 dw i yn ei ddestru ar y de— 1, 2, 9, 5, 8 yn y name of Fiona Hyslop, ond y contribution of culture visitor attractions and events to Scotland's economy and society. I would be grateful if members could change seats as quickly as possible because we have no extra time available for this debate. I call on Fiona Hyslop to speak through and move the motion. Cabinet Secretary, 13 minutes maximum please. Presiding Officer, in moving the motion in my name, I am pleased to open this debate on the role of culture visitor attractions and events and how they play into our society and the economy of Scotland. Here in Scotland we have an incredibly rich and diverse culture and a calendar of events which we treasure and celebrate. Culture is key to our quality of life and wellbeing. It roots us in place and shapes how we think of ourselves and how others see us. It challenges the way we think and expands our horizons. Culture makes a vital contribution to Scotland's economy, supporting recovery and increasing sustainable economic growth and is part of the fabric of our society. All that means that culture is a key contributor in delivering the First Minister's one Scotland approach to Government. The strategic priorities that are set out in the new programme for government are based on the three key themes of creating more better-paid jobs in a strong, sustainable economy, building a fairer Scotland and tackling inequality and passing power to people and communities. Let me continue. The cultural sector has a significant role to play in taking forward all three of these priorities. Engaging with culture is life-enhancing in its own right, but it is also known to have a positive impact on our wellbeing and quality of life. Evidence shows that a significant association between cultural engagement and good health and life satisfaction. Analysis of the Scottish household survey data found that those who attended a cultural or historic place or event were almost 60 per cent more likely to report good health than those who did not attend. They were also more than 50 per cent more likely to report high life satisfaction. That sense of connection with place is key to the sense of wellbeing in our community. The Scottish household survey data demonstrates the high value people in Scotland place on our cultural heritage, showing that in 2013, 91 per cent of adults engaged in cultural activities and 89 per cent agreeing that it is important to me that heritage buildings and places are well looked after. However, there is no room for complacency. We must continue to widen access and participation so that all Scotland's people can benefit from all that culture has to offer. We have a wealth of examples demonstrating the achievements of the sector. Our place in time, the historic environment strategy, makes increasing participation in heritage a priority, and there is a dedicated group that is established to take that forward. Our work under the umbrella of Scotland's youth arts strategy, Time to Shine, is similarly designed to ensure that no-one's background is a barrier to taking part in cultural life. It is supported by initiatives, including the youth music initiative and cashback for creativity. Aspire Dundee is an innovative project taking place in nine Dundee primary schools in areas of high deprivation, enabling 2,000 young people to take part in music, dance or drama. I recently had the pleasure of visiting Sidlaw View primary school to see the project in action and I was deeply impressed by the impact that it is having on young people's lives. At Galgail in Glasgow, the journey on programme uses traditional building skills as a practical focus for people who have suffered such hardships as unemployment, depression or addiction, and the programme helps them to pick up new skills as well as build greater personal capacity and resilience. Through those and many more, the Scottish Government is working with the sector to ensure that everyone in Scotland has the opportunity to enjoy, benefit and access our culture and heritage. In addition to those inspiring projects, Scotland's local museums, galleries and libraries are all cornerstones of our communities, providing places to tell our stories locally and contributing to health and wellbeing, education and community engagement. Local museums can provide a valuable lifeline for the communities that serve, providing opportunities to connect with others and address social deprivation and mental health issues facing the community. The Festival of Museums on the 15th to 17th of May this year is an opportunity to celebrate what our museums have to offer and include activities across Scotland. Neil Findlay. I absolutely agree with her on what she is saying in our museums, but they are only good if they are open. Last week, the national museum was closed for two days because of an industrial dispute that has been going on for 18 months. When is the minister going to get a grippy situation? Clearly, any closure of the museum is to be regretted. I have encouraged the unions to co-operate with the management and vice versa in terms of the management. You must be aware that the national museum in Wales is looking to remove—of course, Wales, run by a Labour Government, is looking to remove weekend working allowance from existing staff in the national museum to retain a weekend working allowance. However, Neil Findlay is right to pay tribute to the staff, as I have always done in the chamber. It is very important that we recognise the role of museums that they play and in terms of difficulty, in terms of public finances. I am very proud and pleased that, through a period of recession, we have managed to keep our museums free of access for the public, and that will remain in terms of what I would want to see in terms of progress. I would not want anything to put that in jeopardy. I also want to recognise our libraries and the importance of our libraries. They have a crucial role to play in helping to tackle inequalities and to empower communities. Our cultural and creative industries make a substantial contribution to the economy and sustainable economic growth. They attract tourism, support employment and skills development as a driving force for regeneration. Scotland is well established as a leading events destination, attracting significant numbers of visitors to Scotland and yielding benefits for the economy while enhancing Scotland's international profile and reputation. Our heritage and visitor attractions are the lifeblood of our vibrant tourism industry, with 43 per cent of first-time visitors to Scotland stating that they choose to come here to learn more about Scotland's history and culture. The historic environment is estimated to contribute in excess of £2.3 billion to Scotland's gross value-added economic growth and to account for 2.5 per cent of Scotland's total employment. Investing in our culture heritage infrastructure can deliver a wide range of economic and social benefits. Take New Lanark, for example. In the early 1970s, much of the village lay redundant and demolition of many of the buildings was a genuine possibility. The decision was taken to invest in and revive the village, with the intention of maximising its potential to generate income in the long-term, both from housing and visitors. In 40 years on, New Lanark is a flourishing UNESCO World Heritage Site and a living working community, with the majority of the buildings restored and a community of 65 households. New Lanark is a centre for renewable energy production and an award-winning education and access programme, attracting more than 20,000 visitors each year. It provides direct employment for more than 150 people through a hotel, hostel, visitor centre and the manufacturing and sale of woolen textiles and contributes £7 million annually to the region's economy. Looking backwards for the last year, I think that we should reflect that 2014 was a momentous year for Scotland in our cultural sector, with hundreds of events across the country celebrating the best of Scotland's culture and creativity. The Commonwealth Games had a highly successful cultural programme. Of course, we had the Rider Cup, the second year of homecoming, the second international culture summit and the 700th anniversary of Bannerburn, not to mention the many diverse festivals and cultural events taking place all over the country and cementing Scotland's position as a world-leading events destination. The Glasgow 2014 cultural programme referred to in the motion was the most ambitious national cultural celebration ever to take place in this country. It provided a wonderful opportunity for us to share our great cultural traditions and our contemporary creativity with visitors from all over the Commonwealth. The final evaluation is due to be launched in the near future and I will keep members fully informed on that, but we already have some headline figures that show that more than 2,000 events took place involving thousands of artists, performers and participants across hundreds of locations and venues that lend to the breadth of Scotland. Over three quarters of a million people attended the festival 2014 live zones at Glasgow Green, Calving Grove Bandstand, Merchant City and BBC at the Quay. The programme included generation, a landmark series of exhibitions that celebrated 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland. It featured the work of more than 100 artists and more than 60 venues, and it attracted 1.3 million visitors. I was lucky enough to see exhibitions in Edinburgh, Orkney and Thurso. A huge statement about the continuing dynamism of art in Scotland and its place in the world as it inspires audiences. I thank the cabinet secretary for taking the intervention, and I absolutely agree wholeheartedly with very complementary speeches that she is making about Scotland's culture. That is absolutely clear. Would she also admit, however, that because of that increase in enjoyment of the culture and greater participation, that that is putting very considerable pressure on the funding of it, and that is something that the Government will have to address, particularly if there is to be free access to our best facilities? I have already mentioned that, in terms of our galleries and museums, that is an important part of our experience. She is right to say that, in difficult times, across different Governments there can be pressures on the culture budget. Today, both local government and indeed national government, there has not been any disproportionate reduction for culture. However, any support that I can have across the chamber in recognition of the increased demand that we have of culture, both from the experiences that I have talked about, but also from curriculum for excellence, the Youth Music Initiative creating more demand, our youth art strategy creating more demand and interest in provision, but it is a point well made. In terms of where we are just now, the experiences of the last year and in the other measures, as I have mentioned, are really upping our game in terms of our audience participation and access. In terms of our festivals, whether they are small or big, international and outlook or community focus, they are a hugely important aspect of our culture, celebrating and showcasing our culture and creativity. From St Magnus International Festival in Orkney to the Llywodraeth Party in the Palace, examples across the range of our experiences. We must also acknowledge that Edinburgh festivals continue to provide a gateway for the Scottish population to share new and exciting cultural experiences. I think that it is quite interesting that the number of local people who attend the Edinburgh festivals is counter to perhaps people's understanding. They have seen record attendances and box office figures achieved during the summer of the Commonwealth Games, which was a fantastic achievement. Contributing to tourism business, if you look at the role of our opportunities, looking at what the festivals provide, they generate £261 million to the Scottish economy, £41 million spent in accommodation and £37 million in our cafes and bars. If we look at the phenomenal number of people attending our festivals, our cultural events in 2014, we saw Scotland outperforming the rest of the UK with a 10 per cent increase in visitor numbers to Scottish attractions. Many of the 600,000 people attending the Commonwealth Games also enjoyed the wealth of attractions in Glasgow. Glasgow's Riverside Transport Museum saw an incredible 41.8 per cent increase in visitors, a 39 per cent increase in the Scottish National Gallery and much of it to do with the generation programme, but also a 6 per cent increase at Arquett Castle and a 7 per cent increase in Stirling Castle. The total visits to Scotland from overseas between January and September 2014 also increased by 12 per cent. In terms of going forward, our national and international successes clearly demonstrate that Scotland has a thriving culture and how important that is to making Scotland a greater place to live, work and study and visit. However, we cannot rest on our laurels and we need to continue to nurture and develop our artists and our cultural life, investing in our culture infrastructure, encouraging skills development and creating further opportunities. We look forward to coming years. Of course, we have a number of events commemorating the First World War. This year, we have seen the presentation of the 2015 Turner Prize at Glasgow's Tramway. The Edinburgh festivals continue to go from strength to strength. We have seen a 25 per cent increase in ticket sales in the space of just two years and, of course, we wish Fergus Lennon best wishes for this, his first Edinburgh international festival as director. Our festivals, events, heritage and our vibrant cultural life do so much more than provide for our society and our economy. They provide windows for transformation, both personally and for our communities, bringing understanding and appreciation of other cultures and experiences. They challenge and celebrate the human spirit and tell our stories, and that is why I am proud that this Government continues to invest in and nurture those important assets. I very much welcome this afternoon's debate. Scotland has a rich and diverse cultural and artistic life, one that is built on centuries of traditional music and storytelling, but one that is now expansive, multicultural, innovative and world-leading. Our cultural experiences embrace our past while telling the