To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that over half of applications to Creative Scotland could be turned down as a result of “standstill funding” from the Scottish Government. (S6O-03425)

The Scottish Government provides significant funding to Creative Scotland each year. Creative Scotland received applications from 281 cultural organisations at stage 2 of their multiyear funding, with a total ask of £87.5 million per year. I expect that the ask will reduce as Creative Scotland undertakes its due diligence and assessment of applications.

I thank the Cabinet secretary for that response, and I hope that he will join me in congratulating the Wyllieum, the new gallery that has recently opened in Greenock. I invite him, if he has not been down there already, to come and visit. I will happily treat him to a spot of lunch if he does.

There are wider concerns about some of the funding mechanisms that Creative Scotland is in charge of. One industry collective called Culture Counts estimates that more than half the applications might be turned down. The phrase “standstill funding” is a quotation directly from Creative Scotland. It is its belief that funding is not increasing at the rate that it would expect or hope for. Does the cabinet secretary share my concern that it is not just that the size of the pie is worryingly small but that the method by which it has been carved up might leave many people in our culture sector disappointed?

Jamie Greene knows that Creative Scotland operates as an arm’s-length organisation. It is not for culture secretaries to instruct how bits of culture funding that are disbursed through Creative Scotland should be disbursed. Creative Scotland regularly gives evidence to the Scottish Parliament, so members of the relevant committees can ask questions about that.

Culture Counts is not just any cultural organisation: it is an umbrella organisation. I listen closely to what it has to say about all such things. It also regularly gives evidence to Scottish Parliament committees and publishes excellent reports that I read very closely.

I agree with Jamie Greene that we have to give the maximum amount of money that we are able to give for disposal by Creative Scotland and to our national performing companies—we were talking earlier about the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. There has been an increase in Government funding to our national performing companies. We need to ensure that funding is apportioned fairly right across the sector—

Thank you, Cabinet secretary.

—and that is exactly what we will do.

I will take a brief supplementary from Rhoda Grant.

Creative Scotland’s current funding model, which provides three-year funding, has resulted in the Hebridean Celtic festival—which is one of the most important events in my region—facing a catastrophic funding gap post-2024. That, combined with the removal of local authority funding, means that there is no prospect of any public funding until 2028 at the earliest. The Cabinet secretary is aware that the loss of the festival would remove millions of pounds from the local economy, which desperately needs it. Will he look at the funding model and review how Creative Scotland provides funding and its processes and policies, to make sure that we do not lose jewels such as the HebCelt festival?

It is only fair to acknowledge that, when a new system of funding is introduced, the organisations and venues that receive funding are often delighted. One hears a lot less about that than one hears about venues or organisations that have not been successful in the bidding process.

I agree absolutely with Rhoda Grant that we need to understand how transitional arrangements can best be made to ensure that organisations do not face a cliff edge, as she has identified. That is very much part of my thinking. If she and her colleagues on her party’s front bench have ideas about the optimal mechanism for making sure that that happens—obviously we will learn about multiyear funding in the second phase, later this year—I would be really interested in hearing any specific suggestions.