If the Scottish Government does not unlock enough of the £100 million to ensure that organisations and individuals who apply to you receive funding, you will turn down more and more applications and you will close down more organisations or be unable to support groups and activities across the piece. Within the review, Creative Scotland will become the organisation that is not helping the cultural sector to expand and progress. Could that be the decline of Creative Scotland?

One word that has been used many times in relation to the sector is “confidence”. Today, I asked some of the previous witnesses whether they had confidence in Creative Scotland. It appears that they have, to a level, in the way that you manage your organisation and its processes. However, the issue is about the future and where we go with that.

You are very alive to the funding packages that you have. Extra funding has been given to youth music and other initiatives in some of the packages that have come forward for review. However, the sector itself is still in crisis and, although prediction is impossible, some elements in the sector still believe that there needs to be a root-and-branch change if organisations are to continue to thrive and survive. What are your feelings on that?

Good morning. I will touch on the proposed review of Creative Scotland. As you have said when you have visited us in the past—and even today—you are having to manage a funding crisis in the sector. Others have given evidence, this morning and at other times, giving us an indication of where we are and what is taking place. What is your opinion of what that review will involve? Will it see progress in your organisation and the sector, or might it change the way in which your organisation works and progresses? Do you have a flavour of what the Government plans to look at and decide on for the future of Creative Scotland?

Absolutely.

I thank the witnesses for their comments so far. You have touched on risk and reward. Currently, it appears to be the case that there is much more risk than there is reward for the sector.

You have also touched on the flexibility that you need in order to ensure that you can bring artists or individuals into organisations. My take on that is that it is very difficult for you to do that at the moment, because you cannot reward those individuals with pay. You are asking your current staff to do much more with less, which means that they are under more strain. Your attempts to attract new talent and the individuals who will take on your roles in the future are being jeopardised.

How confident are you that the Scottish Government is getting the message right—that funding is coming, but it is coming in a tranche or two, and at different times in different years? How confident are you that Creative Scotland is the organisation that you can put your trust behind to ensure that you can thrive and survive for the future?

As I said, if there was certainty, co-operation and confidence, the situation could change. The potential that would be unlocked, if we get it right, would be enormous, as you have all articulated. The knock-on effect of what you can create from being given a small amount of money can be enormous within a community or a sector, and it can lead to massive things in the future.

I can see that Caroline Sewell wants to come in. I am sorry, Caroline.

I am pleased to be able to speak in the debate, and I commend and congratulate my colleague Sharon Dowey on bringing this important issue to the chamber. Retailers play an increasingly important role in communities across the country and are the lifeblood of many sectors of our economy. We can all agree that it is unacceptable for those working in retail settings to find themselves subject to any kind of abuse.

Unfortunately, as we have heard from many speakers in the debate, the reality is that abuse is continually happening the length and breadth of the country and the motion rightly highlights those alarming trends.

Earlier this year, a report from the Scottish Grocers’ Federation found that 100 per cent of retailers reported an increase in shoplifting in the past year, and 99 per cent said that it happened daily in their stores. The report also found that the cost of the crime was up to £12,000 per store, totalling £62.9 million across Scotland during a year. Perhaps the most shocking statistic was that 92 per cent of stores reported that violence against staff occurred at least once a week.

Clearly, it is a serious problem and serious action and solutions are required. In recent years, the implementation of the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 has been a welcome step; but it is only a step. Under the act, more than 10,000 incidents have already been reported to the police since August 2021, which shows the scale of the problem that we are facing. However, more needs to be done to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted. As we have already heard, there need to be consequences. Despite Police Scotland identifying the person responsible in 60 per cent of cases, only 11 per cent of those result in a conviction. On top of that, the SGF has highlighted that the lack of response from the police and the lack of confidence that retailers have in them is affecting the situation. It found that 90 per cent of retailers believe that the response to shoplifting is unsatisfactory or insufficiently delayed. There should not be delays; there should be consequences for these actions.

The low conviction rate shows that we are not addressing the problem in the right way, and 75 per cent of retailers say that they are unlikely to report incidents to the police because of it. That is having a massive effect on the sector and the individuals who work in it. The true extent of those crimes is not clear as the raw data is not being uncovered. Although the legislation is there to protect workers, which is a step forward, much more needs to be done.

For example, the motion speaks about the Scottish Retail Consortium’s call for greater focus on retail crime from Police Scotland, and for the Scottish Government to take the issue much more seriously. We cannot tolerate a situation in which the police are unable to investigate supposedly minor incidents of shoplifting simply because of a lack of resources from the Government. Instead, we should be aiming for a system that does not hesitate to support individuals who report or have experienced shoplifting.

For the individuals who are working in retail up and down the country, and those who suffer the reality of it each and every day and week, a no-tolerance approach to retail crime and abuse is the least that they deserve. We should support them in that.

SNP Government cuts have led to a 14 per cent reduction in Scotland’s public libraries, with the public library improvement fund addressing only a fraction of the funding problems that they face. What specific action will the cabinet secretary take to address the on-going impact of those cuts, beyond the scope of that fund?

HMP YOI Stirling’s inspection report found positive aspects of good practice at the prison, but a number of design flaws were indicated. We all already know about the issues that that has created for the neighbourhood, including noise. What action will be taken to mitigate as far as possible the difficulties that the residents are facing and the impact that the prison is having on their community?

Thank you, convener.

You have all talked about how funding unlocks the potential in your organisations. That funding is crucial to the success, sustainability and survival of your sector. The £100 million that we know is coming down the line is vital to make sure that the situation is sustainable for each and every one of you. Probably the biggest issues for your organisations are the staffing costs that you have to incur and attracting people into your organisations. If you are managing decline—most of you have indicated that you seem to be in that way of coping at present—how do you attract the next generation and the next leaders of your organisations to build on the success that you have all achieved so far, with the limited resources and the budgetary constraints that you have had to contend with, not just this year but in years past?

As you have said, the future is challenging. However, it will be the people you invest in who make a success of culture in future. If you are not able to backfill jobs, your current staff have to do more, and you are not able to attract people with potential, what funding and support could the Government give you? Are there areas in which you should invest in staff and personnel? I cannot see any way through the dilemmas that you face unless there is a commitment to give you resource that can bring in people, push your organisations and inspire them for the future. If you are not given that opportunity, where do you go? What can you cut or close in order to maintain some part of your cultural activity? It would be good to get a flavour of your views on what I see as one of the main obstacles here—or, alternatively, one of the main stepping stones if you are all to thrive and survive. As Susan Deighan said, if you cannot attract people to lead your organisations into the future, they will not survive.