Hansard

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...