Hansard

I very much welcome the fact that we are having a debate on the importance of the culture sector. On a note of consensus, I agree with a lot of what the culture secretary has said about the importance of the culture sector to Scotland. The sector has a value in itself as an expression of our national identity and in allowing people to participate in the arts, enriching their life experience and allowing both young and old to develop their talents.

We should also recognise the role of the many volunteers throughout Scotland who participate in the arts and allow others to participate. Without them, many of the arts activities, festivals and events that take place in Scotland simply would not be able to happen.

There is also an enormous economic benefit from arts and culture. The creative industries are estimated to be worth around £5.8 billion to Scotland and to support tens of thousands of jobs. From local events such as Highland games, which are run throughout the summer, to the outstanding output of our national companies such as Scottish Opera, the arts are there for everyone and help to attract visitors from around the globe to contribute to our economic growth as a nation.

The Scottish Government—we have just heard this from the culture secretary—has been crowing about the support for the culture sector in the draft Scottish budget for the coming financial year. The culture secretary has talked about a game-changing increase of £34 million in the budget to support arts and culture, much of which will be allocated to the funding body Creative Scotland. Those additional funds are welcome, as they come on the back of a very difficult period for culture funding. In the previous financial year, there was a cut of nearly £5 million in the budget allocation for arts and culture. The proposed funding for 2025-26 not only replaces that but provides a substantial uplift.

However, although the increased funding is undoubtedly welcome, it tells only part of the story. Giving evidence to the Parliament’s Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee last week, the National Galleries of Scotland warned that budget pressures might lead to it having to shut one of its buildings, which currently comprise the Scottish national gallery and the Royal Scottish Academy on the Mound, the Scottish national portrait gallery on Queen Street and the two buildings of the Scottish national gallery of modern art. The Scottish budget for 2025-26 gives NGS a 9 per cent rise in funding. However, the rise in staffing costs, which is driven partly by the United Kingdom Government’s increase in employer national insurance contributions and partly by Scottish National Party policies, such as the cutting of the working week for state employees from 37 to 35 hours and the prohibition on compulsory redundancies, means that that organisation—that is just one—simply cannot balance the books.

Anne Lyden, the NGS director general, told the committee that she was having to look at restricting opening hours or even closing one of the sites entirely to save costs. In the same evidence session, Historic Environment Scotland said that it was having to look at introducing entry fees for some sites that are currently free to visit to address its budget black hole.

It is not just at the national level that we see the sort of financial pressures that I alluded to in my earlier intervention on the cabinet secretary. At the weekend, along with hundreds of other locals, I attended a rally in Perth. Representatives of communities across Perth and Kinross were there to show their support for local libraries that are under threat of closure. In order to address a funding gap, Culture Perth and Kinross, an arm’s-length body that is wholly funded by SNP-run Perth and Kinross Council, has proposed shutting five local libraries. We heard time and again from speakers at the rally that those libraries are not just a resource for borrowing books but important hubs for community life. They host a number of activities, and their loss would have a devastating impact, particularly on the young, the elderly and the disadvantaged.

That pattern is repeated right across Scotland. Libraries are under threat of closure in Moray and Aberdeenshire and cultural venues face closure. Dundee Contemporary Arts, for example, is warning that its financial future is still unclear, as Dundee City Council seeks to make savings of £15 million. Museums are also under pressure. The briefing for this debate from Museums Galleries Scotland gives some examples. Alyth museum in Perth and Kinross has been closed, and Dundee City Council is proposing to cut funding to the Dundee Heritage Trust, which runs the important Verdant Works museum and the RRS Discovery attractions. In Stirling, uncertainty over funding has led the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum to warn that it might have to sell off some of its historic artefacts to compensate for the lack of investment by the local authority.

That is happening right across Scotland. I will give another example from Stirling. The Labour administration on the council is looking to scrap music tuition in schools. That is a vital cultural resource that is an important component in helping to deliver well-rounded educational opportunities, particularly for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds whose parents might not be able to afford to pay for private tuition.

There are also pressures elsewhere. Last week, I raised in the chamber the issue of music venues that are under severe financial pressure because of rising costs, not the least of which are the national insurance increases. Music venues were given 40 per cent business rates relief in the recent budget. That is a welcome intervention, but it applies only to those with a rateable value of up to and including £51,000. According to the Music Venue Trust, that excludes one third of its members, which are being put at a competitive disadvantage when compared with similar venues south of the border, where that constraint does not apply. The likes of the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh, Nice N Sleazy in Glasgow and Hootananny in Inverness will get no financial benefit at a time when they are seeing substantial rising costs.

While all that goes on, Creative Scotland faces serious questions about its future. My colleague Stephen Kerr will say more about that later in the debate. Last year’s decision to award the Rein project more than £80,000 in public money was nothing short of a scandal. It transpired that that money was going towards the production of what was, in effect, a pornographic film featuring live sex. Creative Scotland’s explanations about what due diligence was done before the funding was awarded have been utterly unconvincing. The project should have been properly investigated before any payment of public money was made. If such an investigation was not done, the organisation was not carrying out the appropriate checks.

That is not where issues with Creative Scotland begin and end. It was also rocked by the disclosure that a member of staff had urged a shop not to stock gender-critical books, including, specifically, a publication by the Scottish poet and performer Jenny Lindsay. Although the staff member in question was disciplined, that situation raises serious questions about the culture and operation of the very body that is supposed to encourage free speech and expression in a diverse Scotland.

It is welcome that Creative Scotland is now under review by the Scottish Government. I was interested to hear the announcement about the appointment of Dame Sue Bruce to conduct that review, and we await further details of the likely timescale and how the review will be conducted. It is not the principle of having an arm’s-length arts funding body that is in question, but rather whether, given its history of errors, Creative Scotland is a body that is fit for purpose that can have the confidence of both the culture sector and the wider Scottish population.

Although the Scottish National Party might crow about the additional funding for culture in the coming budget, the serious problems that the sector faces are substantial and they are not going away. Unless we start to address those problems—in particular, the potential loss of local facilities and activities across Scotland—Scotland’s cultural offer to our own population and to visitors will be diminished. Those are the points covered in the amendment in my name.

I move amendment S6M-16092.3, to leave out from second “welcomes” to end and insert:

“recognises the important contribution that volunteers make to the vitality of Scotland’s culture sector; acknowledges that the culture sector has been subjected to repeated budgetary mismanagement by the Scottish Government and that the draft Budget 2025-26 still leaves the sector in a precarious position; notes that large music venues are not supported by the provisions on business rates relief in the draft Budget; recognises that key cultural areas, such as libraries and music tuition, still face cuts due to the constraints facing local authority budgets; notes that Creative Scotland remains under review by the Scottish Government, and trusts that public funds will not in future be used to support pornographic material, and urges the Scottish Government to foster innovation and participation in Scotland’s culture sector to ensure that it remains vibrant for generations to come.”