Committee
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
Watch on SPTV
That has been a regular feature of our conversations with the Secretary of State. We are fortunate that we have three sessions with him in the parliamentary year, and he has always been keen to bring with him the whole Scotland Office team, including senior civil servants. That features large in the discussions and conversations that we have. I think that we are all keen to de-emphasise some of the difficult issues. I know that this committee is in a position to look again at the matter and perhaps to suggest a way forward, because the situation does, indeed, get in the way of the very good and positive working arrangements that exist throughout the diplomatic network. We know the value in that network. We were told in Washington, and we heard from the missions in the eight UK embassies where the Scottish Government is in place, about the significant added value that the network brings to Scotland. There is an opportunity to engage in a meaningful way, which the normal apparatus of UK diplomacy does not do and does not reach, because of the exclusive focus of Scottish Government officials. It also helps the arrangements of Scottish Development International when there is a Scottish Government mission. That brings things together a bit more and ties them in more with the work of the DBT. There are positive developments. My committee saw just how well all that works, so it would be very unfortunate if anything came along that put it at risk and curtailed the important and good work that has been done.
In the same item of business
The Convener (Clare Adamson)
SNP
Good morning and welcome to the fourth meeting in 2024 of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. We have received apologies from ...
Pete Wishart MP (House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee)
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 ...
The Convener
SNP
Did you engage with the GlobalScot network when you were in New York?
Pete Wishart
We came across people who are associated with the network. We did not sit around the table or have any real in-depth conversations about its work, but we cam...
The Convener
SNP
I will open the meeting to questions from the committee.
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
Good morning, Mr Wishart. It is good to see you. I will touch on intergovernmental co-operation. It is good to see that there seem to be positive links. Th...
Pete Wishart
That was a good part of what we looked at in our inquiry. Some of the disputes and fallouts between the Foreign Secretary and the cabinet secretary did, in f...
Alexander Stewart
Con
You make some very valid points about the constructive work that is required and is being done, which is appreciated. As a member of this committee, I have c...
Pete Wishart
That has been a regular feature of our conversations with the Secretary of State. We are fortunate that we have three sessions with him in the parliamentary ...
Kate Forbes (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP)
SNP
Good morning. A number of Scottish Government staff have been before the committee, and we have discussed some of the distinct advantages of promoting Scotla...
Pete Wishart
There is no doubt whatsoever that those arrangements, which now exist in eight of our major embassies across the world, bring added value to Scotland. Most p...
Kate Forbes
SNP
We have talked about the value to the economy in trade terms. However, Scotland faces challenging demographic forecasts and it is somewhat frustrating that w...
Pete Wishart
Unfortunately, we did not look at that. A number of aspects of the oral evidence suggested that that is the case; we know that we have fantastic reach and th...
The Convener
SNP
I will bring in Mr Ruskell.
Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Green
The “Promoting Scotland Internationally” report is really interesting, and I want to pick up on a couple of points.
The Convener
SNP
Sorry, but Mr Cameron has a supplementary following Ms Forbes’s question. Can I bring him in and then get back to you, Mr Ruskell?
Mark Ruskell
Green
Yes.
The Convener
SNP
Sorry.
Donald Cameron (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
I do not mind if Mark Ruskell goes ahead, in fact.
The Convener
SNP
Right. On you go, Mr Ruskell.
Mark Ruskell
Green
Thanks. I want to pick up on a couple of points in the report. There is a recommendation that the UK Government should work with the Scottish Government to ...
Pete Wishart
I do not think that we recommend directly that the Governments should work together to create some sort of Scottish brand. In our report we concluded that wo...
Mark Ruskell
Green
Regarding the international offices and the joint working between missions and embassies, we find that there are different programmes of work between, say, t...
Pete Wishart
The approach to Scotland across the whole of the UK embassy network could be categorised as mixed. It seems—we were told this consistently by a number of wit...
Donald Cameron
Con
Good morning, Mr Wishart—it is very good to see you. Thank you for your report, too. I want to ask you about the report’s chapter entitled “Beyond the tartan...
Pete Wishart
First, I point out that the introduction to that chapter was not mine. It was probably not the most elegant phrasing of the themes that we were trying to cap...
Donald Cameron
Con
Thank you for that—I did not intend to make that accusation at all. Your report is very clear about that aspect. 10:00 To move on to the linked question ...
Pete Wishart
Is it the diaspora that you are talking about?
Donald Cameron
Con
Yes—the diaspora in particular.
Pete Wishart
Again, we say in the report that it is a much underutilised resource. We reckon that there are 40 million people worldwide who claim some sort of Scottish he...