Chamber and committees

My first question is about the voice that people in the developing world have in all this. You have mentioned and referred to that. I am keen to know what can be done to bring that powerful voice to the fore, specifically at COP26. Is it likely to be heard?

I want to build on the point that Jamie Livingstone just made about the nature or shape of COP26. We often talk about COP26 in quite abstract terms, without much of an idea of what the agenda and format look like and who is allowed to attend what. Given the concern that we have heard expressed about ensuring that the voices of the global south are heard, will you talk about how your organisations or the organisations that you are affiliated to engage with COP26 and what bits of it?

In the interests of time, I will address my question purely to Mr Nhlema. For the benefit of people who are watching, can you give an indication of how dramatically the landscape in Malawi has changed over the past 40 years? Deforestation was mentioned. The problems are all connected. When I was in Malawi, two ladies came up to me and very politely but very forcefully pointed out that I had come in a car, that they had to walk an extra 2 miles every day to get water and that there was a connection between those two things. All these things are connected, but can you give an indication of how the landscape has changed?

I heard it put diplomatically there that it is unclear what role the Scottish Government might have. That question would have to be addressed to the UK hosts of the conference.

I will move on to another theme. What lessons can the Scottish Government learn from not just COP but some of the climate justice issues that your organisations are raising about how to mainstream the things that the Government is doing in international development into all parts of government in Scotland?

Dr Turner, you mentioned the perfect storm that might arise from the situation following Brexit. One of the issues, which you touched on, concerns trade deals. Will you give us more of your views on the implications that trade deals might have for the kind of meat that comes into the country and animal welfare standards? Will it be even more of a perfect storm if the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 has an impact on Scotland’s discretion to alter some of these things by its own hand?

I represent some islands, and I appreciate the fact that Kirsty Jenkins talked about treating islands exceptionally. She also spoke about the need to reduce food miles in the longer term. However, does she acknowledge that, on the islands, as in many other parts of Scotland, the whole lamb industry is built on livestock being moved around? To move a bit further down the evolutionary scale, the prawn industry is based on the live transport of prawns, as it is not possible to transport them in any other way, and somewhere in the region of 90 per cent of the market for prawns is in France and Spain. Does Kirsty Jenkins appreciate that, notwithstanding everything that she has just said, we have to be slightly careful when talking about reducing food miles, promoting local markets, and pretending that we can undo those realities any time soon?

On the basis of what you have just said, minister, would it be fair to say that this is an uncontentious piece of legislation?

It was interesting to hear the descriptions of the animal welfare problems that could arise from the 2020 act if we are not careful. Dr Turner mentioned ambitions for animal welfare. What might your ambitions be if we intend to keep pace with European legislation? Aquaculture has been mentioned, but what other ambitions might you have?

I appreciate that some of these issues will have been covered but, as Columbo would say, I have just one more question. It is possibly relevant to both witnesses.

Iain Munro mentioned the potential for inequalities to deepen as we come out of the experience of Covid. I am curious to know whether that means that you will have to rethink specifically what you do in your relationship with schools. That is where efforts to overcome inequality through public policy usually begin, although I suppose that they may begin pre-school.

My question was, do we budget as a country that recognises the need to have joined-up working between the arts and different sectors, or does the expenditure for such an exercise fall always on the arts sector?