Chamber and committees

Is there a routine consultation on such issues, however brief? I should just mention that, with regard to the Mediterranean example that you provided, I would say that Dundee is the Milan of the north.

I always enjoyed my time on the European Committee of the Regions—a very important forum. I hope that we can continue to feed into that process in some way, shape or form.

We discussed consultation exercises. On any decision not to use powers, what sort of consultation exercise is conducted with COSLA and other relevant stakeholders?

I have nothing to declare.

Throughout the pandemic, there has been a significant impact on events organisations and theatres, which are most dependent on income earned through in-person attendance. It is great to see them returning to putting on performances, and I am sure that everyone will enjoy the panto season. Naturally, there is still a degree of uncertainty and a weak appetite to take a risk to book a show for next year and to do long-term planning. How could the Scottish Government help to support them to make production bookings and assist with that long-term planning?

I would like to explore another area—that of partnership working, particularly with local authorities. We have looked at Creative Scotland funding on a geographical basis, but what are your thoughts on having mandatory local authority cultural reporting and publication of a strategy, so that there is transparency? In that way, we could see which local authorities are proactively embracing culture to embed it in communities.

Yes. A plethora of areas are involved, some of which are distinct to the circular economy CPG, such as waste, recycling, incineration and the waste hierarchy. However, I see the opportunity of joint CPG work on, for example, renewable energy, where there is synergy with an existing CPG. I have done that in the past with the Nordic countries CPG, which I established in the previous parliamentary session. There is an opportunity to work across different groups, but there are areas, such as textiles, that have not seen a great deal of sector focus in the Parliament to date. I see the CPG as adding value to our political discussions but also being of value to the people of Scotland.

Thank you. I have to go to my other committee now.

Thank you, convener. As committee members will be aware, the circular economy is an economic system that involves circulating materials in as high value a state as possible for as long as possible in order to extract the maximum value from them. That encompasses a variety of areas and sectors that are relevant to the people of Scotland as well as decision makers in the Parliament. The purpose of the group is to explore and address many of those issues. Nine MSPs from the Conservatives, the Scottish National Party and Labour attended the group’s initial meeting, and we have nominated four of those members as office bearers—one to serve as convener and three as deputy conveners. Again, those are cross-party appointments. As part of our secretariat and treasury, we also have four environmental organisations, which will help to support the group’s functions.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for the group will be deciding which topic to begin with, but we are looking forward very much to establishing the group, if the committee approves it, and to exploring and addressing many of those issues.

Yes, I think so. Housing is another area where there might be overlap, but the CPG offers a distinct vantage point from which to approach how we build our houses and heat our homes. In that way, we can add value to existing CPGs and complement their activities.

I will explore two aspects of Scotland’s role on the world stage, and I will start with Jamie Livingstone. The first part is about how we get more bang for our buck from the investment that Scotland makes in tackling climate justice. Would a thematic approach help to achieve that? We potentially face water wars between competing states over riparian basins, watercourses and aquifers and, at household level, there may be water scarcity. Equally, the focus could be on human trafficking, access to education, labour standards, renewables or agriculture. There is a whole variety of themes. Is it worth while exploring that?

Jamie Livingstone’s submission said:

“The Scottish Government should demonstrate its commitment to climate justice by making clear its opposition to the approval of new oil and gas licenses”.

What impact, if any, is the Scottish Government’s failure to meet emissions targets over the past three years having in this sphere?