Chamber and committees

Music tourism makes an important contribution to the Scottish economy, attracting overseas visitors as well as locals to enjoy live music at festivals and venues across Scotland, many of which have an international reputation for excellence.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that there is a thriving music industry in Scotland and so provided £750,000 across 2021-22 and 2022-23 to enable Scotland on Tour to take place. The programme facilitated new concerts in venues across Scotland to support the sector recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. While there are no plans to reopen the fund, we continue to work with the music sector, including through further and higher education, to ensure that live music continues to be resilient and world-class.

EventScotland’s existing funding programmes offer opportunities for all event organisers, including live music events, to apply for funding on the basis that it meets the programme criteria.

Within Scotland’s UNESCO Trail microsite, Glasgow’s status as a UNESCO City of Music is highlighted. Earlier this year, EventScotland welcomed five journalists representing eight titles from the UK, France and Germany to explore and promote the Trail. They experienced Celtic Connections and a city music walking tour.

We will continue to work with a range of stakeholder groups, such as the Music Education Partnership Group and the Scottish Music Industry Association, to promote excellence in music and provide opportunities for the musicians of the future.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing a long-term strategic approach to skills and careers in the sector across the creative sector.

The music talent pipeline is already supported through a very significant offer across Scotland’s Colleges at NC, HNC and HND level covering performance, production, sound engineering, music business and event management. There is also increased specialisation at degree level across Scotland’s Higher Education sector, covering classical, contemporary and traditional music disciplines. Further information should be available from Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

In addition, Creative Scotland plays a major role in talent development and supporting the creative talent pipeline through the National Lottery funded Open Fund for Individuals which offers early career funding to emerging artists. Through their Targeted Routes and organisations funds, Creative Scotland support organisations and events such as Wide Days, the SAMAs and Showcase Scotland Expo, which provide mentoring for young acts.

The Scottish Government notes the findings of the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index ranking on "excellence at sport ", and would like to draw the members attention to response to S6W-20781 on 4 September 2023.

In terms of performance sports, sportscotland and Scottish sports often punch above their weight. There are currently 144 Scottish athletes on UK Sport/sportscotland Podium and Podium Potential World-Class Programmes. Over the past four Commonwealth Games, Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and Summer Olympics and Paralympics cycles, Team Scotland has achieved a series of "best ever" results.

In addition, sportscotland recently announced record annual investment figures to support the delivery of sport and physical activity. Across 2023–2024, sportscotland will invest up to £36.7 million of Scottish Government and National Lottery funding into Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport (SGBs), local authorities, and wider national partners. This includes significant investment and support for grassroots sport in Scotland, supporting local authority partners in the delivery of community and school sport through Community Sport Hubs (CSHs) and the Active Schools Network.

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

The Scottish Government notes the findings of the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index ranking on "contribution to innovation and science", and would like to draw the members attention to response to S6W-20781 on 4 September 2023.

Scotland’s world-class university research and its key outputs of new knowledge and insights are fundamental to green economic recovery and growth. The most recent Research Excellence Framework found that there is world-leading (4*) research in every one of our universities in Scotland, and almost 90% of its impact was judged as outstanding or very considerable.

Scotland's National Innovation Strategy sets out a vision for Scotland to become one of the most innovative small countries in the world over the next decade.

Scotland’s research sector is highly regarded in the international community, with publications related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals research being cited twice as often as the global average and over half of this research carried out with international partners.

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

The location of funded organisations broken down by local authority area was as follows:

• 1 Aberdeen
• 1 East Ayrshire
• 1 East Dunbarton
• 4 East Renfrewshire
• 5 Edinburgh
• 1 Falkirk
• 2 Fife
• 11 Glasgow
• 1 Highland
• 1 Inverclyde
• 1 Midlothian
• 1 North Ayrshire
• 4 North Lanarkshire
• 1 South Ayrshire
• 4 South Lanarkshire
• 2 Stirling
• 1 West Lothian

The Scottish Government has subscribed to the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index? (NBI) survey since 2008 and biennially since 2010.

The Scottish Government has used the NBI to assess and monitor how Scotland is perceived around the world. Data from the NBI is used to update one of the Scottish Government’s 81 National Performance Framework (NPF) indicators on ‘Scotland’s reputation’.

The NBI examines the image of 60 nations by looking at a country’s reputation along six dimensions of national competence: Exports, Governance, Culture, People, Tourism, Immigration and Investment. Together these provide an overall indication of a nation’s reputation.

The data supplied through the NBI should be viewed as a snapshot of people’s attitudes and perceptions of Scotland, which is useful in helping us understand more about Scotland’s international reputation. By subscribing biennially, Scotland can track its reputation in the long term. This data can also be used to compare Scotland’s reputation with that of other countries and to monitor how Scotland sees itself. We do not set target rankings.

The most recent NBI publication reports on findings from the 2022 data. Scotland is expected to be included in the sample of the 60 measured countries in 2023, as it is every year; however, we did not subscribe to the survey in 2023.

The Scottish Government notes the findings of the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index ranking on exports and would like to draw the member’s attention to response to S6W-20781 on 4 September 2023.

A Trading Nation (ATN) is our national export growth strategy, which takes an evidence-based approach to maximising our efforts in priority markets and sectors that can yield the greatest opportunities for trade and help us achieve our target of an increase in Scotland’s GDP from 20% to 25% over ten years. As well as targeting the economic benefits of export growth, ATN aligns with the key guiding principles of our Vision for Trade strategy. The Vision for Trade focuses on specific actions we are taking to achieve broader economic, social, and environmental ambitions by ensuring that the decisions we make in terms of where, how, and who we trade with align with those key principles and will enhance our global trade reputation.

The Scottish Government notes the findings of the Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index ranking on "contribution to innovation and science", and would like to draw the members attention to response to S6W-20781 on 4 September 2023.

Scottish Government-funded initiatives such as the Scotland Asia Partnerships Higher Education Research (SAPHIRE) Fund, have helped to build connections and grow our reputation in research and innovation with key priority countries, such as India.

SAPHIRE is now in its third year and has supported 29 partnerships with ASEAN nations, including Australia, India, Japan, Pakistan, and South Korea, across all disciplines, including key Scottish Government priorities from Net Zero to Health. SAPHIRE has launched its fourth cohort in 2023–24, and eligibility has expanded to New Zealand.

The Scottish Government greatly values our culture sector and the fundamental part it plays in our everyday lives, our national identity, and how we present ourselves to the world. The sector receives significant annual funding from the Scottish Government. We know that this is a worrying time for the sector as organisations recover from the pandemic and deal with the impacts of Brexit and the cost of living and operating crisis.

Our work to support this recovery is ongoing and we will continue to work with the sector to identify barriers to recovery, and do everything within our powers and resources to help those most affected by current economic challenges.

The Scottish Government’s ability to respond to the current financial context is limited due to overall UK Government cuts and by the financial restrictions of devolution, requiring extremely hard funding decisions to be made across the budget.