Thank you very much for inviting me to the meeting, convener.
I want to update the committee on some of the key areas in my portfolio: culture; European engagement and Brexit; international engagement; and tourism. I thank the committee for its work to date on scrutinising those areas and compliment it on the well-researched and analysed committee reports that it has produced on various aspects of Brexit.
First, I will update the committee on the development of a culture strategy for Scotland. The programme for government committed to the creation of a culture strategy for Scotland on the principles of access, equity and excellence. Culture has intrinsic value and contributes directly and indirectly to the health, wealth and success of our nation. It defines Scotland as a diverse and distinct society with creativity and innovation at its heart.
The development of the culture strategy will involve engagement with artists, practitioners and organisations. We will have a series of public engagements; indeed, we kicked off that engagement at Glasgow Women’s Library on Monday with 90 people from across the culture sector debating and discussing the future of culture in Scotland. That was the first in a series of Scotland-wide engagement events and discussion opportunities with the sector and the wider public; more will follow in the coming months. A national conversation about culture will help to shape a shared vision that articulates the powerful and transformative effect that culture and creativity can have.
With regard to Europe, the committee is well aware that the Brexit negotiations began last week. Our “Scotland’s Place in Europe” paper, which was put forward in the spirit of compromise, argued that the UK as a whole should retain single market membership and that, failing that, Scotland should retain that membership if the rest of the UK chose not to. In light of the general election, in which the Prime Minister failed to secure a mandate for a hard Brexit, we are encouraging her to reach out to the devolved Administrations and across parties and reach a consensus position that can carry legitimacy in negotiations with the EU. We feel that the Scottish Government’s thinking in “Scotland’s Place in Europe” could now be revisited in that light.
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In that context, we are working hard, first, to ensure that there are effective mechanisms for devolved Governments to engage with the UK Government. The terms of reference for the joint ministerial committee on EU negotiations are good but, so far, the working arrangements have failed to live up to the challenges that Brexit has created. Secondly, we want to ensure that the devolved Administrations have a seat at the negotiating table, because it is crucial that Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish voices are properly heard. The exclusion of the Scottish Government from any meaningful influence over the UK negotiating position during Brexit negotiations would undermine devolution in a very concerning way. I know that the committee has had engagement with Mike Russell, the relevant minister, in relation to those matters.
On European engagement, it is also important to highlight that our efforts to protect Scotland’s relationship with the EU since the EU referendum have not been focused solely on the UK Government. Since the EU referendum, Scottish Government ministers have been engaging extensively with our counterparts across Europe, covering all EU member states, European Free Trade Association states and EU institutions. We have engaged in over 130 meetings and, as we do regularly, I will write to the committee, detailing the engagements that we have had.
The main focus of the engagements has been to ensure, first, that our European counterparts understand the outcome of the vote in Scotland and, secondly, that they understand Scotland’s position, interests and priorities, including our wish to be a member of the EU. Just as important, we want to ensure that our European colleagues understand that, as a Government, we remain strongly committed to deepening European co-operation. It is essential that all of our relations are clearly focused on ensuring that our views on Brexit are known, but we also want to ensure that they are not seen solely through the prism of Brexit. We will continue to work with our European partners in terms of policy, knowledge and co-operation. In fact, next week, I will visit Dublin as part of our on-going work to further deepen our important diplomatic, economic and cultural relationships with Ireland, building on the work of our innovation and investment hub that is located there.
Throughout our engagements with member states, there has been a great deal of interest in and sympathy with what is described as the predicament that Scotland finds itself in. Our stance on the urgent need to clarify the rights of EU nationals has been welcomed. However, it is fair to say that, although the UK-wide decision to leave the EU has been met with a mixture of sadness, disbelief and concern for the future, there is a resolve in the EU to carry on and not just deal with Brexit efficiently but focus on developing the EU for the future. That agenda is being pursued at all levels, not just through the European Commission’s white paper but in individual countries.
When I was in Paris last month, I met the head of the French foreign ministry, and I was struck by the keenness on the part of the French Government to work with Scotland, irrespective of what the future holds. An early priority for us, therefore, will be to renew with the French Government our statements of intent with it on culture and education. We will also look for opportunities for further early engagement with the new French Government.