story of today and of the future. We are very fortunate to have a rich historic environment, a wide selection of collections at museums and galleries, a growing creative sector with a focus on new media, internationally recognised festivals and a network of artistic and creative groups across Scotland who are encouraging and supporting participation. All of those contribute significantly to Scotland, being a great place to live, work and to visit. It is right that we use some of this afternoon's time to celebrate, recognise and value what Scotland's culture, visitor attractions and events give us. We have national companies, which are growing in stature, the new developments at the National Theatre have been exciting. In Scottish Ballyar, during the production of Streetcar named Desire, an opening sales weekend of the Edinburgh festival was the busiest yet. As well as bringing a way to bring history to life and tell our own story, our historic environment has been a long time attraction for visitors to Scotland and has a vital part to play in promoting the country, particularly in film and TV sector. Historic Scotland has seen figures, have seen year-on-year growth in visitors, with the recent winter months recording a record-breaking number of visitors up 10 per cent on the previous year. Sterling Castle saw a remarkable increase of 63 per cent on the previous year when it hosted the Great Scottish Tapestry. I am looking forward to it coming to Gercody Galleries this summer. The tapestry is the perfect example of the coming together of history, craft, community, storytelling, cultural inclusiveness and identity. Alexander McColl-Smith, Andrew Crummy and Alistair Muffet are to be thanked for their initiative and leadership on this project. The cabinet secretary talked to me about the success of the Commonwealth Games cultural programme. Last year, the whole of the Commonwealth was able to enjoy not just the sport on offering Glasgow but also our thriving cultural community across the country. Scotland is rightly proud of our rich history and of our multiculturalism. Our arts sector is a great example of how we can marry the two together. The Commonwealth Games have forged us the perfect opportunity to showcase that to the world. Events such as the Glasgow Mela, which already established, were able to promote and play a prominent role in the year of celebration. I hope that this year, which is the 25th anniversary of the Mela and Glasgow, will be the biggest and the best yet. Scotland's festival programme is wide-ranging and exciting. At the start of the year, we all debated the winter festivals and recognised the contribution that they make to our economy and our cultural life. The festivals programme continues to grow from our established city festivals to an increasing number of regional festivals that bring in variety to local programmes, as is highlighted by Liz Smith's amendment. Along with everything else that Scotland has to offer, our festivals enhance our international reputation. Of course, one of Scotland and the UK's biggest festivals is Tee in the Park, and Tee in the Park generates £15.4 million for the Scottish economy and some £2.7 million at a local level. It attracts international acts to Scotland, ensuring that Scotland is a vibrant part of the festival circuit. Having been based at Bellado for many years, it is in the process of currently moving sight. Clearly, this is at a planning stage with Perth and Kinross Council with a decision that is due to be made next month. It is up to the council to make the decision based on the facts before them, but we should today recognise the social, cultural and economic importance of the festival, and as a Midscotland and Fife MSP, I recognise their previous good environmental record at the Bellado site, where it was the only UK festival to be awarded the greener festival award for seven years running. Also, as Labour's amendment recognises, alongside commercial activity, there is also a wide range of cultural activity supported by volunteers that people of all ages across Scotland engage with. There are multiple benefits from cultural engagement, and often as we progress through life, we increasingly become the audience rather than the creator. There should be more encouragement and opportunity to do both, and in May, voluntary arts week will encourage people from across the UK to try something new, and over half the UK adult population is involved in some kind of regular voluntary arts activity, from choirs and ceramics to dance and drawing. We do not tend to think of that as a crucial part of Scotland's economy, but those activities often support smaller venues and small local businesses helping to support viable local economies. Those opportunities can be transformative for community engagement, good mental health and self-confidence. All those activities, and more that I am sure others will talk about this afternoon, support a growing confidence of a country. Creative expression is a key ingredient of a healthy, productive, vibrant, modern country, and I am proud of what we achieve here in Scotland. We also need to better understand the engagement that is happening. The cabinet secretary made some comments about the recent household survey, and it makes some interesting points about engagement, attendance and participation in culture. We know that they have a whole range of activities. Creative Scotland regularly funded organisations alone delivered some 62,000 performances, over 9,000 exhibitions and almost 15,000 screenings last year. However, how wide and how deep is that reach? There are positive figures. 91 per cent of adults had engaged in culture through attendance or participation at a cultural event. However, there are some interesting figures that make it clear that there is much more to do if we are to get the greatest benefit from Scottish cultural activity. An individual's level of education and income are key. Attendance at cultural events is highest for those from the most prosperous areas and those with the highest level of qualifications. The difference in attending a cultural event between those with the highest level of qualification compared to those with no qualifications is a difference between 93 per cent and 53 per cent. Likewise, there is a gap of 18 points between the most prosperous 20 per cent and the most deprived 20 per cent. There are similar indications of exclusion for people who have long-term physical or mental health conditions and who are also less likely to attend cultural events. The participation in cultural events tells the same story. Participation is lowest for those in the most deprived areas, those with the lowest qualifications and people with a long-term health condition. There are also significant differences in the age profile and attendance at cultural events decreases with age, with the decline starting to accelerate in the over four to fives. That is concerning because artistic and cultural experiences are what brings meaning, enjoyment and social interaction to our lives, and that is important for all ages. That is all significant. We all recognise this afternoon the value of cultural activity and yet too many people appear to be excluded. Do we fully understand the reasons for that? What steps are we taking to address that? Where should public policy and funding be directed if we want to see greater, more equitable engagement in culture? First, it needs to be recognised and addressed. Much of that is done at local level by our local authorities and our cultural trusts and we need to support the activity. There is a lot going on in Scotland, but I will briefly mention Glasgow life, who are doing a lot of work to engage some of Scotland's most deprived communities. In a time of financial constraint, the arts can come under pressure with no statutory protection, but we need to recognise and promote the value of what it brings to individuals and our communities. An amendment today highlights the welcome culture accounts campaign, which, since 2011, has played a role in articulating the importance of our cultural life. It provides a platform for discussion of future policy and is an advocate for the value of culture in its widest sense. An amendment also talks about people working in the sector. In closing, there are a few points that I want to make about that. First, while the focus is often on the performers, there is a whole host of technicians, support staff and engineers working across the sector. I recently visited Putlockley Theatre—I know that the cabinet secretary was there last year too—and they talked to me about the skills gaps in theatre technicians and the difficulty that they can be in getting the appropriate training and experience in Scotland. The creative industries are a growth sector that is increasingly important to our national economy as well as an important tool for regeneration of regions and communities. We need to ensure that we have the right skills coming through in the sector. In addition to that, I am sorry, I am very short of time this afternoon. In addition to that, there are infrastructure needs. There is a need for venue viability, and the cabinet secretary is well aware of the recent journey of the Bayer Theatre and the support needed by the Beacon Arts Centre. Those venues are important for delivering cultural experiences outside of our cities, and we need to ensure that we have a strong regional network. There are issues of low pay and, in some cases, no pay across the sector. The cabinet secretary is well aware of the on-going dispute at Museum Scotland, which is leading to strike action at some of our most well-known and visited museums. That needs to be resolved, and as the direct funder of the national museums, the cabinet secretary has a responsibility here. There is also the work-not-play campaign from the musicians union, which challenges practices of no pay or very little pay for performances. If we are to have a vibrant, varied, exciting cultural sector, we need to support artists to make a living. I welcome the opportunity to argue for the importance of Scotland's cultural and artistic community this afternoon, and I move the amendment in my name. Many thanks. I now call on Liz Smith to speak to you in movement 12958.1. Maximum six minutes, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I move the amendment in my name and also indicate that we are very happy to support the Scottish Government motion and also the Labour Party's amendment. As the cabinet secretary rightly said, it is very hard to overstate the enormous contribution that Scotland's culture and the associated events and visitor attractions to our economy and society actually make. On the one hand, the very positive economic impact in terms of job creation and economic growth is unmistakable, but just as importantly is the enriching nature of such a vibrant and evolving culture with so many wonderful things to do and see that can't be overlooked. With nearly 15 million visitors to Scotland in 2013, tourism remains one of the largest and the fastest growing sectors of the economy. While the majority of Scotland's tourists come from within the UK, I think that our attractiveness to international visitors is very considerable and probably on the way to increasing. In fact, the US news channel CNN named Scotland as the number one destination for US tourists in 2013, and I think that that was a very welcome accolade for us as we approach it. Yes, indeed. Cabinet Secretary, having just returned from the US, will she acknowledge that the showing of outlander in the US will undoubtedly add to the impetus for US visitors to Scotland? Liz Smith. Cabinet Secretary, I couldn't possibly dispute that. I hope you enjoyed your time across the Atlantic. I think that the reasons behind Scotland's international popularity are probably easy to understand. Some say that it's our long and exciting history of epic battles, some say that it's our colourful historical personalities, some are royal intrigues, but I think that it's obviously very much our rich culture and traditions that have helped shape the world in almost every conceivable way. I think that it was the French philosopher Voltaire in the middle of the 18th century who captured that sentiment famously when he noted that we look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation. From Scotland's scientists, inventors, architects, philosophers to its writers, its sports stars, musicians, artists of all sorts, our culture continues to exert a very marked influence in the furthest corners of the globe. Then, of course, there are Scotland's events and attractions ranging from the world-class arts festivals that the cabinet secretary has described, our sporting events, our museums and galleries, to all sorts of things that take us to, as I say, every part of the world to attract our visitors. I think that the economic benefits of that tourism are really striking. Figures released by Visit Scotland highlight the fundamental importance of the growth in the tourist sector to the Scottish economy in terms of the job creation and the economic growth, as much as £220 million, just from golf tourism alone. Visit Scotland has estimated that, in 2013, the visitor expenditure totaled nearly £5 billion. That is a very considerable achievement. Moreover, that supports nearly 300,000 jobs, which equates to almost 11 per cent of the Scottish workforce. The cabinet secretary mentioned last summer whether it was the Commonwealth Games or the Ryder Cup, and I think that we can all be very proud of those events, but also to congratulate all the people who took part and really put Scotland on a very international stage. I think that there will be issues. Obviously, Claire Baker is quite right when she talks about the sustainability of some aspects of tourism. On that point, I want to come to my own amendment, where I think that there is a very positive impact, obviously, in our rural communities. That brings a bit of a dilemma, because in terms of the number of jobs per head in the population, it is actually quite high. Obviously, some of our rural areas have difficulties with sustainability. Just now, many have lost their library or their local school or their police counter or various other local services, a post shop or the local community, or whatever it might be. I think that when you have rural festivals and rural events, that is something that can help to bind that community together and to come up with the enrichment of culture that