Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 17 September 2025.
Alexander Stewart
Conservative
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure freedom of expression is respected at cultural venues. (S6O-04932)
Angus Robertson
Scottish National Party
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all communities in Scotland feel safe, valued and respected. Cultural venues are responsible for their own bookings and programming decisions, and neither the Scottish Government nor Creative Scotland has a role in that. We fully support individuals’ right to freedom of expression, and we are clear that there is no place for any form of discrimination or prejudice in Scotland.
Alexander Stewart
Conservative
Recent campaigns by external groups to censor events run by Scottish cultural organisations have made it difficult to secure corporate sponsorship. The National Museum of Scotland, for example, has suggested that on-going activism is threatening to cut corporate sponsorship and has created an ever more challenging environment in which to operate. Does the Cabinet secretary agree that such attempts to censor different opinions are unacceptable? What guarantees will he give the sector to ensure that potential corporate sponsors will invest in Scottish culture in the future?
Angus Robertson
Scottish National Party
I very much welcome the question and the tone of it from Alexander Stewart. The issue is about corporate sponsorship, but it is also about philanthropy. There are a range of campaigning organisations on the concerns of the day, some of which are on particular subjects on which I would have sympathy with them. However, if, by intervening in the way that they do, they undermine the potential for corporate or philanthropic giving, that is a matter of concern. I have spoken about that with a range of organisations to try to better understand what can be done to build resilience in the culture sector. I draw people’s attention to an excellent article written by Ian Rankin on that subject.
The Government can do more, and there is a role for us all, across the political spectrum, to take the opportunity to acknowledge how important it is that corporate sponsorship is protected and kept in place, because its loss can have unintended consequences. To give one example, the loss of funding for the Edinburgh International Book Festival meant that children from deprived backgrounds might have been deprived of the opportunity to go to that fantastic, world-class festival if it was not for the Scottish Government, which plugged the gap after the funding was withdrawn.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
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It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
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