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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee 01 February 2024

01 Feb 2024 · S6 · Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Item of business

National Outcomes

Pete Wishart MP (House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee) Watch on SPTV

First of all, thank you ever so much for the kind invitation to speak to the committee about what we consider to be one of our most important pieces of work in the past few years. Our report is on how Scotland is promoted internationally and looks specifically at the diplomatic network and infrastructure that are provided by the United Kingdom, and at how well the Scottish Government has engaged with the UK Government to make sure that they are utilised to best effect. It is important that our committees continue to make such relationships and ties, and I look forward to being here a lot more in the future—just as you will be more than welcome to attend any inquiry that we are doing in the House of Commons. I will now address the convener’s question. We went to New York and Washington to discuss the issues with colleagues who were identified and categorised as the Scottish diaspora. We had useful meetings with them about the range of activities that they are engaged in, their views about the arrangements that we currently have in place, how well they are supported, and the types of things that they feel are required in order to be the voices of Scotland in their host countries—in particular, America. The US—especially because it has tartan week and the events around that—probably has the best-designed and best put together organisations when it comes to the Scottish diaspora. That is mainly because they have the task, in relation to tartan week, of making sure that the events are organised and co-ordinated, and that people are asked to come across to enjoy the events that are taking place. However, there is a real challenge. We felt their real frustration that their value is not particularly well appreciated and that they are not sufficiently resourced to do some of their work. I know that the Scottish Government has generously given a number of grant supports over the years since tartan week has been in place, but people have, nonetheless, a sense that they seem to be doing it all on their own. All of the people are, of course, volunteers. None of them is in a paid position, so it takes a bit of time and commitment to be part of the collection of groups and organisations relating to the diaspora. They feel that further information is required in relation to how they might amplify the work that is happening in Scotland and promote our many attributes, and that further resourcing could assist them in that mission. It is a traditional image of Scotland that they present, which I do not think will be any surprise. That is the type of activity that a lot of the Caledonian societies, in particular, engage in. There is sense that they are asking how much they could do to promote some of the more modern images of Scotland. In our inquiry, we were keen to harvest the usefulness of all the traditional images that Scotland has as a means and a gateway to presenting a more contemporary image of Scotland in the work that we are currently undertaking. I do not know whether that answers your question, but that was certainly our experience when we met people there. We are all very grateful for their time and indulgence when we were in Washington and New York.

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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee 01 February 2024

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