Chamber and committees

We will get the budget statement when we return from recess, so there might be an opportunity after that for Creative Scotland to get more clarity on which funds it can progress with and which might have to be—

I will follow on from the questions about the youth music initiative. Are there any other projects or organisations that are funded by Creative Scotland that faced the same issue in relation to taking forward non-contracted work?

Thank you, convener. I apologise—I had to attend a meeting of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. I have had a member of staff watching this meeting, so I hope that I will not repeat questions that have already been asked.

Are there other organisations that use that model that could be used as an example of why it is important? It is not suggested that the person has to be based in Scotland or be Scottish; what is needed is somebody who has knowledge of the Scottish circumstances.

You mentioned concerns about Barnett consequentials. Will you expand on those and say what assurances you are looking for?

I call Fiona Hyslop.

I call Graham Simpson.

I will bring in Fiona Hyslop. We now move to questions that are more focused on pre-budget scrutiny, and we will be looking for suggestions about the budget statement in October and the committee’s work in the area.

I have a final question on the proposed memorandum of understanding to create alignment between the UK Infrastructure Bank and the Scottish National Investment Bank. At the moment, the objectives for those two banks and institutions are quite similar. For example, they are both concerned with net zero ambitions. However, can you foresee a position where they could start to diverge and have different priorities? Is preventing that one of the purposes of having a memorandum of understanding? Why is it important to have that?

Thank you. That brings our evidence session on the LCM to a close. I will suspend the meeting briefly to allow a change of witnesses.