I think that the cabinet secretary spoke about in her introduction. It is on that basis where I think that there is potentially a dilemma. If we obviously want to allow people to access that as freely as possible, but to ensure that some of those can be sustained in the future, then obviously that does take much greater resource from the Scottish Government. As we want to be proud of the fact that demand is increasing and it is very healthy because it has become much more diverse, that is very good news. The sustainability of those rural communities is part of our fabric and it is something that we have to look for in the future. The economic benefits and the social enrichment of our culture are absolutely clear, but perhaps even more importantly is the way in which we can envisage society moving forward and passing on a lot of the best assets of Scotland to future generations. Deputy Presiding Officer, if I can just finish, I think that it was Winston Churchill who observed that perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpassed the Scots in their contribution to mankind and I think that that makes us all feel immensely proud to be Scottish. This contribution to mankind stems from a deep cultural heritage from which so many superb visitor attractions and events have stemmed. Not only do those benefits as economically, but they enrich us as human beings in our societies, in our local communities. It is on that basis that I bring the amendment to the chamber, but we are very happy to support the Government's motion and the Labour amendment. Many thanks. I ask members who hope to contribute to the debate to press a request to speak buttons, please. We are very tight for time, so at this stage, speeches of six minutes, that may have to change. Stuart Maxwell, to be followed by Hans Alamalloch. I am sure that no one in the chamber underestimates the importance of Scottish culture to Scotland's economic wellbeing. For example, in 2011-12, there were 1,314,974 visitors to Edinburgh Castle alone. Edinburgh Castle is historic Scotland's top visitor attraction. While it is situated in the capital city, the economic benefits of visitors coming to Scotland to see the castle benefit the wider economy of our country. The benefits to all parts of our economy cannot be underestimated and it is not just the capital or other big cities that benefit. In 2011-12, Scarborough, one of my favourite places to visit, was historic Scotland's fourth most popular site, attracting some 68,852 visitors. All those visitors to Orkney needed transportation, accommodation, refreshments and, of course, they spent money and took back souvenirs of their visit. In the west of Scotland, historic Scotland's most visited attraction is Dumbarton Castle, which is well worth a visit. I am sure that the cabinet secretary can attest to that fact. In 2011-12, Dumbarton Castle attracted 14,623 visitors. It should attract many more visitors than that, as it is a fascinating place to visit and, indeed, a great stop-off on the way to Loch Lomond and the Trossacks. However, it is not just our interesting history that makes a contribution to our economy. In 2011, filming the boosted Glasgow economy to the tune of some £20 million, we can all remember the transformation of George Square into a dramatic scene from World War Z. However, it is not just the big stars and big productions that are important. Smaller productions, with only one or two-day shoots, contribute to the economy as well. The Edinburgh festivals made an economic impact of some £261 million for Scotland in 2012 and sustained 5,242 full-time jobs in Edinburgh alone. However, it is easy to overlook the boost to the economy that was made by more recent and more youthful events. The Herald reported that a study at T in the Park in 2014 showed that the economic impact on Scotland of the festival rose to almost £15.5 million. In Glasgow, the 2010 Celtic Connections, a festival that only started in 1994, generated more than £10 million to the city and some £12 million to the wider Scottish economy. Innovation and introducing modern showcases for Scotland's cultural heritage, a heritage that has gone around the world with Scottish immigrants, has proved popular and successful. Its economy is boosted not just from within but from without, because Scotland has a strong brand that is recognised and admired the world over. For example, Visit Scotland noted that, after the Disney film Brave was released, attractions such as the Nottercastle, the inspiration for Dunroch Castle in the film and the Calanesh Standing Stones both reported significant increases in visitors in the summer of 2013, of about 16 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, within the interest in Brave as a principal reason behind the rise in visitor numbers. There is no doubt that our culture boosts our economy and creates jobs, so in that particular sense, our culture is good for our country. I believe that our vibrant cultural scene is good for Scotland and for everyone who lives here in a much wider and more profound sense. A region study that was published in the Journal of a Pedimeology and Community Health reported on 23 May 2011 that simply observing culture improves the physical health and mental wellbeing of men. The telegraph reported that the results showed that in men, all receptive cultural activities were linked to better health. The academics concluded that this population-based study supports gender-dependent associations between cultural participation and physical health, anxiety, depression and satisfaction with life. In Scotland, in 2013, there were, sadly, 795 suicides, of which 611 or nearly 77 per cent were men. Culture is life-enhancing and men stand to benefit enormously from cultural participation. In an article in the Canadian Journal of Communication in 2006, there was a report of the findings of a workshop of experts who had met to discuss the question, what are the social effects of participation in arts and heritage? The participants at that workshop identified six social effects of culture arts and heritage, among which were the findings that culture builds social cohesion and increased citizenship capacity. Social cohesion was defined as the willingness of people in a society to cooperate with each other in common enterprises to achieve collective goals. The report also stated that increased civic participation is a consequence of a dynamic and diverse cultural scene in the community. Given all of that above, I was pleased to note that the Scottish Household Survey 2013 already mentioned that 91 per cent of adults engaged in culture of some sort and that 80 per cent of adults had attended a cultural event or a place of culture, and 78 per cent had participated in a cultural activity in the previous 12 months. Sadly, however, there is still a divide in Scotland in terms of participation by deprivation, just as there is with education, health, longevity and every other indicator. The Scottish Household Survey found that 33 per cent of people in Scotland's most deprived areas were more likely to agree that culture and the arts are not really for people like me, compared to only 16 per cent in the least deprived areas. It is now a well-known fact that social inequalities and deprivation lead to poorer outcomes for all aspects of people's lives. Successive Scottish Governments have worked hard to counter the effects of deprivation on the lives of the poorest people in Scotland. Have a heart paisley, the Cranhill community project, Child Smile, the nursery tooth brushing project that has proved extremely successful, or just a few examples of the efforts that have been made. However, it seems to me that there is a case to be made for building culture into the strategies for improving Scotland's health, both physical and mental. In conclusion, perhaps when the Scottish Government ministerial task force on health inequalities next sits, it will take into account the tremendous impact for good that culture has and that it makes some attempt to build increased access to cultural events and cultural participation into its considerations on the best way of improving the lives of the people of Scotland. I am afraid that I need to make it clear to the chamber that there is absolutely no time in this debate, so members must stop before six minutes. Please hand Zala Malik to be followed by Dennis Robertson. Thank you very much and good afternoon, Presiding Officer. I would like to thank Fiona Hesliff for this motion today and Claire Baker for her amendment. Scotland, regardless of its constitutional status, it is a proud nation. Our unique culture makes Scotland unlike any other place in the world. Clear evidence for this provision this year only proves that Scotland's culture identity is valid, valuable, not only to our society but to our economy as well. We as a nation have much to offer the world as seen in last year's impressive increase in tourism. The internationalisation repetition of Scotland can be immediately beneficial for our economy growth as well. With 12 international world-famous festivals, Scotland has a platform for continuing this with the rest of the world, with bigger money resources and the brand that can prove to be invaluable for Scotland. From a personal experience, I have seen the effects that the latest Commonwealth Games had on the city of Glasgow. Millions of pounds re-aggravated the city Clyde waterside front as much as the east end of Glasgow. The Games were not only about sports however. The cultural events of the Commonwealth Games festivals were amazingly successful and brought crowds and recognition to Glasgow as well as the rest of Scotland. In terms of a legacy, these events have proven not only for temporary benefit but for substantially long-term promise. I joined many of my MSPs in welcoming these promising results but I urged the Scottish Government to not allow complacency. The international recognition we seek is not inherited but must be earned and nurtured. We in Scotland must always keep our culture close when we share it with the world. Amazing things happen. Let's continue to foster our identity so that we can share it with more and more people around the world. This means continuing funding for festivals and broadening of our international awareness and always improving branding our nation to the outside world. Let me give an example. I believe that the Glasgow Mela should be under the Scottish Government funding pool. Such an important event should be under a national banner. I know the Glasgow City Council would not want to give up such a successful event which started by small events around the city, culminating in coming together to one to two days and now three days successful event. This is its 25th anniversary and I call upon the Scottish Government to play its role and ensure that this Mela is not only a successful event this year to celebrate its 21st anniversary but also continues to be on the Scottish agenda and calendar. I also believe that multiculturalism events such as the Glasgow Mela need that recognition. I look forward to Fiona Haslop's comments to draw up a list of perhaps events such as these which will culminate in developing ideas so that we can represent all our communities in Scotland. I have to say that up until quite recently the focus seems to have been taken off in terms of what the minority communities that make up our culture and history have been let down and I think that organisations like the Edinburgh Mela and the Glasgow Mela go a long way in trying to support and rekindle that activity. I know for a fact as a local councillor of Glasgow for 17 years that it took a lot of time, effort, energy and dedication by a very few number of people to establish the Mela of Glasgow to see it to become a successful event in Scotland. The participants come not only from all over Scotland, not only from all over the United Kingdom but in fact internationally and that makes me really proud because when we celebrate the Mela in Glasgow it is not only about the minority community, it is about the minority community engaging with the rest of the communities in Scotland but also the same time selling the brand of Scotland around the world, something that me as a Glaswegian I am very proud of. Therefore I call upon the Scottish Government to look at some of these minority organisations who bring so much to our culture and diversity that we can be proud of. Thank you very much. I am probably very lucky in terms of the constituency that I represent in Aberdeenshire West. It was no surprise, I am sure, to the cabinet secretary when I mentioned Huntley. Huntley in itself says that the town is the place and that is because they engage with their community. They take arts to the community, whether it be walking, whether it be painting, whether it be just an engagement with local folk music and dance. That is only a story in one area because Deborah Nart has promoted that within the Huntley area but within my constituency I have 12 castles. I have not been to all of them but I can assure you that I have 12 castles. Again, we have one palace that is in Balmoral. Does my constituency sell itself? In some ways it does, because people come back to that constituency because of her clan origins. For instance, the other week I was in Fygn, again a name that I love saying within this chamber, but when I was in the Fygn estate, I was reminded that the Farkersons have only been there for 100 years and I was told that perhaps they could soon become local. In that estate what I found was that it is a breeding place for the Capercaly. What I was immensely proud of was the community spirit that was in that area because within the community hall they bring people together, whether it is the older people or the younger people. We see the young and the old mixing well, whether it is in putting on performances to raise money for the estate, whether it is to put on performances or to just have exploration within some of the fine woodlands that we have in those areas. They develop their own community spirit. When Liz Smith mentioned the rural areas of Scotland and how perhaps there was maybe danger of missing out to some extent, I said the opposite. Our rural areas are thriving in some areas, but I was looking at Logie Colstone and my own constituency as well. That is a community that has embraced each other. They work with their local school, with the young, they look at their history and their culture. All the time within the rural