Committee
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee 07 December 2023
07 Dec 2023 · S6 · Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Item of business
Historic Environment Strategy
I know that that issue is close to your heart, convener, and to the hearts of many members, not just of the committee but across the chamber. I gave a bit of an update when I answered Roz McCall’s question yesterday. Seventy buildings were impacted by high-level masonry issues. At this stage, 53 have now opened or partially opened. Historic Environment Scotland confirmed to me that it expects all the inspections and work to be finished by March next year, which is ever closer as we move swiftly through this year. You asked about analysis. HES constantly analyses and reviews the issue. It has considered different ways to speed up inspection processes and complete more detailed inspections—and, therefore, get more detailed work done. That includes using technology. I visited Tantallon castle in the summer when it reopened to the public and was shown some of the damage that climate change is doing there. HES has used drones to identify issues that have come up, but getting a person up there has been much more fruitful because, sometimes, the drone does not tell you everything that you can find out by getting human eyes and hands on what it looks and feels like. HES has been doing a lot of that. All the different sites have different needs and issues. HES has been working closely with us and all the sites to identify those issues as quickly as possible, find the remedies to fix them as quickly as possible and get them opened to the public safely. That work is continuing and HES updates its website constantly with the latest inspection data. I would be happy to give you and the committee that link in order to access that information as it is updated. It is updated quite swiftly, so keeping on top of it all through communications with me is one way, but the other way is the update to the public through its website.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Convener
Con
Item 2 is an evidence session on the historic environment strategy, “Our Past, Our Future: The Strategy for Scotland’s Historic Environment”. We are joined t...
The Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development (Christina McKelvie)
SNP
Thank you, convener, and please pass on my best wishes to both Mark and Clare. Thank you for inviting me to give evidence to the committee. As the “Our Past...
The Deputy Convener
Con
Thank you very much, minister, for that statement. I have a question about the impact of closures and restricted access. HES updated the committee last week...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
I know that that issue is close to your heart, convener, and to the hearts of many members, not just of the committee but across the chamber. I gave a bit o...
The Deputy Convener
Con
What can the Scottish Government do to support local communities that might have been affected by that situation?
Christina McKelvie
SNP
Much of the work that has been done at some of those sites has been done with local communities. It is about asking what people want to see from a historic s...
The Deputy Convener
Con
I want to ask you about the phrase “managed decline”, which has been mentioned. In your opening statement, you referred to climate change and the transition ...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
That is not a term that I have ever used or one that I have heard since I came into the job in March. I have heard it spoken about, but not by people who man...
The Deputy Convener
Con
Good. I turn to questions from colleagues.
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
In your opening statement, you spoke about effective engagement, collaboration and partnership. All of those things are vital. Last week, we had the opportu...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
I agree that participation is incredibly important. You will know that the strategy was developed over the summer of 2022, and that participation was at the ...
Alexander Stewart
Con
To make everything work, we need to have the resources, manpower and finances. We have touched on short and medium-term financial planning for the organisati...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
You will not be surprised to hear me say that the current budget round is incredibly tough. However, putting that aside for a second, in 2023-24, the operati...
Neil Bibby (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Good morning, minister. In your opening comments, you said that the shortage of skills has become an even more important issue in the past few years. You tal...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
A combination of things are going on. We have skills challenges in this area generally. One issue that has arisen is the need to create opportunities for you...
Neil Bibby
Lab
It is clear that we need greater investment in skills, and the evidence that we have received backs that up. I welcome the meetings that you are having with ...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
We are working on that information as we speak. On 13 November, Historic Environment Scotland engaged a new programme management team, which includes a data ...
Neil Bibby
Lab
I welcome that. We need to understand more about the shortfalls that exist as regards skills and the investment that is required, so I look forward to receiv...
The Deputy Convener
Con
Two weeks ago, we received highly compelling evidence from Bryan Dixon of the National Trust for Scotland, who said: “Even if the NTS had the finances to de...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
We recognise that there is a challenge there and that we must do something about it. I hope that the committee recognises the work that has been done over th...
Jim Fairlie
SNP
There is a wee issue that I am curious about. We have just finished building our house, and the biggest problem that we had was getting people to do the ston...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
I would always welcome and agree to such an opportunity, but the announcements that we have heard in the past few days on the new immigration measures that t...
Keith Brown (Clackmannanshire and Dunblane) (SNP)
SNP
Good morning, minister. Given that HES has been making more money, I was pleased to hear you say that you are looking at the idea of HES being able to keep a...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
That is an excellent question, which leads on from my response to the earlier questions about the new model that HES is developing. Officials from the Scot...
Keith Brown
SNP
Thanks for that, and that is encouraging but, first of all—this might not be the view of the whole committee—the idea of public bodies accumulating reserves ...
Christina McKelvie
SNP
Any positive approach is possible. I suspect that HES’s imagination has been tempered by the current legal set-up for its operating model. From 2024-25, it w...
The Deputy Convener
Con
I was not aware that Alex Paterson had moved on. I hope that the grilling from the committee last week did not play a role in that.
Christina McKelvie
SNP
I am sure that it did not.
The Deputy Convener
Con
I am sure that it did not. We are grateful for the evidence that he gave. I endorse what Keith Brown said about the need to turbocharge the possibilities t...
Kate Forbes (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP)
SNP
I have a question about the strategy’s laudable aims. The strategy picks up on aims that all Scotland should pull together to try to deliver, such as transit...