a bigger picture than is posed by Mr Stewart’s question, but I want to give him as much assurance as I can on aid and on the safeguards that are in place in relation to who is involved in the operations of proceedings. I acknowledge that Gaza’s civil infrastructure is being operated by a terrorist organisation, which is what Hamas is. However, that does not detract from the suffering of the civilian population or the targeting of the civilian population and civilian areas, including hospitals. None of that is acceptable. The international community has called that out repeatedly, and it must stop as soon as possible.

—and I am sure that he would wish that I ensure that the Scottish Government operates within the law.

I think that we also know that through the family of the former First Minister, who is a member of this Parliament. He has relations who could not get out through the Rafah crossing because the Israelis were limiting who was able to leave. This is the point that I was trying to make about the fact that borders are controlled on both sides. On the Gazan side of the border, it is controlled by Israel.

Would Mr Brown be content if I were to get clarification on the question from the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, so that it can confirm its understanding of how that situation operates?

I do not know the answer to that question, Mr Kerr. I would hope that any Government that is in a position to ameliorate the suffering of people in Gaza could and should play its part in making that possible. However, I will defer and seek some advice on the situation in relation to the Egyptian Government and the Rafah crossing, and I am happy to update you on that.

Oh, a magical piece of paper has just arrived in front of me. I am told that the Israeli Defence Force is stopping the trucks, and not Egypt.

We keep such things under permanent review. Because our budget is limited in terms of scope, one of the challenges that we have is that, when these kinds of significant appeals arise—for example, for emergencies in one part of the world or a situation such as Gaza—they are not something that the Scottish Government has any influence over. The requirements arise at different points, and that is one of the areas where we have to work quite hard in order to understand the relative priorities with regard to the different calls on the humanitarian aid that we have in place.

It is true to say that we are having a look at humanitarian aid. I do not know whether Mr Bibby has any specific points to make on whether more should be done, less should be done or things should be done differently. However, as I am sure that he would expect us to do, we are keeping those things under review.