Chamber and committees

This has been the most challenging budget for Scotland since devolution. The UK Government’s Autumn Statement was very disappointing and cut the Scottish Government’s capital allocation by over 10%. This means the Scottish Government faces tough choices on where to allocate the budget available. Previously, budget allocations for Agricultural Transformation Fund (ATF) were allocated to the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) 2022, to support the purchase of low emission slurry spreading equipment and slurry store covers and to the Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS) in 2023 to support the extension nationally of the slurry storage option. In the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24, the demand for support through the Sustainable Agriculture Grant Scheme (SACGS) was around £3m and £2m respectively, which was lower than anticipated and, subsequently, the budget for both years was under-committed. Given this position, it is anticipated that the proposed budget of £3m for financial year 2024-25 should be sufficient to cover demand for slurry storage options, accordingly, there should be no impact on farmers and crofters who wish to apply for installing or upgrading slurry storage facilities.

Much has already been delivered under the Hydro Nation Strategy, as set out in the annual reports.

https://www.gov.scot/policies/water/hydro-nation/

Going forward the programme will continue to benefit from Scottish Government spend, with a proposed £2.8 million allocated to 2024-25, and will deliver through the additional input of partners such as The James Hutton Institute and Scottish Water, who benefit from Scottish Government funding, and the Hydro Nation Chair.

The 2024-25 Scottish Budget settlement for Forestry and Land Scotland does not impact the use of car park charges at sites on Scotland’s national forests and land as part of the agency’s sustainable forest and visitor management strategy.

Creative Scotland advertised 22 jobs in 2023. 20 roles were appointed, 1 closed without an offer and 1 closed with interviews taking place in January 2024. 18 were filled in Edinburgh, 2 in Glasgow and 0 outwith Edinburgh/Glasgow.

Whilst all roles have a contractual base location of either Edinburgh or Glasgow, since 2020 all roles at Creative Scotland have the ability of hybrid and remote working. Through this, Creative Scotland have benefitted from opening their talent pool to many regions across Scotland including the Highland and Islands, Perthshire and Ayrshire.

The Scottish Government has long identified the intrinsic importance of Intangible Cultural Heritage(ICH) for local communities and as part of our national identity. We therefore support and welcome UK Government finally deciding to notify their intention to ratify ICH on 23 December 2023 and will continue to encourage, support and collaborate with our four nations colleagues as the ratification process proceeds.

As the member will know, Scotland has been a vocal proponent of ratification and is considered to be ahead of the other nations as we already have an online ICH inventory https://ichscotland.org/ as a result of collaborative work between Museums Galleries Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland and Creative Scotland.

Regarding analysis of the estimated total value of Scotland’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, as ICH is by definition intangible and is very much community led such analysis would require that the definitions/approaches/ assessment frameworks needed to undertake this analysis would need to be developed.

At present this formal analysis has not taken place but will no doubt form part of the collaborative work of the 4 nations group which will be working together before and after the UK Government ratifies ICH.

As formal ratification work continues, the Scottish Government remains committed to supporting ICH in our local communities, whether through increasing access to traditional skills, providing ways to experience or participate in the performing arts or supporting community art projects. We will also continue to support our public bodies, national performing companies and agencies to ensure all people in Scotland can access ICH.

Creative Scotland received applications from 361 cultural organisations with a total ask of £96m per year for their Multi Year Funding programme, which will commence from 2025-26.

The Scottish Government expect the £96m indicative request figure for the Multi Year Funding Programme to reduce once Creative Scotland has assessed applications and completed necessary due diligence.

The outcome from Stage One of the Multi Year Funding process will be announced at the end of February 2024.

We are increasing funding to the culture sector by £15.8m next financial year to £196.6m. This is the first step on the route to investing at least £100m more annually in culture and the arts by the financial year 2028-29. In 2025-2026 we aim to provide an additional £25m to the culture sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24265 on 15 January 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Complaints made to Creative Scotland are handled in line with their published Complaints Handling Procedure , which is available to download on Creative Scotland’s website. In 2023, six formal complaints were made and all have been successfully resolved in line with their published procedure.

The Scottish Government is increasing funding to the culture sector by £15.8m next financial year to £196.6m. This is the first step on the route to investing at least £100m more annually in culture and the arts by the financial year 2028-29. In 2025-2026 we aim to provide an additional £25m to the culture sector. This commitment to additional funding despite the challenging budget situation signals our confidence in the Scottish culture sector.

Through this increased investment we want to drive up opportunities for participation in creative pursuits, support the production of new works, and ensure that Scotland’s cultural output has platforms at home and abroad.

We will continue to work with the culture sector to identify barriers to immediate and long-term recovery. The Scottish Government will also continue to do everything within our powers and resources to help those most affected by current economic challenges.

The Scottish Government recognises the emerging seaweed industry is growing in scale and can provide a host of benefits to local communities, the environment, and contribute to the sustainable development of a Blue Economy through production of innovative and low-carbon products.

We commissioned research on ' Understanding the potential scale for seaweed-based industries in Scotland ', which was published in February 2022. This report explores the key areas of growth potential for the seaweed sector and the wider economic and social impacts of possible growth scenarios. As a result of this report, and to ensure that the seaweed sector in Scotland develops sustainably, the Scottish Government is funding, in partnership with Crown Estate Scotland, a 3-year business development manager position at the Scottish Seaweed Industry Association to support the growth ambitions of the Scottish seaweed sector.