The scale of the crisis engulfing the National Trust for Scotland is becoming ever clearer. Hundreds of staff have been warned that they could face redundancy, after the pandemic wreaked havoc on this year’s tourist season. Some trust sites in my region will not open their doors until 2021 or even 2022. What action will the Scottish Government take to ensure that the organisation continues to support the heritage of Scotland for future generations?

As I said in the chamber just two or three weeks ago, the National Trust for Scotland is a hugely important part of not just our tourist economy but our reputation and brand as a country. We are in contact with the National Trust and will continue to be so to support it through and beyond the crisis.

Part of that involves, as quickly as possible but as safely as necessary, allowing parts of our economy, including our tourist economy, to open up again and getting back as quickly as we can to a situation in which we are encouraging people to visit those places. In the meantime, we need to work with organisations to help them to deal with the immediate challenges. None of those things are easy and none have easy answers, but we have to continue to work through the health and economic impacts in a methodical and systematic way so that the recovery that we are building is safe and sustainable. That is what has all our focus at the moment.