Earlier this month, I visited Austria and spoke at the Europa forum. The forum, which is now in its 22nd year and which was established on Austrian accession to the EU, is regularly attended by senior Government figures in central and eastern Europe, and the focus of the discussion was the future of the EU. I had the opportunity to meet, among others, the Austrian vice-chancellor and the Bulgarian foreign minister. Both of those countries have EU presidencies next year, at a critical point in the Brexit negotiation.
Although the issue of Brexit was ever present at that conference, it certainly did not dominate it. There was regret at the UK’s decision, but we should be in no doubt that the countries are already moving on and positioning themselves as the future of Europe debate gets under way, with Council decisions on the issue due around spring 2019, when the UK is scheduled to leave.
Whatever the outcome of Brexit negotiations, the relations and trade agreements that are entered into with countries and organisations outside the European Union will continue to be vital. It is very important that we strengthen the global outlook of Scottish society and international relationships and partnerships in areas such as science and culture.
With regard to recent international engagement, I visited Japan in February to support trade and investment connections and discuss ways in which cultural engagement can strengthen our relationship. In April, the First Minister was in the US for a series of meetings with leading companies to promote Scotland’s economic interests and to set out our views on Scotland’s place in the world. In the year ahead, we will continue to build on those relations with our priority countries, through ministers travelling overseas and by welcoming delegations here and to our new hub in London. We will use those opportunities to explain that Scotland is open for business and to highlight the reasons why Scotland continues to be the top UK region outside London for attracting foreign direct investment. It has been a strong year and a tremendous achievement for Scotland, and we are keen to build on that.
Finally, I turn to tourism, which plays a leading role in Scotland’s economy by helping to market Scotland across the globe and promoting inclusive growth through its support for economic activity and employment in some of our most fragile areas. The Scottish Government and its agencies work closely with the tourism sector; we share ambitions through the industry-led tourism Scotland 2020 strategy; and we are seeing long-term growth in both jobs and visitor numbers.
As at March 2016, more than 14,000 tourism-related enterprises were operating in Scotland, which is the highest figure since the start of this decade. Since the start of this decade, employment in the tourism-related industries sector has grown by around 33,000, from 183,000 in 2010 to 217,000 in 2015. Tourism now accounts for 8.5 per cent of employment in Scotland, and we are seeing good results, with visitor numbers for 2016 up by 6 per cent compared with 4 per cent in the rest of the UK. Moreover, expenditure in Scotland has risen by 9 per cent compared with 2 per cent in the rest of the UK. Looking over the longer term, there was a 16.5 per cent increase in overseas tourism visits to Scotland in 2016 compared with the figure in 2010, and overseas tourist expenditure rose by 15.8 per cent between 2010 and 2016.
We know that Scottish tourism is competing in a global setting, and the global tourism market continues to expand. According to the January 2017 United Nations World Tourism Organization publication, “UNWTO World Tourism Barometer”, international tourist arrivals grew by 3.9 per cent last year. We know that there is more that we can do, and we will continue to do what we can to have a greater share of that expanding world market. I have established a high-level tourism working group that brings together senior leaders from the tourism industry, enterprise bodies and VisitScotland to provide the necessary strategic direction for Government and agencies to work together to maximise our potential.
These are challenging times, but the tourism industry is resilient. We will help it grow sustainably and prosper. We do not underestimate the challenges that Brexit poses to the sector, but that is why we are working hard, particularly against a hard Brexit, to preserve the benefits that sectors such as tourism gain from our relationship with the EU.
Finally, the committee will be well aware that this year is the 70th anniversary of Edinburgh’s founding festivals; in fact, we debated the issue in Parliament earlier this month. It is a great inspiration that those festivals, which were founded in 1947, resonate not just across the city but the country and the world, making Edinburgh the world’s leading festival city. We have seen 11 festivals growing around the original three, and I look forward to joining members at festival events over the summer as we celebrate that 70th anniversary.
I am happy to take the committee’s questions.