communities you are seeing this whole sense of wellbeing. That is really important. Liz Smith, I do not deny that some rural communities are doing an absolutely fantastic job in others. However, it is much more difficult, not least because the sustainability of some of the other services in those areas has been threatened. Therefore, that is more difficult and that is where I think that the support needs to be proved. I fully appreciate and understand what the member is saying. In the examples that I am giving, they have not seen this as a barrier. They have seen this as a challenge, a challenge in an opportunity to embrace and to see how they can move forward within their own communities with using the limited resources within those communities themselves, not looking at whether it be the local council or the Government, but they are saying what can we do to embrace our own heritage within our own communities? I think that we should encourage more of that within our communities. I talk about Aberdeenshire West with great pride. When it comes to health and wellbeing, many of our small towns and villages are doing things. They are going out, they are walking, they are exploring their heritage. They are actually putting together within their own communities during the winter people to come and relate about the past, to talk about the poetry, to engage in the folk music and folk law, which is exciting for many of our people, especially those within the Alzheimer groups who are given the opportunity, provided that opportunity to embrace their past and talk about it with passion and, indeed, happiness. We have the men's shed in West Hill and, again, bringing together men who can relate to some of their older industries. What they have done is to restore steam engines, look at old tools and find from a community what we can do for your community. However, what it does is allow a group of men to sit down together and talk, I think, quite fondly about the past. Maybe not in the too distant past, but when you hear some of the stories, I do wonder. I am very fortunate that I have been to many of those places within my constituency. Recently, I met Paul Anderson, one of the world-renowned fiddlers in Scotland. Paul graciously wrote a tune called Mr Q. Presiding Officer, again, this is to show that, within the communities, you have got your young people coming forward and learning about the old of traditions, the music that keeps us alive. That expectation is there, Presiding Officer. We get the tourism coming to our my constituency. We have distilleries, Loch Niggar, we have the Palace of Memorial, we have the fishing. The sustainable aspect of fishing means that, if the tourists come, the fish need to be there. That is something perhaps the Cabinet Secretary can speak with her other ministers about. The conclusion, Presiding Officer, isn't it nice to be the MSP for Aberdeenshire West? I now call Mark Griffin to be followed by Christine Grahame. I welcome the opportunity to participate in this afternoon's debate on Scotland's culture and the benefits that it brings to our economy and wider Scottish society. Like members across the chamber, I am proud to be Scottish, proud of our history, our culture, our heritage and proud of what we have achieved and continue to achieve as a nation. It has been from Robert Burns to Disney's Brave, as has been mentioned before, from whisky to Stonaway Black Pudding, from the Highland Games to Golf at St Andrews, from Tartanwick in the United States to the Tartan Armory, travelling the globe and, every once in a while, being left disappointed. Scotland's culture, our heritage and our people make us all proud to be Scots and tremendous ambassadors. Scotland attracts millions of domestic and overseas visitors every year, with more than 12 million attending Scotland's tourist attractions last year. Many of those attractions have seen a 10 per cent increase in 2013. Of course, the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup played an important role in attracting visitors to our shore, and the benefits to our economy were clear. I was delighted that Stratified Country Park in my region hosted the first competitive event of the Commonwealth Games, the triathlon, with thousands of athletes and visitors from across the globe making their way to North Lanarkshire. In addition to that, the cycling time trial took place along the A80 corridor, showcasing the villages in Muirhead and the Mideesburn area 2. The legacy of the Games was almost always of utmost importance, and it is excellent to see that more than 3,000 Commonwealth apprenticeships have been secured. Over £198 million spent on new and improved sports facilities alone, and over £145 million in conference and events secured in Glasgow and the wider area due to having host city status. All of that has contributed massively to Scotland's economy and the attractiveness of the country and visitors coming to see our sights. There can be no doubt that the talents of the people of Scotland have strengthened our Scottish culture from Edwin Morgan's fascinating Sonets of Scotland to the bizarre imagined world of Ian Banks, the Wasp factory, and the humour and desperation of Irvine Welsh's train spotting. Scotland's literary leaders have helped to take Scotland to the world. Similarly, we have artists such as Andy Scott, who is now world-famous sculptures, attracting thousands of people to locations across my region in central Scotland. We have our thousands of talented actors, directors and producers who are entertaining audiences here and across the globe. We also have the benefit here in Scotland of so many excellent visitor attractions, from Edinburgh Castle here in the east to the more modern Glasgow Science Centre in the west, across the length and breadth of Scotland local and foreign visitors alike flocked to those attractions. In my area of common old, we have the fantastic Palace Rig Country Park, which was established in the early 1970s. Palace Rig has developed into a hub of conservation, countryside recreation and environmental education in more than 40 hectares of land. It has been transformed over the years from farmland with hundreds of thousands of native trees and shrubs being planted in Palace Rig. It is also home to a unique rare breed collection, including Erisgay ponies, Tamworth pigs and Scots, Dumpy poultry among other, and an extensive collection of rare farm animals. That collection, the wider natural beauty of Palace Rig, attracts thousands of people free of charge every year. Not too far from Palace Rig is Summerleigh, Scotland's leading industrial heritage museum, set around the 19th century. Summerleigh ironworks in Cote Bridge, the museum has many attractions, including Scotland's only operational heritage tramway, and a recreated mine along with the minor cottages. Again, that is open all year round and free to visit. Central Scotland has excellent cultural venues that attract local people and international visitors year on year and contribute greatly to Scottish society and our wider economy, and that is replicated right across Scotland. With the success of international events, such as the Commonwealth Games and its legacy, with UK-wide events, such as the British Transblank Games, which will be hosted by North Lanarkshire in 2017, and international venues such as Hydro, attracting world-famous performers, Scotland's natural beauty and historical sights, as well as our food and drink. I am confident that Scotland will continue to welcome the world to our shores and enhance our international reputation. I now call on Christine Grahame to be followed by Christine Allard up to six minutes, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I say to Dennis Robertson, just you forget Aberdeenshire West and welcome to Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, because the next train leaving Edinburgh Waverley is the train for the Borders, calling at Newton Grange, Gourbridge, Stour, Gallashield and Tweedbank. The date is 6 September 2015. It will be less than £10 end-to-end arrival at final destination in 55 minutes on peak every half-hour off-peak hourly. First train, if you are up with a lark, is at 5.20 am from Tweedbank, but you can get the last train back, remember, at 11.54, not a minute later. We have come a long way in 16 years from the campaign for Borders Rail, the petition to this Parliament in 1999, the cross-party group on Borders Rail and the second of June 2000, when the Parliament voted to restore that line. It is on budget and on time. This is the most significant economic development in decades for Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, not just for commuters but to open up the entire area to substantial increase in tourism. There is plenty to see, such as the mining museum at Scotland, housed in the restored Lady Victoria Colliery, Newton Grange, already predicted to be hitting 63,000-plus visitors this year, celebrating 30 years and indeed the only Scottish visitor attraction to have won best visitor award, currently graded as a five-star attraction. There is also the purpose-built mining village around Newton Grange, with rows of identical cottages on 1st street, 2nd street, 3rd street, 4th street and so on. It is not easy to get lost. Finally, in Newton Grange, in the opening of the railway, we have got together with Visit Scotland, Midlothian Council and the Tourism Forum to create tourism packages, joint ticketing and special events. We can see by their example how the opportunities are opening up with that line. At Tweedbank, there is proposed a customised building for the great tapestry of Scotland, not my choice of location, Deputy Presiding Officer. This is where I get controversial. I think that it was the trustees who decided to put on a business park, a mystery to me why they put a tourist attraction on a business park, and even more worrying is the leader of the council's comment when he says, and this is costing millions, that what we have done is designed the building very carefully so that it is a multi-purpose building so that years to come, if the tapestry didn't work, then we could do something in the building and still get a turn for the public purse, hardly unoptimistic proposal. At Tweedbank, we have that. I think that it should have been in Gala Shields. A stone throw away from Tweedbank is Abbotsford, with the eclectic home of Sir Walter Scott restored now. Absolutely wonderful place. The gardens have been restored and the rather splendid visitor centre, all-part funded and supported by this Government, over 40,000 visitors last year. However, there are other parts that the train won't reach. The plan is to use the line beyond its tracks and extend that border's and mid-loan experience. I welcome and support the Conservative amendment, which I think is very important about how local festivals' local issues bring so much to the economy, and in fact it marries well with the Labour amendment about the role of volunteers who in fact keep these festivals going. We had the Melrose 7s recently, which brought £2 million into that economy in Melrose. There's a Tweedlove 2-week biking events festival, the biggest bike festival—I managed to say bike—over 40 different bike events in the Tweed Valley. That's 100 per cent organised by the volunteers themselves, who give it their all. The Taquair Fair in August held in the grounds of the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland by the Maxwell Stewards. It's an excellent festival with speeches and books and, of course, they've got their own brew of beer. You can't take it now because we've got higher tests now if you're driving. However, if you're able to take it and get the bus, then you can get the bus to the train and get the train back to Edinburgh. Throughout the summer months, all the ridings and local festivals—the Brawl Lads and the Lasses of Gala, the Beltane Peebles, the Whitmans at West Linton, the Pennycook Hunter, Ladd and Lass—have different colours with the bunting that they strewn over their streets and hang from the windows and their houses and so on, where local people make it so jolly and attractive and exciting, and it brings business to the communities. However, back to that railway and the opportunities to bring international visitors to Midlothian and the Borders away from the overheated, overpriced city of Edinburgh during the festival. Think of that late night train. You can stay in the Borders in Midlothian at half the price of staying in the city of Edinburgh, go to your show, get on the train, get back up in the morning to lovely scenery. I think that I should get commissioned for this. If I sound excited about the railway line, well I am, and I hope that there'll be a seat in that train for me. If you're really nice to me, Mr Robertson, I'll have one for you and Mr Cew. