Chamber and committees

Cabinet secretary, you have talked about the approach that the Government is taking, about competence, about the effects and about some aspects of scrutiny. Those are all valid in the process. How has the Scottish Parliament’s EU law tracker supported the Government’s approach to alignment? Has the Government reflected on that? You have mentioned some sectors and business organisations this morning—how have they managed to co-operate under that process?

One specific area that has been discussed in the past is a Europe that is fit for the digital age. Scotland has ambitions of ensuring that it has the cultural, social and economic benefits of the digital society. Your ambition is to ensure alignment across the sector and across the area. What confidence can we have about assuring personal data and about the law behind that? My basic understanding is that there are still some complexities in achieving that and that it may be difficult to align some of it, depending on the barriers and areas of difficulty that may be approached or received.

You have given us a very honest and stark view of the industry that you all represent and are trying to maintain and sustain. I suspect that, without some of the interventions that you are asking for, the industry or many organisations will be at a tipping point with regard to what might happen next. We have already touched on what might be required to get some financial support. We have touched on the issue of the 90 out of 180-day rule with regard to visas. That would give you some hope, if such areas could be managed and maintained.

What other opportunities do you see, if any, with regard to challenging the situation and where you want the sector to go? The sector is in a dire situation and needs help to progress.

Each of you has talents in your own sector. Are you doing anything collectively to try to make progress or to challenge? We have opportunities here to tackle the Government. Is anyone within your own sectors coming forward with potential solutions? We have heard about some of those this morning, which is really encouraging, but are there others? What are other parts of the world doing in similar situations? Are they doing something that we could support or copy, or does everything have to come from the Government side and from the funding mechanisms that we control here? Is that the only opportunity that we have?

Does anyone else want to add to that?

Are there still some tensions in the Basque situation of the sort that Canada has moved on from? It would be useful to get a view from the gentleman from there.

Good morning, gentlemen. I want to ask you both about the effectiveness of the external engagement between Governments. Professor Paquin, you have mentioned that there is a Westminster-type environment in Canada, as a result of which you have to co-operate and work together to pursue your international engagement policies as individuals in your communities. How do you manage to be effective on both sides? What are you trying to achieve in your areas—that is, in Quebec and the Basque Country? Does the national Government work with you or are there tensions and difficulties in trying to achieve what you want? Do you believe that the system is working well for both of you, or not?

Cabinet secretary, I, like others, recognise the volatility of the situation in which we currently find ourselves and the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding day by day. I pay tribute to the United Nations and to the aid agencies that are trying to unravel that and provide as much support as they can.

The UK Government announced an increase in aid to help, and that has been confirmed. It would be useful to find out what the Scottish and UK Governments are doing to try to increase aid in order to provide support during the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in the region.

As you identify, there are well-co-ordinated emergency response appeal mechanisms. It is good to highlight that they are there to provide support. Many individuals and organisations—and, as we have heard, areas in Scotland that are twinned with affected areas—want to provide support, so people can tap into that resource and try to support them as much as they can.

However, as with all these things, there are also some individuals and organisations that could be problematic, and advice needs to be given as to how that can be managed. There is an element of that, and it needs to be captured to ensure that we do not end up supporting those organisations, even without meaning to, by ways and means that could be misconstrued in some ways. It would be useful to know whether the Scottish Government provides advice, or whether there is a template, to ensure that there is no such potential.

Cabinet secretary, the creative sector has always been resilient and we have all acknowledged that. In your opening statement, you said that there was frustration with the process. I suggest that that frustration is at least enragement.

Creative Scotland has reserves, as do many organisations, and they are there for a potentially rainy day. It is very much a rainy day today. You have acknowledged that the reserves have saved the day for many organisations, and you indicate that there will be no detrimental impact on them. However, we have heard in evidence during the past few weeks that many of those organisations are still struggling to manage. They have talked about a perfect storm, and that has been discussed many times in the past.

There is real fear and anxiety that the sector is on the brink, and the deeds and actions of the Scottish Government have not helped that anxiety and other difficulties of the past few weeks. We would not have seen the demonstrations, petitions and so on if the sector believed that everything in the garden was going in the right direction. That is not the case. People in the sector believe that they are under attack and under threat and that they are fighting for their survival.

In the past few weeks, I have asked questions about the strategies, the working groups and the action plans that the Scottish Government has put together. Those plans all seem to show that there is a desire to support and be involved, but the deeds that we have seen do not seem to marry up to that, and I think that that is where the sector’s frustration comes in. The sector needs reassurance and, at the moment, it is not getting it.

At this week’s demonstration, someone asked whether you made a mistake by not putting the money back, because they could not believe that we would be at this stage.

Thank you.