Chamber and committees

You mentioned the Scottish Government’s commitment to maintaining payments and some difficulties, shall we say, about the UK’s commitment at the other end of the balance sheet. I am sure that the committee will want to put this question to a UK minister at some stage, but has the UK Government explained its position on that to the Scottish Government? What have you said to the UK Government? What communication channels have you tried to set up with it to explain the Scottish Government’s position?

You have mentioned the food and drink sector, but I would be interested to know what contact you have had from other sectors. The obvious ones are fishing and fish processing, but there is also the care sector and tourism. What approaches has the Government had from people in business about what they feel the impacts are?

In relation to what comes under the budget headings, you have talked about backloading some of the things in the islands programme. Can you explain the reasons for that and what that means?

In her questions, Rachael Hamilton attributed support for the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 to the NFUS. There is certainly support for access to markets in England, but more than one committee of the Parliament has had representations from the NFUS about its concerns about the 2020 act. For instance, Andrew McCornick, the former president of the NFUS, said:

“the UK Internal Market proposals put forward limit the devolved administrations’ ability to act if any standards were lowered and give the UK Government a final say in areas of devolved policy”.

The NFUS said that publicly, and we have had representations from the industry to more than one committee. Has the Government had representations about some of those concerns, too?

Before I ask about issues relating to the funding of island areas in the budget, I will ask another question relating to islands and, in some ways, to crofting. You are very aware of the housing problems on the islands. We have spoken before about your not being the housing minister, but where, in the Government’s thinking, does the rural housing crisis come into your work?

Before I ask specifically about the islands, I will think about the Highlands and Islands a little and ask about the Crofting Commission, if I may, convener.

The budget for the Crofting Commission seems to be up. Will you say a bit more about the plans for how to use that budget in new ways this year, cabinet secretary? You will be more than aware of people’s frustrations regarding delays when dealing with the Crofting Commission, which, I hasten to add, is not a criticism of its staff.

We have rightly talked for a while about the legislative and constitutional fallout from Brexit. I will ask a little about the economic consequences in rural Scotland, particularly the impact on population in rural areas. You will be relieved to know that I will not give a village-by-village account of the impact of Brexit on population in my constituency. Suffice it to say that there are fragile communities where it has made a difference. What evidence or information do you have about the impact on rural Scotland of the absence to some extent of people from eastern Europe?

Earlier, you touched on the UK Government’s approach to finding responses—“solutions” is perhaps too strong a word—to some of these issues. For instance, approaches have been made for lorry drivers and care workers. Those proposals have been for relatively short-term interventions on visas, for example. Given the interconnected nature of communities and local economies in rural Scotland, do those short-term proposals work there, or do we need longer-term solutions?

Thank you. I have a question for Dr Stein and Mr Johnson. You both talked about cultural diplomacy and soft power and, rightly, you have been careful not to draw too fine or too complete a distinction between art for art’s sake, as it were, and culture with diplomacy in mind. I think that it is right not to draw that distinction too sharply.

Could you say a bit more about the work that is being done to promote Scottish culture overseas? You specifically mentioned literature. I am curious to know what the aims are and whether they are specifically cultural.