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I shall, like my colleague Dennis Robertson, go back to the area where everything takes place. North East of Scotland and Aberdeenshire, of course. The contribution of culture, the visitors to attraction and the events of Scotland economy and society is great in the North East of Scotland. I do agree that the festival 2014 was a huge success, and the Glasgow cultural programme was the most ambitious national cultural celebration to take place in Scotland. Scotland's historic environment is a vital resource in cultural, social and economic terms, which can and should deliver greater benefits to all communities, and particularly to the communities that I represent in the North East of Scotland. One, which is very well known at Portsoil, is that Portsoil, both festivals, is taking place on the 4th and 5th of July. We celebrate the year of food and drink this year, a very important year, and we will celebrate Scotland's fantastic natural larder and exceptional natural produce, as well as the landscape. But more importantly, to these debaters as well about culture, we will be celebrating the people and culture that make our food heritage so unique, and Stuart Maxwell talked about Scotland's brand, and I think it's so unique that we've got that food linked to our culture, which makes it such a part of our economic growth. Our economic locally is closely linked with the celebration of this culture. The 2015 festival promised a programme packed with music, song and dance, and children's entertainment. It's a grand day out for all the family. This year, Fred's showcase concert will start with a band, Academies Traditional Band, led by Sharon A-San. We know Sharon A-San when she came here with the North East Folk Collective. Sharon is very much empowering young people through the learning of Scottish traditional music. Very much is a full step of our talent filled by my colleague, Dennis Robertson, talked about earlier. Since its formation in 2009, the North East Folk Collective has performed on a number of festivals and venues, not only throughout the UK, but as well as far as in Derry, and of course back to the Northeast in the Stone Event Folk Festival. Scottish people place great value on culture and heritage, and I will know this. I was part of a heritage society, my local skin heritage society, which is very much open to everybody, because you don't need to be born here to enjoy our culture or become a guardian of our heritage, and those local groups are fantastic. They are full of local volunteers and we're sharing our culture and our heritage. The skin heritage society will be at the 12 BA vintage country fair to be held on the weekend of 16 or 17 of May in Innoskill. As you can see, I can find plenty to do for all the members during the summer, and in June, at the Bonaco steam held at Castle Fraser. The Scottish household survey that some of us talked about found that 89% of others agree with the following. It is important to me that heritage buildings and places are well looked after. In Aberdeen, we have Marshall College, the new headquarters of Aberdeen City Council, that quickly became a fantastic tourist attraction. In May 2011, the sculpture of King Robert's Bruce that measured height and height was unveiled outside Marshall College. This statue, created by the sculpture Alan Beatty, was commissioned following a motion by Chancellor, then-Councillor Kevin Stewart, now MSP for Aberdeen Central, and it's so important that we've got that political will to recognise this. The sculpture now is very much the iconic piece of the city and is cherished by all Aberdeenians and admire by all visitors to the city. It has become a magnet for tourists. The Scottish household survey found that 72% of people agreed that the heritage in the local area is well looked after. Unfortunately, the current administration of Aberdeen City is not getting it right yet. The survey is telling us as well that 57% of the population agrees that there are lots of opportunities to get involved in culture and the art. The Scottish Government is providing funding for system as the Scotland's big-noise orchestra. Of course, we are now in Aberdeen with the big-noise story, which will be officially launched with the first community concern at the end of the term in June in Aberdeen. It's very much thriving in the office of Scotland, and as the children will grow up, they'll do better in school, they'll be healthier, happier, and their lives will have been transformed by being over in music. What is important, Presiding Officer, is to understand how much all the activities are really contributing to our society and contributing to the economic growth of our areas in the north-east of Scotland. One that Denis Robison didn't talk about was, of course, the wooden barn in Bancory, which is a fantastic creative hub welcoming all and a great asset to the north-east. It's not surprised to me that Creative Scotland has shortlisted Bancory as one of the committees to win £125,000 as a creative place of war 2015. What I would say in conclusion, Presiding Officer, is that in this new project of Aberdeen City Region Project, it's very, very important that culture and the arts are not forgotten, because it's very important that we are very much part of the growth of the north-east of Scotland. What I would say to the Scottish Government and to everybody involved, the two local authorities do not forget heart and culture when you talk about the City Region Project. Presiding Officer. Many thanks. I now call Neil Findlay to be followed by John Mason. Thanks, Presiding Officer. Many people have referred to the rich and diverse cultural landscape that there is across Scotland and across the arts in the music scene and sport to see exciting developments taking place. Of course, as a visitor, a spectator or a participant in any of these cultural activities, our enjoyment of them is determined not just by the talent and the ability of performers and artists and the sporting stars, but also often the unseen contribution of staff who make these great events happen—the organisers, administrators, fundraisers, committee men and women, trustees, security staff, etc. They all play a huge role in ensuring that events happen and that people are safe and can enjoy all that is in offer. With that in mind, I want to, as chair of the Public and Commercial Services Union parliamentary group, raise the issue that I mentioned when I intervened in the Cabinet Secretary, and that is the long-running dispute at our national museum, the National Museum of Scotland. Last week, Thursday and Friday, PCS staff walked out, resulting in the closure of what should be a place of huge national pride, a place that is our most visited attraction, almost 1.7 million people going through the doors each year. That success was achieved because of the staff who worked there, yet the lowest-paid members of that staff team see their wages and conditions under attack. The museum management, with, I presume, the then Cabinet Secretary's approval of broken existing, ACAS agreement to impose a two-tier system on the museum staff. Any member of staff employed since 1 January 2011 and who works weekends as part of their duties no longer receives a weekend allowance. Those working prior to that date do. That allowance was previously negotiated and agreed to recognise that working weekends when children are off school or family members off work and when people want to visit tourist attractions like the museum, impacts on people on their family life. That anti-social element of their shift rotor was recognised in their pay, so what we now have is two low-paid workers on the same shift, doing the same job for the same employer, but one being paid much less than his or her colleague. It is not a small amount of money. It is up to 20 per cent of their salary, up to £3,000 a year in hard cash, £3,000 from someone who only earns £18,000 and lives in the expensive city that Christine Grahame mentioned. That is a very significant amount of money, maybe not for the chief executive, who earns more than £110,000, but most certainly for the low-paid staff who run the place, some of whom take home almost less than £1,000 a month while the chief executive takes home nearer £2,000 a week. What about the Government's role in that? The responsibility for resolving this year-and-a-half long dispute lies fairly and squarely with the cabinet secretary, who, as far as I can see, has done zero in an attempt to bring this to an end. Only two weeks ago, her colleague John Swinney said, that fair work will play a key role in making Scotland the fairer and more equal society that everyone wants to see. That is why it is a principle that the SNP will be putting at the heart of her election campaign over the next four weeks. How does that square, just a moment, how does that statement square with ripping off the staff to the tune of £3,000 a year? Will the member confirm that no one at the National Museum has had their take-home pay cut? Will he also confirm that the National Museum of Wales is planning to take away the weekend allowance from existing staff, which is not the case in Scotland? Will he further confirm that seven-day working in the tourism and heritage sector is the norm and that the following organisations do not play weekend working allowances? Historic Scotland, National Trust, Visit Scotland, Vanilla Gersh Museums, National V&A... Your responsible for culture in Scotland, not Wales, so take your responsibilities seriously. If seven-day working is the norm, let's have a race to the top on terms and conditions, not a race to the bottom that you want. Why is it that the Government, in a desperate bid to prevent strikes in the prison service and a run-up to the UK and Scottish elections, can find money to give prison officers £2,000 each? Let me say good luck to the Prison Officers Association for negotiating an increase, but they can't find the cash to pay the museum staff what they deserve. The cabinet secretary can't blame anyone else for this. No amount of deflection will work this time. None of the usual bogeymen can be rolled out as part of another diversionary tactic, because it's not the UK Government's fault, it's not the Labour Party's fault, it's not any Labour council's fault, it's not European law, it's not even the wacky powers, so all the old chestnuts cannot be rolled out, it's simply the cabinet secretary's lack of political will and desperately poor leadership. She and the museum management could sort this out for £200,000, a tiny proportion of the £414 million underspend that our Government has, and yet she's sat by for 18 months and done nothing. Once again, the Government has been found out as they have been on so many other things when it comes to people in the workplace. Many thanks. Now Colin John Mason to be followed by Richard Simpson. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and as we've just heard, this is obviously a wide-ranging debate and covers a lot of issues. While culture is the first keyword in the title of the debate, visitor attractions and events make it even wider. Sport is not specifically mentioned in the title, but the commonwealth games are mentioned in the motion, and events presumably include all events with sport in there, too. Events like the commonwealth games clearly attract visitors in the year that they actually happen, and the same is true for the cultural events surrounding the games, which happened in 2014. However, the other side of the coin is that they raised the profile of the host city and country, and while some people do not actually come in the particular year of the event, they do come later on. I guess that that is harder to measure and pin down exactly why visitors have come to Glasgow or Scotland in a particular year, but the fact that it is harder to measure does not mean that it is less important. Venues built for the commonwealth games continue to hold events that should encourage visitors—for example, to watch Scotland's only professional basketball team, Glasgow Rocks, at the Emirates arena. Cycling, swimming and hockey all now have world-class facilities, so we can look forward to regularly holding major events in the future, not least Glasgow co-hosting the first European sports championships with Berlin in 2018. Culture clearly includes Scottish culture in all its various forms, and I absolutely want to see us unashamedly celebrating Scottish culture, be it burns, bagpipes or Scottish films, like one of my favourites from a few years ago, Shallow Grave, which I think was one of the first Scottish films I saw with no cringe factor. However, Scotland has become increasingly diverse and international, as Hans Lamalloch was reminding us, and I think that we both need to and in fact should want to celebrate other cultures that have found a home here in Scotland. For me, in the east end of Glasgow, that certainly includes Irish culture, and that clearly includes Celtic football club. To say that Celtic is just a football team is to miss a lot of points. Culture and sport here very much overlap. Both Hibs and Edinburgh and Celtic in Glasgow grew out of the Irish experience in Scotland, and I think that we all need to be a bit more relaxed about that and welcome it. Visitors to all European cities want to see sports stadia as part of their city experience, and I am not sure that we have fully tapped into that potential in Glasgow. I see Scotland and our culture largely as part of the Celtic family of nations, and I would like to see that traditional link strengthened. Celtic connections has been a huge success in more ways than one and has helped to draw together the many strands of our Celtic heritage. The main venue for Celtic connections in my constituency is St Andrews in the Square, which is now the centre for traditional Scottish music, song and dance. If MSPs have never visited the building itself, I certainly would encourage you to do so. It really is a superb building and was in fact being built when Bonnie Prince Charlie visited the city. This year, I think that I was at three different events all there and particularly enjoyed at St Roach's Cayley band, which is clearly coming from an Irish background. There are many ways in which we can seek to tackle serious subjects such as sectarianism and anti-Irish racism, and I think that cultural events such as music are some of the best. This evening, too, I understand that Joan McAlpine is hosting an anti-sectarian play called Freedom Square from Ryan Youth Theatre. Again, that is very welcome, and I am looking forward to being at that. Often, theatre and music can help us to think through issues at a deeper level, which is harder to do in a debate even in this place or on social media. As the Labour amendment says, culture can contribute towards improving learning, health, wellbeing, confidence and quality of life, and I would want to echo that. On the international stage in my constituency, we have the world pipe band championships at Glasgow Green, which has been held in the city every year since 1986, with some 7,000 musicians and an audience of some 30,000. It is reckoned to generate perhaps £10 million for the local economy. Glasgow Green, as members probably know, is just east of the city centre, as is St Andrews in the Square. I also have a palace, slightly different from Dennis Robertson's one, which is called the People's Palace. That is close by to the merchant city, which has been a huge success in many ways, but it is also close by to areas that have been struggling, such as the bars, Calton, Brigton and Delmanach. The bar's market in particular was a major visitor attraction in the past that has struggled in recent times, and we do not seem to have been able to help it to fulfil its potential in the way that perhaps markets in other cities have managed. All of that brings home to me in a particularly clear way how culture, visitor attractions and events can play a key role in boosting the economy and regeneration, but that does not mean that it is all plain sailing or that there is an easy fix. All of that area around Glasgow Green still faces big challenges and things take