Chamber and committees

Thank you, convener—[Interruption.]—and bless you, Dr Allan.

I would like to return to points that I think that Simon MacDonald, Elaine Whyte and Hannah Fennell raised about a lack of employees and available workers in the fishing industry. Could you expand a bit more on the points that you made about visas and suchlike?

My supplementary is more about what Bally Philp talked about. I would like to get other stakeholders’ views. Bally Philp mentioned a “just transition”. What will that look like? I suppose that that brings in some of the points that Sheila Keith made about the connectivity between green renewables and the point that Karen Adam and Phil Taylor made about renewable food.

Good morning. I am Jenni Minto, MSP for Argyll and Bute.

Claire Baker and I are both involved in the cross-party group on culture and communities. Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust has spoken a lot about the importance of arts and culture supporting people through illness and chronic conditions, which was very helpful.

Councillor Heddle has his hand up. You are sitting in Orkney, which probably has more brown signs at roadsides per head of population than the rest of Scotland, so you are absolutely at the centre of the cultural sector.

That is what happens when you start making a list.

I thank the witnesses for joining us and for their written evidence.

Iain Munro, you talked in your evidence about trying to declutter the funding landscape and about a group that you have set up, or are part of, with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise. Will you elaborate on the benefits of that and on how you have been progressing with that work?

Mr Munro, either in your submission or in the SPICe report, there was a mention of the varying income that comes from the Heritage Lottery Fund and from the national lottery. I think that the funding was at a high of more than £32 million during 2016-17, but it has fluctuated since then. Do you have any comments to make about why that is and the impact that that has?

That is very helpful.

Earlier this week, I visited Campbeltown grammar school, and I was interested in the importance that it attaches to art and music throughout its students’ learning. That tied in with a lot of what was discussed during the culture summit in the Parliament, when Claire Baker hosted a session on Ukraine.

You have talked about the usefulness of the UNESCO meeting in Paris in enabling you to hear about what other countries are doing and learn from them, and in allowing them to learn from Scotland. I am interested in your thoughts on how Scotland can support Ukraine from a cultural perspective.

That is helpful. When I drove past Stirling, I noticed that there was a big film base there. Clearly, the film industry is busy.

Last week, I attended a meeting of the cross-party group on India. The meeting was about trade, and it highlighted the important role that culture plays when countries are beginning and maintaining trade relationships. I am interested in whether, as part of your work through your partnerships with the development agencies, you are feeding in cultural aspects to plans for business expansion. Martin Booth, I notice that you are nodding. Do you want to add anything to that?