Chamber and committees

We are all proud Scots here, and we should all do our part to promote Scotland internationally and seek new ways to enhance the Scottish brand. We are lucky to be from a country that is so universally recognised and held in such high regard. I take great pride to live in Alloway, where our national bard, Robert Burns, was born. He wrote the poem “Auld Lang Syne”, which is known worldwide and recited at big celebrations and especially at new year. The cabinet secretary mentioned tartan week, which is celebrated in New York, and the Burns suppers that are held around the world every year in January.

We should also recognise where we can do better. I note that the Government document that was published ahead of today’s debate, the “Scottish Connections Framework”, points out that we should work with devolved and UK Government counterparts, and I welcome that collaboration.

Ivan McKee also talked about learning from others and spoke of Ireland.

The document highlights that UK diplomatic missions engage with Scottish communities across the globe and that they have links to various cultural and educational networks, and Scotland is free to tap into those.

I will just finish my point. I certainly believe that we could do more to turn people’s passion for Scotland into positive action and create more jobs, investment and trade right here on our own shores.

I do not know the details of what the member is talking about, but net migration is up and we welcome anyone who wants to come to the country to work and to contribute to society. I do not know the details that the member has, but we are happy to have anyone come to the country by legal routes and to help.

The Government should reflect on how it can make Scotland a more positive place for foreign investment or for Scots to set up businesses, because that is one area where the Government could be doing better. We must do more to remove barriers to investment. For example, it would be worth looking at the regulation of short-term lets, business rates and the red tape that may be putting off investors.

The SNP Government must do all it can to show that Scotland is open for business. Attracting investors to Scotland and encouraging them to set up shop here is made all the more challenging when they face difficulties such as the bottle deposit and return scheme. We must learn from that by listening to businesses and working with our colleagues in Westminster and in the other devolved Administrations to see how we can take a unified, best practice approach.

Daniel Johnson mentioned the success of Scotch whisky and how we must help other parts of the food and drink industry to reach that level. A positive business environment in Scotland would make a real difference. Although the framework is a good start, it would be great to hear more detail from the cabinet secretary during his closing remarks about a timeline for the Scottish connections fund and about the international strategies for culture and education.

There have been many worthwhile contributions today from across the chamber and I have time to highlight a few. My colleague Maurice Golden spoke about Historic Environment Scotland, which has itself highlighted that half of all international visitors report heritage as their key motivation for visiting Scotland and that tourism contributes £3 billion to the economy.

The cabinet secretary mentioned the Ukrainians we have welcomed to our country and into our homes. They are welcome to stay as long as they need to, and we hope that some will choose to stay here, but I am sure that we all wish for an end to the war, to enable them to return to their own homes.

Neil Bibby said that we need a strategic approach to include all marginalised communities and also spoke about the importance of Scotland’s aviation sector.

William Rennie spoke about the great team behind the report and about the amount of work that is done by the GlobalScot network. He also spoke of the ending of Erasmus, mentioned the 5,000 Welsh students who are spread around the world and talked about the need for us to get our finger out and set up a replacement scheme.

Stephen Kerr spoke of our reach around the world and the importance of international students, which was also mentioned by Evelyn Tweed, because of the amount of money that those students bring to the Scottish economy and the soft power that they have. He also mentioned his concerns about university funding.

Emma Harper spoke of her experiences in California.

I may be running out of time. In summary, we applaud any attempt by the Scottish Government to promote Scotland internationally, but we must see more detail about the fund behind the framework and the tools that will measure whether it is delivering the desired outcomes.

Good morning. The report states:

“The most recent climate change governance map reflects arrangements at June 2021, despite significant changes to both corporate and climate change governance arrangements having taken place since then.”

It goes on:

“Frequent changes to complex, cross-cutting governance arrangements, and the lack of clear documentation, makes it difficult for teams across the Scottish Government to see where responsibilities lie and could hinder collaborative working on this cross-cutting priority area.”

Do you have any examples of where collaborative working has been hindered?

The report states that a workforce plan for the DG net zero area was expected in spring 2023. We are nearly halfway through May now. Is that likely to be produced on time?

Your report states:

“governance arrangements to help Scotland adapt to the impact of climate change are less developed than those for reducing emissions.”

Do you know why that situation has occurred?

The report states:

“workforce capacity and capability have been identified as key challenges by the Scottish Government”.

Can you tell us more about what the key challenges are and what steps the Scottish Government is taking to address them?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting the arts sector. (S6O-02233)

The arts sector plays a crucial role in promoting cultural expression and creativity and in bringing people together in communities. In the Scottish National Party’s 2021 manifesto, it pledged to create a new £2 million fund for public artwork. Seven months ago, I asked when that would happen, but no information was provided. Will the cabinet secretary give more detail on what the pledge actually means and when the commitment will be met?

I was wondering more about the behavioural impact. The First Minister has said that he wants to go further with progressive tax measures, so, my question was about whether, if there was more divergence, more people would cross the border.