time. The merchant city regeneration has not spread east as rapidly as many of us might have hoped. I realise that I have been very focused on my own constituency, so let me finish by mentioning a few things further away. The Edinburgh festival is a fabulous event, 40 miles from Glasgow, yet with traditionally very few Glaswegians attending. There have been moves in that regard, but I think that we need to try and do more. Finally, another example is folk from the central belt, not a travelling north. For example, I meet many people in Glasgow who have never been to Inverness, let alone to the islands, so I think that we need to put more emphasis on getting our own people to visit our own attractions. Thank you. I now call on Dr Richard Simpson to be followed by Stuart Stevenson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I commend Stuart Maxwell on his speech—he is not in the chamber at present—on inequalities, and I want to focus on that issue. El Sistema involves half a million children across Venezuela. It has produced some of the finest classical musicians in the world, but behind those musical achievements is an even more exciting story. El Sistema uses the symphony orchestra to benefit society. It not only produces musicians but happy and well-equipped citizens, often from poorest and most vulnerable backgrounds. Now, visitors to Rapploch in Stirling will often be met by a small voice asking, what do you play? The children here just assume that everyone has an instrument, that everyone plays something. Rapploch is the home to the UK's first flowering of the remarkable El Sistema movement. The development was seen as an integral to the environmental improvements in the Rapploch in Stirling, which the Labour Council has fostered over many years. I had the pleasure of being in the Caracas opera house to see El Sistema a few years back when I was on a deputation over there. I would strongly encourage him to go to see where it originated because it was absolutely amazing. Richard Simpson? That's something I may do when I retire, Neil. Mr Findlay, I will hope to as a place to visit. Rapploch is in quite a tiny place. There are over 450 children from babes in arms to 14-year-olds who have evolved in the big noise that the orchestra programme launched in 2008. 75 per cent of primary school children in the estate are involved at any given time. The big orchestra will grow with its new generation through to adulthood. All that is just in a couple of square miles tucked into a meander on the river forth. Once the area was lumbered with a very negative image, the community is now becoming famous for its young masters instead. More than that, those children have become role models, and this community has become an inspiration. Governor Hill is now copying them. Although it is not an inexpensive option, it can improve the health and wellbeing, the aspiration and achievement in a way that no previous programme has done. In my view, it fulfills, throughout, many of the principles of the policy embodied in Sir John Elvridge's papers for the Carnegie Trust, entitled The Enabling State, which I have recommended to colleagues before, and I have no hesitation in recommending again. It is about doing things with communities and meeting their aspirations. However, we are faced with a situation in which musical instrument education is under great pressure and is one of the potential longer-term cuts at the damages of the cuts. The Government's role is traditionally seen as funding the big events, like the Commonwealth Games, and those are certainly important for our brand on the world stage. However, working with communities and supporting those programmes, which the community itself supports, demonstrates a much better approach. I want to give three further examples in different areas. First, spinning out from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, of which I have been a supporter for 20 years, has been the East Newark Festival, which is unique because it has a high level of private sponsorship, but secondly, for its use of multiple local venues, mainly churches. However, the level of private sponsorship is something that I believe we should recognise and complement. Communities should be encouraged to help fund themselves. I also commend a paper by Lynette at looking at a project supported by Creative Scotland, involving five national organisations working with offenders. There are clear findings from research from North Africa, New Zealand and the UK that arts participation can encourage the development of better relationships between prisoners, better relationships with prison staff, better relationships between the offenders and their families. Participating in arts projects often improves self-esteem and self-confidence. It helps communication and social skills. It enables people to work together and help each other as peers, and results in prisoners taking part in other education courses after completing an arts project. The finding of the Creative Scotland sponsored paper makes it clear that international research that I have mentioned is replicated in it, and it works when traditional pedagogy has failed. This culture-based approach has much to commend it. Central Art Link, for example, based in Stirling, has made effective contributions to Caught in Vale and HM Pullmont, again engaging young men who would otherwise not engage. In 2001, I would highly recommend to the culture secretary that she talks to justice and to health about continuing and supporting these projects. In 2001, as justice minister, I was very happy to support the business plan from the registrar general to integrate the register of births, deaths and marriages and the safety and register. I supported that at the time because I believed that genealogy would become much more important. The modest investment that we made has paid off in substantial growth of genealogical tourism. Colleagues, we have £60 million plus of diaspora. I believe that we need a more comprehensive and integrated approach beyond the homecomings to encourage even greater growth in this form of tourism, and I hope that the Government is indeed ready to do this. Thank you. Excellent. Many thanks. I now call on Stuart Stevenson, who is followed by Jean Urquhart. Fit like loon, Chavin doon, far you gain, aft to sing. Foo's to hear, a fooseir, fans of tour, a sea of glower. That is my imperfect attempt to poetry, which has not been. It is something that we have heard anything of in the debate thus far. Of course, it is poetry that uses the language of the northeast, the Doric. Poetry is, of course, something for which Scotland is known worldwide through the great poems of Robert Burns. We see outside the Canangate Kirk, a nice new statue to Robert Ferguson, who was the fellow that Robert Burns wrote a post-mortem obituary for referring to Robert Ferguson as his elder brother in the news. We see tourists being photographed alongside the statue of Robert Ferguson. Without, I suspect, any great sense of who Robert Ferguson was, apart from, as it says, beneath someone who died in Bedlam, which, of course, was not the best place to die if you were going to die in Edinburgh. We have a cultural heritage. I will, yes, ma'am. I thank him for raising the issue of Robert Ferguson. Does he agree with me that perhaps the poet would be better known among Scots if the National Portrait Gallery hadn't hidden away his portrait in the vaults instead of putting it on permanent display? The answer is a poet, Mr Stevenson. I find extemporising with poetry even more fundamentally difficult than putting words on a bit of paper, so I will resist that temptation, if I may. What I've just heard is used to me and I am minded to agree with what the member says. But, certainly, words, literature and poetry are an important part of our connection with the world and our gift to the world. We are fortunate that our neighbours to the south of us in this island have given us one of the richest languages on this earth in English, with a huge vocabulary and a huge opportunity to write and many things for us to read. I hope that that becomes an important part of what we do. The Wigtown Book Festival has been a good example of a small town creating a niche in cultural and tourist terms that perhaps can be copied elsewhere. I have the feeling that there's room for a food town in the north-east of Scotland and I'd like to think that we might do something about it. Joan McAlpine, of course, has a debate on food on Thursday. We've got lots of locations that people come to. Family Connections Richard Simpson mentioned genealogy and I've been studying genealogy in my family for over 50 years. It helps me to connect with history. My grandfather was born when Abraham Lincoln was president and all my grandparents were born before the first secret ballot in a parliamentary election, which was in Pontifract on 15 August 1872. When we study our family, we connect to our history, our antecedence and that diaspora of 40 or 50 million Scots around the world. I made them. Coming here to study their family history, members of my wife's family recently came across New Zealand. They travelled from Scotland to Canada and eventually ended up in New Zealand. We didn't know they existed and they came specifically to study their family history. In Aberdeen, in the Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society, we have thousands of members there, a huge building full of information that people come to see. I'm never in there, but I hear voices of people who have travelled halfway around the globe to research their family history. In today's literature and films in many places that attract tourists, in my constituency in Penin, a year-round population of some 24, well, in 30 years after the film Local Hero was filmed there, people still come to Penin to look at the post box. It's needing a bit of TLC at the moment, and my colleague Ailey Whiteford is on that particular case, but the mark of a film when three decades old is still there. The Oxford Bar, the home to the fictional detective inspector Rebus that Ian Rankin chose as the local for his drinking because he couldn't make it up, real life was even better, is something that tourists visit on the back of that. Of course, the public in there was a guy called Willie Ross when I first came to Edinburgh more than 40 years ago, who was somebody who was so antipathetic to the Edinburgh Festival that we used to shut the Oxford Bar for three weeks during the first one, put a notice up in the window saying shut due to festival, very much the exception. Of course, on King George, the fourth bridge, I was last week, I had a coffee in the elephant house where the Harry Potter novels had their genesis. We have a huge amount in all our cities and all our areas of Scotland that drag people from across the world. We have heard talk of the National Museum, the foundation stone of which was the very last public act of Prince Albert before he died in the 1860s. I went there when I was a youngster. I can still remember things that I saw there. Let's hope that the cultural inheritance for those who come to Scotland today is as rich as I feel mine is, Presiding Officer. I thank the cabinet secretary for her motion today and the opportunity to debate those interesting issues around Scotland's many different cultures. I also endorse both of the amendments. Clare Baker refers to culture counts and I laid a motion down that was supported. Over 40 different cultural organisations in Scotland are calling for recognition in the national performance framework so that we begin to look at the outcomes that we might like to see where culture is at the heart of what we do. We enjoy the membership of over 50 of Scotland's organisations and are driven to continue to make the case for recognition for the arts and arts for all in every aspect. That is whether artists are going into prisons to work on reform or old folks homes, poets and old folks homes and so on, really making a difference to people's lives. Also to Liz Smith for highlighting the case for smaller cultural events and festivals, it is almost kind of easy to celebrate the success of Edinburgh's international festivals, all of them and so on, but perhaps over shadow sometimes some of the importance of the much smaller festivals that are happening. I know that the cabinet secretary enjoys them just as much, but I make the case really for them. Some time ago in this chamber, the Minister for Tourism, when announcing extra funding for promoting events through event Scotland, he was reassuring to me at that time that smaller and more rural events should be recognised as important. I would like to just reinforce that case again today. Indeed, the book festivals in Stornoway, or Call, Alipwll or Lerwick, do attract international visitors, but they may not reach the 27 per cent or 30 per cent that is asked for in event Scotland. I would ask the cabinet secretary to check some of those figures because I wonder sometimes if the bigger festivals or events that are given funding actually do any better. It is really important, certainly in the area that I represent, and sometimes to recognise that culture is about, or just exactly what it is about, it is about a way of life. Often that which really does attract the visitors to a country is maybe it is going to sheep shearing or maybe it is going to sheep dog trials and the cailie at night, but who would deny that the enjoyment of that could be any greater than possibly an evening at the theatre during the fringe? I would like to see some of these be given the kind of prominence that they deserve and also the importance that they undoubtedly have when it comes to more rural festivals and events. Mention has been made too of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Mela. I do not know what the plural of Mela is, but I think we could also, we have acknowledged the cultural diversity of Scotland and I wonder to Cabinet Secretary if we should start to look perhaps at just how strong that is reading recently about the Gallic community in Nova Scotia and the Scots taking their culture there. I wonder how much does Scotland benefit from the cultures that now make up a part of our diverse populations. Are we engaging enough maybe with the Polish or Lithuanian or Romanian communities that are in our midst and I suspect we would like to take part or perhaps would take part even more across smaller communities and more rural places? I kind of I guess look forward to