Hansard

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...