To ask the Scottish Government whether Creative Scotland’s funding will be increased during the next financial year. (S6O-03523)

I am pleased that the First Minister, when he was setting out his priorities for Scotland on 22 May, recommitted to investing at least £100 million more annually in culture and the arts by the financial year 2028-29.

As the finance secretary set out in her budget speech in December, the increases that we have provided this year were our first step on the route to investing at least £100 million more in the arts and culture by 2028-29. Our aim is to increase arts and culture investment in 2025-26, the next financial year, by at least a further £25 million.

In October 2023, the then First Minister pledged to double arts spending during the period of Creative Scotland’s next funding programme, but we are now faced with a stark reality. Creative Scotland has received bids that are worth £87.5 million for its multiyear funding programme, yet only £40 million is available, which is a significant shortfall. The shortfall puts many of Scotland’s theatres, music venues and festivals at risk, and it could lead to Creative Scotland rejecting 55 per cent of applications. At the same time, the body has been criticised for giving funding to an explicit show. That has received significant backlash and has inevitably lowered public confidence. Will the Cabinet secretary outline whether the Scottish Government will take any action to ensure that funding is given to projects that are deemed appropriate?

I think that Sharon Dowey knows that it is not for the Scottish Government to give individual grant funding to cultural organisations. We have separation of Government from arts funding in this country. That is why we have an arm’s-length cultural funding organisation, which is called Creative Scotland. It is important that we have that separation. I thought that, until now, we had party consensus on all that.

However, I think that we are agreed that we want to ensure that organisations—whether it is Creative Scotland or directly funded cultural organisations such as our national performing companies—receive the funding that they require. As I have already committed to, and as the First Minister has committed to, we are set to increase funding for culture in Scotland. That is a good thing and stands in stark contrast to what the United Kingdom Conservative Government is doing in England and what Labour is doing in Wales.

Following standstill funding, Creative Scotland will be able to fund only an estimated 45 per cent of long-term funding applications. Along with that, we have been waiting 18 months for the overhaul of long-term cultural funding from Creative Scotland, after that was postponed due to a lack of confidence or clarity about its future finances. Does the Cabinet secretary agree that Creative Scotland needs clarity on its long-term funding so that our creative organisations can be secure in their future?

I agree that major funding changes are going through at present. I think that there is still cross-party consensus that multi-annual funding for our cultural organisations that are funded through Creative Scotland is a good thing. Creative Scotland is trailblazing in that respect. Other parts of the third sector do not receive multi-annual funding. It is important that Creative Scotland is able to introduce that approach, and I wish it well in doing that.

I think that the member understands, and perhaps Sharon Dowey also understands, that cultural organisations, in response to a call for funding, have asked for the maximum funding that they can receive. I understand that. We all need to operate within our means, but the means that we are putting at the disposal of the culture and arts sector in Scotland are going up. They are being cut in England under the Tories, and they are being cut in Wales under Labour.

The funding that has been mentioned affirms the Scottish Government’s confidence in the Scottish culture sector and the principles of its culture strategy. With that in mind, what recent calls has the Cabinet secretary made to the UK Government to match that stated ambition and increase its investment in arts and culture?

I have repeatedly written to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and I have spoken with her, to highlight the importance of providing adequate support to the sector.

At the first meeting of the culture and creative industries interministerial group on 2 May, I highlighted to the secretary of state from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport the challenges that the sector faces as a result of financial constraints and the need for the UK Government to provide adequate investment in the sector. I also discussed existing initiatives to support the sector that could be built on, including tax relief in the sector.