the day maybe when the traditional music awards include traditional Polish songs or traditional Latvian songs or Spanish or French or Dutch or Swiss of all of the different communities that make up our cultural diversity. Finally, I would just like to say that a couple of things. One was I had occasion to entertain some Norwegian politicians in the Highlands and Islands looking at population change and really how to keep young people in the Highlands and they were impressed by organisations like the Fesh of course and other things which were giving people a real sense of identity after a long time of really having their culture not recognised but at one point I got a bit frustrated with them and asked them what they thought that Norway would look like in their ideal world and they immediately said Scotland and when asked about that they said that what country would not that Scotland with its international recognition of its culture that we have a culture that is worldwide a song that sung in every country around the world of course on Hogmanay. But I wonder cabinet secretary if we really enjoy the knowledge of some of that ourselves. I think that my final plea would be that we start to recognise the many cultures in our country ourselves and that we acknowledge that there's a great deal for us to learn and recognise in the wealth of that culture. Many thanks. The Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee of which I am a member recently conducted an inquiry into the economic impact of the creative industries and what came across quite clearly particularly during our early evidence gathering was the huge impact that the creative industries made on the economy, too big to look at them all in sufficient depth. We therefore concentrated on the impact of computer games, film and television. Film and television is the way we reflect the cultural successes and vibrancy that many members have highlighted today so they are therefore particularly important. However, the committee did find in its report that there is room for growth particularly in film and television. The flourishing culture that we have seen in Scotland through our literature, performing arts, national theatre and visual arts has not necessarily been reflected on the smaller large screen and we need to look at viable ways to tackle this problem. The committee in the area of television, which I wish to concentrate on, the committee heard that few Scottish independent producers are producing returnable television drama, which is a serious missed opportunity given that this is a key sphere for building successful businesses. The lift and shift tactic used mainly by the BBC was described as damaging to sustainable television production in Scotland. The term lift and shift describes the process of moving production of pre-existing shows to Scotland in order to meet voters for Scottish-based output. Lift and shift provides short-term production employment in Scotland but not sustainability. When production on a programme is complete and the cast and crew go back to London, the benefit of this work, such as financial profits and the key relationships between seller and buyer, remain in the south-east with London-based producers. By contrast, Scottish-based producers here are here for the long term and they generate ideas and attract work into Scotland. Independent producers who came before the committee were quite unequivocal that London-centric commissioners are a huge obstacle for Scotland's TV and film industry. There is a wider point here in relation to the promotion of Scottish culture on television. That is if commissioning is always commercially driven, productions of cultural value are more likely to be overlooked, particularly by London-based commissioners who are unfamiliar with Scottish work. For example, STV's Alan Clements told the committee that commissioners are the gatekeepers to the cash. Therefore, commissioning must be done by people who are aware of those books or movements. Producer Bob Last agreed, stating that we are talking about a cultural reality that needs active balancing. We perhaps need a new mechanism in which we promote material that is culturally important to Scotland even if commissioner in London does not think so. Some witnesses pointed to a confusion in the current devolve settlement as well as the failure of the Smith commission to devolve broadcasting. Independent producer Ken Hay advocated that the devolution of public sector broadcasters production budgets, along with commissioning powers, be needed. At the very least, we need a commitment from broadcasters to scrap the lift-and-shift tactic in favour of proper investment in independent production companies with a permanent base in Scotland. The committee has called on the BBC and Channel 4 to adopt the new approach to commissioning by the end of 2016. Of course, cultural extends beyond the screen industry. I wanted to move away from the committee report for a moment to look at the importance of festivals, which I know other members have talked about, but because there are a number of successful festivals in my south of Scotland region and across Scotland, I wanted to draw attention to their cultural and economic importance. Festival Goers visiting the south of Scotland region this year will be spoiled for choice. For example, there is the 14th Money Eye Folk Festival, which takes place next month and has a great line-up scheduled, including Whirligig. This year's Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Claire Hastings. We have the Wickermann Festival also in its 14th year, which kicks off in Dundrenan in July. In August, there is a smaller Rockerby festival in the town of Lockerby, which offers fun and around rock bands. You wouldn't be surprised to hear. Of course, the biggest festival in Scotland is also a national treasure, and that is Tea in the Park, which is now in its 22nd year. It is the second largest festival in the UK, and we know that it generates £15.4 million for the Scottish economy, and well over £2 million at a local level. As members may be aware, plans to relocate the festival this year from its traditional home in Bilado to a new venue at Strathallan Castle were in doubt when rear birds were found nesting near the site. Happily, it now seems likely that the event will be able to go ahead, as the experienced team has made clear that they will adhere to environmental conditions to ensure the safety of the birds. I very much hope that this is the case, and I am sure that people do right across the chamber. It will be good news for the local economy and the Scottish economy, which benefit from the expenditure, and for the fans, who have a great time at the festival. Thank you very much. We now move to closing speeches. I call on Cameron Buchanan up to six minutes. I remind all members who took part in the debate to be grateful if they would like to return to the chamber now. Mr Buchanan, six minutes. It is clear to all that culture, visitor attractions and events are making huge contribution to Scotland's economy and society. Be they daily, annual or even one-off, the various activities that we have to offer have a valued impact on our lives. Furthermore, I hope that all of us in this chamber can agree to welcome the hosting of international events in all Scottish venues. On another note, it is important to have the chance to celebrate our culture and boast proudly what the region I represent has to offer. Although cultural activities, tourism and events are often conflated, I feel it is important to shine a light on each aspect so that we can recognise their great economic and social value. We have recently discussed in this chamber the spectacular successes of the international sporting events hosted in Scotland last year, Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup amongst them. It was evident that these international sporting occasions showcased Scotland to the world and provided a boost to many aspects of our tourist industry. I mentioned back then that it is important to add to this legacy, and in this regard I welcome the recent announcement that Glasgow will be a host city for the multi-sport European sports championships, taking place in July and August 2018, to be co-hosted with Bolin. The combination of swimming, cycling, rowing and triathlon will showcase our capabilities internationally. I am particularly looking forward to Edinburgh paying its part as well. It will come as little surprise to anyone in Scotland or the United Kingdom that, even all the world, to hear that Edinburgh's culture makes a substantial contribution to the local and national economy. Although the city is famed for its festivals in the summer and winter—which I will come to—you only have to travel around Edinburgh at any time to know that we attract tourists throughout the year. They are attracted by the rich variety of cultural offerings in the city from whisky tasting, kilt tailoring to historical architecture and, of course, captivating ghost tours. It is clear that our heritage accounts for a large proportion of the rich culture, which leads me to raise the interesting point that many visitors to Edinburgh come not only because they are interested in our heritage and diaspora, but also because they share it, which we have touched on with this genealogy. The shared appreciation of our culture truly enables locals to enjoy a great sense of pride in the city in which they call home. As for visitor attractions, Edinburgh offers many that make marked contribution to both our economy and culture. It would, of course, be very difficult to discuss Edinburgh's attractions without mentioning the world-famous Edinburgh Castle, which, as we have heard from everybody, was recently voted the top UK heritage attraction in the Bridgetree travel awards. Furthermore, its economic contribution, as Scotland's number one paid for tourist attraction, gives a sustained boost to the city's economy. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to highlight every detail of the castle, but I must say that I was particularly delighted when Monsburg recently restored its rifle-prace in pristine condition. I remember as a child clamouring all over it and putting a footprint on it, which fortunately came off very quickly. To give another example, the National Museum of Scotland provides an excellent cultural focus for residents and visitors. When we have a thriving tourist industry, its success drives new investment into the city as the recently renovated Scottish whisky experience demonstrates. Although the term event could span all manner of occasions, I would like to focus on two forms, festivals and sports. The multi-day Hogmeade Festival, which we know contributes around 32 million for the Scottish economy, is a shining example of an event that boasts the Scottish economy, particularly as it is repeated annually, for obvious reasons. In addition, Edinburgh's international reputation is an ideal location to welcome in the new year, underlines our status as a first-class destination for cultural tourism. I remember many years ago, when everywhere was shut at new year, and it was a desert, and it was, fortunately, thanks to Peter Irvine of unique events who actually revived the tradition. Members will probably not be surprised to hear that I would also like to use this opportunity to put some focus on the Edinburgh international festival and the Edinburgh festival fringe. Edinburgh locals take a great pride in the multiple aspects of the Edinburgh festival for both economic and social reasons, and we should all applaud the people and organisations whose commitment enables such successful shows to be delivered time and time again. As for sports, our society benefits most when the legacy is secured after a high-profile sporting competition. In the Lothian region that I represent, one obvious example is the Royal Commonwealth pool. Undoubtedly, the ability to use the swimming pool for exercise, leisure or to teach children how to swim is the most welcome contribution to our society. With that in mind, I am rather intrigued to discover what events may be hosted in Edinburgh as part of the multi-sport European sports championships, which will be taking place in July and August 2018. Accordingly, I welcome the chance to celebrate the economic and social contributions of Scotland's culture, visit attractions and events. They have all fostered our well-earned reputation as one of the best places in the world for arts, tourism and sports to flourish. I hope that the economic impact of these sectors is monitored extensively and reported in the Scottish Parliament so that we can be as informed as possible about it. On another level, it is clear that the prestigious events, festivals, shows and their legacies enrich Scotland's society in a manner that we can all be proud of. I hope that the debate and the attention that it is bringing deliver some of the recognition that all the people involved deserve for their invaluable contribution to Scotland's economy, our prosperity, our society and our international reputation. All of us in this chamber should do everything that we can to support them. I therefore support the motion. I thank the Scottish Labour Party for closing today's debate. I would like to see how fantastic it is to have the opportunity to discuss the huge contribution that Scotland's cultural and creative attractions make to our society, our economy and our diversity as a nation. As we have heard in today's debate, last year was indeed an excellent one for Scottish cultural events. From culture 2014, with the branding designed by the superb Jim Lambey, we had brilliant events such as the Big Big Sing, the Blue Block Studio, which was a big hit across Scotland and the amazing Tam Dean Burn and his Julia Donaldson Cycling Marathon, which I had the pleasure of seeing recently at the Creative Scotland's recent reception in Parliament a few weeks ago. World-leading artists and local communities working together all across the country once again demonstrated the best of Scotland's arts and culture. I am sure that we can agree across the chamber that it showcased Scotland at its very best. Just as the Commonwealth Games brought some of the best athletes in the world to Scotland, Festival 2014 brought some of the world's finest entertainment and culture to Glasgow also. We also had a bumper year for the Edinburgh Festival during the Games, achieving a record of tendencies and box office numbers, further cementing Scotland's place