Chamber and committees

Mr Macpherson wants to ask a supplementary.

When we did our investigation into the international offices, all the evidence that we took was positive. There was good work and complementary work—everything that you have just spoken about was there. The British Council, for instance, said that it would welcome more offices and efforts opening up. However, domestically—Seona Shand touched on this—the discourse is that we hear terms such as “pretend embassies” and “waste of money”. Does the intergovernmental strain at the moment break through into the perception internationally? In relation to the rest of the UK, is Scotland the only country that is experiencing such tension, or is that shared by the Welsh Government and in Northern Ireland?

Agenda item 2 is an evidence session as part of the committee’s continuing inquiry into the Scottish Government’s national outcomes and indicators relating to international policy.

We are delighted to be joined this morning by Seona Shand, international trade director, Scottish Chambers of Commerce; Vicki Miller, director of marketing and digital, VisitScotland; Gareth Williams, head of policy, Scottish Council for Development and Industry; and Anthony Salamone, managing director, European Merchants. A warm welcome to you all.

I will open with an introductory question, which I have based on Ms Shand’s written evidence to the committee; thank you to those who made written submissions. The SCC’s submission said:

“Scotland punches above its weight on the global stage ... However, as our competitors step up their game and the uncertain world of migration, business and investment and travel evolves, we need to shift up a gear.”

I am interested in the gear shift, and in finding out whether everyone shares the opinion that those are the main challenges in the work that the Scottish Government is doing.

That exhausts the committee’s questions. I thank you all for your attendance.

The committee will now move into private session.

I have a brief supplementary before we move on. How does Scotland’s reputation, which is a measurable indicator, relate to, say, the perception of Scotland’s cultural offering, and how do all these things link in with what happens?

Ms Miller, do you want to go first on that?

I will take a supplementary question from Mr Bibby and then come back to Mr Cameron.

Agenda item 2 is evidence for our inquiry into culture in communities, which has focused on a place-based approach to culture. We are joined by Alastair Evans, interim director of strategy and planning, and Karen Dick, head of place, partnership and communities, both from Creative Scotland. They will not be making opening statements, because they have both submitted written evidence, for which I thank them.

The Scottish Government’s culture strategy committed to working with Creative Scotland to

“map local authority support for culture and to explore future models of collaboration between national and local bodies”.

Please give us an update on how that work is progressing.

Given what you have just said, perhaps we could look at the example of sportscotland, which has a statutory role on community planning partnerships. Its role is quite similar to yours, in that it has responsibility not just for elite sport, which could be seen as equivalent to the work that you do with the national performing companies, but grass-roots sport. Are you a wee bit jealous of sportscotland’s position as it relates to local authorities? Would it help if Creative Scotland were on the same footing with regard to how we want to move forward on the wellbeing society?

That is a really strong message that has come through in a lot of our evidence sessions, not least those in Edinburgh last Friday. One of the board members of WHALE arts described “donut funding”: over time, it diminishes the organisation not to have that core element. That is almost exacerbated if there is a building associated with an organisation, but even for organisations that do not have responsibility for a building, that key administration and management strategy element has to be supported.

I see that none of our members have any final questions. It looks as though we have exhausted them. Thank you for coming.