Chamber and committees

COVID-19 case numbers remain high and the winter period ahead will pose significant challenges of increased transmission and related pressure on the National Health Service. Action is therefore needed across all sectors to ensure compliance with baseline COVID-19 mitigations, and it is vital to consider further targeted and proportionate measures that can reduce risk further. Vaccine certification is one such measure. We are working with the hospitality industry to ensure that only those premises regarded as within scope of the policy for domestic vaccine certification are included and definitions will be confirmed in due course.

Sustainability, across all three pillars; social, environmental and economic, is central to Scotland’s Economic and Tourism Strategies. Measures we are taking to ensure sustainable islands tourism include:

£30 million of investment over the next five years to ensure delivery of the National Islands Plan. This will support a range of areas including tourism, infrastructure, innovation, energy transition and skills - informed by our learning of how island communities have responded and adapted to COVID-19.

Delivery of the 2018-19 Programme for Government to develop an Islands passport to encourage more sustainable tourism to Scotland’s inhabited islands. The project was soft launched earlier this year with good collaboration with many islands and tourism stakeholder groups.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has also committed £3m to target young people through job placements particularly in the islands and west coast and support delayed community-led projects (due to COVID-19) supporting innovation in tourism leadership.

HIE is also investing £1.25m to support tourism’s transition to net zero, this includes decarbonising key tourism assets in some of their most remote regions, such as Fair Isle and Uist.

The five National Performing Companies are the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ballet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Opera.

They each receive direct funding from the Scottish Government and are committed to increasing diversity, including in the recruitment of members to their board.

In February 2020, A Culture Strategy for Scotland was published. One of the aims it sets out under the theme of strengthening culture focusses on working in partnership to increase diversity in the sector, sharing new approaches and codes of practice that ensure skills development and board membership have diversity at their core.

All the NPCs continue to demonstrate their commitment to increasing diversity on their boards.

The board of the National Theatre for Scotland has over recent years made appointments which increase representation of people with disabilities and those of ethnic diversity. The company has published its plan to become an anti-racist organisation , with transparent and ambitious targets set for the next three years, including staff and board representation, programming and audience development.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra assembled a Diversity Committee to undertake a diversity audit following advice from London Music Masters (a charity bringing music to minority communities). They are currently engaging Roger Wilson of Black Lives in Music to lead a piece of work to identify current policy and practice in relation to race equality and diversity objectives within the organisation.

Scottish Ballet is engaged in a partnership with Intercultural Youth Scotland, to address the need for greater diversity throughout the organisation, including on the Board. They are following the guidelines set out by Ballet Black on driving anti-racism within the dance sector. They have also recently engaged with Inc Arts and are beginning to utilise their “Toolkit” programme which is expected to impact on the diversity of Board representation.

The Board of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra has recently established a working group to review progress and consider specific actions and initiatives it could embed across the organisation relating to improving Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). The Working Group is led by the Chief Executive with members drawn from the Board, Senior Management Team and the Orchestra. The Board is currently undertaking an open, advertised recruitment process for up to 2 Lay Directors. Interviews are scheduled to take place in November. A Youth Advisory Council (16-24 year olds) has also recently been established with an initial membership of 19. This aims include to advise the Board on issues and strategies relevant to a younger and increasingly diverse range of audiences and stakeholders.

Scottish Opera have recently maintained the gender balance of their Board. They currently have 7 female and 5 male Directors. They have recently recruited a new board member of Scottish/Chinese heritage. Additionally, they have recently appointed Peridot Partners to assist in their search for trustees of more diverse backgrounds, aiming to add a further new trustee to the Board by mid December 2021.

The £10,000 grant awarded to Voluntary Health Scotland (VHS) to scope the development of the Arts, Culture, Health and Wellbeing Scotland (ACHWS) supported the network to develop an infrastructure, systems and develop a brand identity that would help the network to build their network membership base and their partnerships across the UK.

The grant also supported online events, held in partnership with VHS, such as; Caring, Creativity and Connectedness, The Role of Culture in the Health and Wellbeing of Older People and The Role of Culture in the Health and Wellbeing of Young People. The events promoted knowledge exchange, raised awareness of the network and extended the reach and influence of the network.

Officials from the Scottish Government continue to attend ACHWS meetings to offer support to help build further partnerships across policy and cultural organisations.

Voluntary Health Scotland was provided a one-off grant of £10,000 for the financial year 2019-2020, for the development of the Arts, Culture, Health and Wellbeing Scotland network.

The Scottish Government have allocated £150,000 for the Arts Alive programme for 2021-2022.

The criteria for the fund is currently being developed by the Scotland on Tour steering group, which is made up of representatives from the music industry, the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland. Detailed guidance will be published shortly, with artists, venues and festivals able to apply to the fund in October 2021.

The music industry is a key part of Scotland’s culture sector and makes a significant contribution to our economy. It is vital that we support Scottish artists as they continue to recover from the pandemic, and we want to ensure that this fund is as widely accessible as possible.

The delivery of training by Police Scotland, in Sri Lanka, is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. The current training programme, provided by Police Scotland in Sri Lanka, is aimed at improving community policing and gender equality, with all training underpinned by equality and human rights. The Scottish Government has not carried out an assessment of the effectiveness of Police Scotland’s training on gender-based violence as it is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to agree the details of any training programme. The Scottish Police Authority has responsibility for oversight of Police Scotland and to scrutinise the decisions of the Chief Constable.

The delivery of training by Police Scotland, in Sri Lanka, is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. The current training programme, provided by Police Scotland in Sri Lanka, is aimed at improving community policing and gender equality, with all training underpinned by equality and human rights. The current programme of training in Sri Lanka is currently suspended, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Scottish Government has not made an assessment on the continuation of training by Police Scotland in Sri Lanka as it is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to agree the details of any training programme. The Scottish Police Authority has responsibility for oversight of Police Scotland and to scrutinise the decisions of the Chief Constable.

Scottish Government has a long-standing record of providing the most generous non-domestic rates regime in the UK and were the first Government in the UK to offer any extension to relief for the retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation sectors for 2021-22.

Decisions on non-domestic rates including the poundage and reliefs are traditionally set out in the Scottish budget alongside other government priorities. The Programme for Government recognises the importance of a fair, just and sustainable recovery with local business and communities at the heart, and future spend will be determined as part of the Scottish budget process.