internationally as a nation of culture and the arts that is unrivalled on the world stage. We were able to share this great celebration with guests from all around the world, as Scotland saw a 10 per cent increase in visitor numbers to Scottish attractions. However, I am sure that the question of all of us is asking how we can top that. I am sure that we all know that it will be challenging. The world's eyes are always on Scotland's culture sector and, time and time again, it punches well above its weight in the world. This year promises to be no different. From the world of music, we have already had the amazing Celtic Connection Festival, which once again showed why Scotland's bands are among the most influential in the world. Festivals, of course, and music festivals in particular, have played a crucial role in Scotland's cultural calendar for a number of years. Party at the Palace is back for 2015, this August, at the Stunningland Lithgow Palace. From smaller music festivals such as the Wickhamen Festival, perhaps one of Scotland's best-loved independent music events, to the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival and the Peerless Tea in the Park, which I am sure we can all agree that providing all relevant environmental safeguards are in place provides such a boost to Scotland's economy. Of course, in Glasgow, we once again welcome the world's pipe band championships back to Glasgow Green with over 300 live performances. Just to be plugged there, it was just to say that my amazing nieces and nephews will be taking part as pipers and drummers of the East Kilbride pipe band this year again. All of those events, and many more besides, take place over the next year and will allow Scots across the country to harness energy, friendship and enjoyment gained from what was the Commonwealth Games and continue it into the next 12 months. Even we here in the Scottish Parliament are getting an enact, with Holyrood Rocks coming to Parliament with its launch event on Wednesday 27 May and the final taking place on Saturday 31 October. Holyrood Rocks will be a great way to harness the hugely positive energy gained from the Games and its related events to ensure that our young people know the importance of using their vote, particularly our 16 and 17-year-olds who will be voting in the Scottish Parliament elections for the first time next year. We all feel proud across the chamber of our country's achievements last year and to watch our nation come together to celebrate the best Scotland has to offer with friends from all over the world and to do so with such vigor and good faith made me truly proud to be Scottish. I look forward to the events such as the voluntary arts week in May 2015, which highlights a positive contribution to Scotland's vibrant cultural sector, made by our voluntary arts staff and volunteers throughout Scotland, and ensures that venues, creative hubs and organisations are accessible and welcoming to all as Neil Findlay had mentioned the importance earlier in his speech and asked of us all to remedy and support the on-going dispute of some of our lowest-paid staff. In conclusion, 2014 was indeed a momentous year for culture in Scotland, not only because Dennis Robertson managed to get a song put together for Mr Q on the fiddle or that Mark Griffin had highlighted the Commonwealth Games cycle path route in my Bonnie home town of Murisburn, or by us all trying to rush out to buy a train pass to Christine Grahame's patch in the Borders, or even by Mr McMillan, shown as some of his literary skills. Sorry, I can't even say that. My wish to draw a picture. Renouncing the pediology. That was right. Sorry, Presiding Officer. Yes, I will finish. But, as I am sure we all can agree from across the chamber, there are promising signs to suggest that 2014 was no fluke. Today's debate has been interesting and has shown that there is real commitment to art and culture and poetry for Stuart Stevenson across the chamber and even in Scotland. Let's make sure 2014 is the rule rather than the exception, and with our continued support in this Parliament Scotland can continue to flourish creatively and culturally. Therefore, I fully support the motion and amendments placed today by Liz Smith and Clare Baker. If you want to wind up the debate, cabinet secretary, you have until five o'clock. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I don't know if you knew that Hollywood rocks, but you do now, after our McTarget's contribution. I very much welcome the contributions from all the members who have spoken. It's clear that there is a shared appreciation of the contribution of culture and heritage, our visitor attractions and events to Scotland's economy, communities and our sense of wellbeing. The Government will be supporting the amendments from the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, making important points about rural communities and also on volunteering and marking voluntary arts week. While Scotland is steeped in stories and histories, it is continually on the move, celebrating its past while sticking new and innovative ways to engage in. 2014 had a huge impact on Scotland's visitor economy in terms of income generated, but, more important, events across Scotland enabled people to access, enjoy, participate in and benefit from a wide range of cultural activities. Creative Scotland funded and supported a broad range of individuals and organisations across the cultural sector, helping to build capacity and deliver high-quality work in communities across Scotland. Clare Baker, in a very thoughtful speech, posed the question of how wide and deep that reach is. That is a very central point and a point that I hope that this Parliament will continue to look at, examine and take forward. There were very important points in terms of that contribution in that area. Street Maxwell talked about the role of culture and the opportunities that it provides to perhaps work particularly in the areas of mental health and particularly with men in particular. I think that he's right to say that we should be looking at the role of culture in tackling inequalities. Richard Simpson talked about the prison population and I remember seeing it at a fantastic performance in Greenock prison supported by Citizen Theatre, where women had to examine themselves in front of an audience in terms of their experience. That shows the power of culture as transformative. It's something that, again, we should come back to. Hanzala Malik talked about the need to focus on minority communities. I have tasked Creative Scotland to look at what better we can do to help support and identify provision in that area. Jeane-Archwood quite rightly said, how are we looking at all the communities of Scotland? I spent my St Andrew's night celebrating a multicultural homecoming with performances from the Polish community in Scotland and the Irish community in Scotland, the Indian community. She's quite right to say that that should be something that becomes more of a norm in our exposition of what culture means in Scotland in the modern day. John Mason talked about Celtic connections and the importance of recognising and celebrating our Irish heritage. He might be keen to know that I'll be attending the Celtic media festival this week because the role of Gaelic culture and also how it's demonstrated upon our screen is very important indeed. In terms of how we make an impact and how we can transform the aspect of people having access, I think that looking at children and our young people in particular is a key area. That was a question posed by Claire Baker. We now have our first youth art strategy, Time to Shine. We have the Youth Music Initiative and we have cashback for creativity, and all of them are working together, designed to ensure that no-one's background is a barrier to taking part in cultural life. Time to Shine sets a whole range of recommendations to support children and young people flourish in arts. There is a 3.5 million youth arts development fund supporting nine youth arts hubs across Scotland, and they've been developed through partnerships between local and national arts and youth service providers, and they aim to gain to 40,000 children and young people. A real strength is that a lot of the hubs are being driven for by young people themselves. I had the pleasure recently of meeting those involved in the Highland Youth Arts Hub at Eden Court to hear about their exciting plans. I intend to visit all of the youth arts hubs in the future. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The cabinet secretary is mentioning the hubs. Can the cabinet secretary reassure us that as many venues as possible can be fully accessible, not just for the people from maybe poorer backgrounds but people with disabilities having access to them? That is why, when I was talking in my contribution, I mentioned the importance of small local communities working together so that there is full inclusiveness. I will indeed. I will make sure to come back to the member about the details of how the youth arts hubs in particular will operate. Richard Simpson talked about the big noise in Rapplock and I think in terms of increasing the confidence, the aspirations of self-esteem in our children and young people, transforming and providing social regeneration. The impact has been quite profound. That is why we have helped Big Noise and El Sustema to look at developing in other areas. That is why we have helped to support them in Govan Hill. Christian Allard told us about the ambitions for Big Noise Tory, which is due to formally launch at the end of June. A lot of the debate has also been about the economics and the economic contribution. Clare Baker, Joe McAlpine and Sherp Maxwell talked about the economic contribution of tea in the park. Liz Smith talked about rural sustainability and the virtual circle between culture and having festivals locally and driving rural sustainability. She probably took the half-glass empty view of the world because we also heard from Dennis Robertson about the vibrancy of cuddly and how it is using its culture in its community. Richard Simpson talked about East Newt 5. Christine Graham talked about the border rail link and how it will open up the culture offer in the borders to others and wider fields. I think that there are opportunities, particularly in our rural communities, to grasp the opportunity of cultural festivals to take things forward. That is not just the responsibility or the role for funding from the national cultural budget. That is also the responsibility of local authorities. I think that the important point about the role of private investment in that is that I know that in one of my own times, the basket music festival, was the initiative of the local business community to recognise that the increased footfall would be a benefit to that area. However, we have to invest in order to help to support our cultural provision. The Theatre Royal has now opened a refurbished Theatre Royal with a contribution from the Scottish Government. The Glasgow Royal concert hall, the home of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, is a member who played such an important part in the contribution to the Commonwealth Games cultural programme. If you look at our national collections, we have significant projects at Cosway sign, at Kelvin hall and also at the arts conservation facility. Claire Baker referred to the National Theatre of Scotland. Of course, the Theatre Without Walls has access and makes sure that its provision is seen by many across the country, the Theatre Without Walls, and we have seen the provision of a facility to help a creativity hub for them in terms of what they can offer in the theatre and the proposals there. We also want to bring culture to new audiences. I have empowered the national performing companies to make sure that they take their high-quality work across the country. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Stuart Stratford, who is appointed today as the new Scottish Opera music director. We are seeing many of our national companies performing overseas. David Gregg's play, Dunstanane, is going to the US and has been there to great acclaim. Interestingly, we have received an audience of 125,000 on radio 3, which would have been the equivalent of a cellar of 200 consecutive performances to match that number at the lyceum. There is much to look forward to. In 2015, the year of food and drink, we have got the Orkney Folk Festival, the Glasgow Science Festival, the Borders Book Festival, Cake Fest Edinburgh and, of course, many of the themed years in the years ahead. To go back to the theme of transformation, culture can transform rural communities in terms of its festivals, it can transform lives of individuals, it can transform communities and also the economy. I very much look forward to taking this agenda forward, and I thank all members who have spoken for I think what has been a very lively and informed debate. Thank you very much. Thank you. That concludes the debate on the contribution of culture, vista, attraction and events of Scotland's economy and society. Before we move to decision time, I invite members to join me and welcome to the gallery her excellency Teresita Vicente, the ambassador of the Republic of Cuba. We now move to decision time. There are three questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first question is at amendment number 12958.2 in the name of Claire Baker, which seeks to amend motion number 12958 in the name of Fiona Hyslop. On the contribution of culture, vista, attractions and events to Scotland's economy and society, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The amendment is therefore agreed to. The next question is at amendment number 12958.1 in the name of Liz Smith, which seeks to amend motion number 12958 in the name of Fiona Hyslop. On the contribution of culture, vista, attractions and events to Scotland's economy and society, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The amendment is therefore agreed to. The next question is at motion number 12958 in the name of Fiona Hyslop, which seeks to amend motion number 12958 in the name of Fiona Hyslop. On the contribution of culture, vista, attractions and events to Scotland's economy and society, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The motion as amended is therefore agreed to. That concludes decision time. We now move to members' business. Members should leave the chamber and should do so quickly and quietly.