Chamber and committees

Professor Reid, in your submission, you state:

“The UK government has previously expressed a desire to drive improved environmental outcomes, and has taken powers to achieve this through the Environment Act 2021 which were expressly intended to build upon retained EU environmental law”.

In the context of the REUL bill, what changes could be made to attain that desired impact? Are there other legal mechanisms that could be employed to do that?

Thank you. That is very helpful.

Today’s session is obviously on the continuity act draft annual report. As we have also covered a lot of ground with regard to the retained EU law issue, I think that the cabinet secretary might have spared himself another appearance on that subject.

However, I want to return to the focus of today’s evidence session. There is a lack of clarity on Scottish ministers’ decision-making process around alignment. Cabinet secretary, do you think that the current process around alignment is transparent?

It would be helpful to understand how Scottish ministers monitor new EU legislation—an issue that we covered earlier—for possible alignment and how decisions about that alignment are made. I was wondering how you could publish that information to make it more transparent.

Thank you. That is interesting.

I want to briefly explore the comments from Dr Hood and Professor Young on the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020. I will start with Professor Young. Given that it is Scottish Government policy to align with newly introduced EU law—although that policy has not been enacted yet—we could see a situation whereby there is divergence between certain parts of the UK. If that happens, that would be at odds with the principles of the internal market act. How do you see that playing out, and what could the UK and Scottish Governments, along with other devolved Administrations, do to pre-empt that situation and/or resolve any issues that may arise?

I am interested in probing the mapping exercise and what it might look like on a practical level. On the one hand, there are cultural organisations based here in Scotland that might have funding or other opportunities, so how do we match them with the Ukrainians who are here? Could we have something like a skills database? Could they access an app to flag where they were, who they were and what they could do?

Moreover, how do we link all that with artists and others based in Ukraine? It sounds like there is a database there, but how do we link all that up quickly and easily?

Building on Anna Bubnova’s point about preserving films, I wonder how much pressure there is on preserving collections in museums and preserving cultural buildings, and what we could do to support that.

Thank you. That is very worrying but useful to hear.

I will start with a specific question for Alex Paterson, which follows up on Mark Ruskell’s initial question. At Arbroath abbey, there has been no access to the abbey itself for years now, as it awaits high-level masonry inspections. Clearly, that will have an impact on tourism in the Arbroath area. What are the timescales for the next stage beyond inspection and thereafter when might the abbey be able to open up fully? If you do not have the details, I am happy to receive a written submission regarding that.