Chamber and committees

I thank the witnesses for the fantastic submissions that they have sent us in advance, which are very much in tune with what we have been discussing.

On the one hand, we have the evidence from Creative Scotland that says that key parts of the cultural sector risk collapse after Covid. There has been a decade of cuts to local authorities, which has impacted on community culture massively, because it is not core funding.

On the other hand, we have the evidence that you are giving us about the preventative impact of spending on culture. Jenni Minto talked about this week’s CPG meeting on culture in the business sector, and we have had the culture in communities evidence. That all aligns with your evidence today, and it tells us that it makes economic, financial and human sense to invest in social prescribing.

How do we do this? We are a committee that gives recommendations to the Government, but it feels as though social prescribing should be part of a fast-track Covid recovery. Young people with mental health issues cannot get that support, yet it could potentially get them back on track so that they do not have to miss years of progress in their lives.

We have the budget, so what are the triggers to lift the issue up? We all agree that preventative spending makes sense but, as Robbie McGhee has just observed, some of the research has been out there for more than a decade and Campbell Christie made his recommendations a decade ago. What is the trigger that would help us to come out of Covid and on to the right track? What would you recommend?

It has been very interesting being able to read the tracker and to see the work that you have been doing.

I want to pick up on lessons learned from other neighbours of the EU. The European Free Trade Association has been going on for decades. What are the lessons that the UK can learn about being a neighbour of Europe but not now being in the EU? Are there any lessons from the other non-EU neighbours of the EU on the economy, divergence and trade deals?

That is very useful insight. Joël Reland, do you have any perspective on that?

That is very useful—thank you.

Okay. We will pick that up.

Do you have any comments on the post-Brexit strategy? That is a moving agenda, but has the Scottish Government articulated that, or is there a briefing that we can circulate to address the issues that witnesses have raised?

What would be the top change or top additional initiative that would help to deliver that?

I presume that that should be done as an urgent priority.

It was good to read both the submissions that we received. My first question is for Professor Nolan and follows up on a point that she made about a replacement for Erasmus, given its academic importance in Scotland.

I was looking at the new Welsh scheme, which Professor Nolan said will cost about £9 million. However, at the launch this week, I think that it was said that they have launched a £65 million international exchange scheme, with 15,000 participants from Wales going overseas and 10,000 participants coming to study or work in Wales. Presumably a Scottish equivalent would mean significantly more students than that. They have targeted people from non-traditional backgrounds in order to improve learning opportunities for people with additional learning needs, which looks progressive.

Will you say a bit about what you would be looking for in a future Erasmus approach, whether that is something like the Taith approach or otherwise? What would suit us in Scotland, given that academic and cultural exchange is good for our overall soft power and how our colleges and universities operate is significant for the economy?

It has been an interesting discussion. I am definitely interested in the issues to do with the sharing of knowledge and expertise. It was interesting to hear the cabinet secretary talk about how we can share our knowledge and expertise on renewables, but we can learn from other countries as well. I am thinking about Denmark in particular. About two thirds of homes in Denmark are heated through heat networks, and I think that three fifths of that is done through biomass and not fossil fuels. Such learning has to be a two-way process.

Cabinet secretary, you kicked off your comments by talking about the shift that has occurred two years on from Brexit. Quite a few of our witnesses have raised that issue, and two of them in particular—Dr Kirsty Hughes and Anthony Salamone—said that we need a better post-Brexit engagement approach and a better set of priorities. What are your comments on that? Is there a new international development strategy to come, particularly in light of the comments that you made at the start of the meeting about reduced trade relations with our neighbours in Europe?

I wanted to flag up the Danish issue because the Copenhagen office gives us an opportunity that we must seize with both hands.

In my opening question, I spoke about articulating a post-Brexit strategy, which previous witnesses have talked about. I get your point that the situation changes day by day, but there is also something about those relationships and the points that Mark Ruskell made about international relations in terms of a concordat across the UK with our partner countries in the EU. Will you talk about the need for a clear post-Brexit strategy and say how that links to the hubs that we have abroad and ways of increasing transparency about how they work?

I am not looking to be told absolutely everything, because there has to be a degree of give and take, but I would like to hear something about key priorities and the thematic approach. You talked about that in relation to international development, but I would like to hear more about it in relation to Europe as well. What are our priorities in that regard? Some witnesses said that our priorities should be tight but, of course, everyone suggests that the focus should be on the issues that they are interested in. We have heard today about the importance of education and cultural links. You mentioned economic development and trade, and the issue of climate change is also important. What is the strategy? What are the objectives under those headings, and how can they be linked to the hubs?