Chamber and committees

Thank you. I will move to questions from my colleagues. I invite Ms Boyack to come in first.

On behalf of all my colleagues, I thank you very much for your attendance at the committee this morning. It has been really helpful to us. I hope that we can look forward to continuing to have the presidency come to our committee and that we can maintain those connections with the European Union.

I suspend the meeting so that witnesses can change over.

I give a warm welcome back to everyone. We now move to agenda item 3. As part of our budget scrutiny, we will take evidence on the culture portfolio spending for 2023-24. We are joined by Angus Robertson MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture. He is joined by Rachael McKechnie, deputy director of major events and themed years in the Scottish Government. Thank you both for coming this morning. Cabinet secretary, I invite you to make an opening statement.

Thank you very much for offering to do that for us, cabinet secretary.

I move to questions from the committee and invite Mr Cameron first.

Thank you. I follow up on the line of questioning that was pursued by Ms Minto and Mr Golden. It is about a cut elsewhere, cabinet secretary, but you have mentioned the production of “Mayflies” as an exemplar from BBC Scotland. However, much concern has been expressed in the media by people who are key to our festivals and cultural output in Scotland—Tommy Smith, from the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra; Nicola Benedetti, who now leads the Edinburgh International Festival; and people from our piping communities—about proposed cuts to BBC Radio Scotland’s output in classical, jazz and piping music. If those cuts go ahead, what impact would they have on the ability for emerging talent and excellent exemplars of leading people in jazz, classical and piping music to be able to showcase their work and ensure the future of those areas?

On that note, I thank the cabinet secretary and Ms McKechnie for their attendance this morning.

You opened by talking about Ukraine. I was lucky enough to attend the Nordic Council in the latter part of last year, and Ukraine dominated the discussions there. A few members are interested in that area. I bring in Dr Allan.

Ambassador, you have mentioned young people quite a few times. My experience at the Nordic Council showed me how much the youth from each country were included in the process. They took part in the plenary sessions and were fully involved.

As a country, we were very active in the Erasmus exchange across Europe. Considering the economic challenges and the growth areas that you see for young people, how can our educational establishments and young people continue to engage in that kind of exchange across Europe, albeit that that would be outwith the European Union?

I turn to our remit. The committee has a long name, which includes not only constitution and external affairs but culture. Last year, we had an international culture summit, with a special day that was focused on Ukraine and its culture, which was about how we might be able to sustain Ukrainians’ cultural identity, to help them to maintain their collections and to support Ukrainian culture. During the Edinburgh festival, we had performances from the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra and the Ukrainian Freedom Ballet.

As the dreadful war in Ukraine continues, what is the European Union doing to support and celebrate Ukrainian culture?

Good morning, and welcome to the second meeting in 2023 of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee.

The first item on the agenda is a decision on taking business in private. Are members content to take item 4 in private?

Members indicated agreement.