Scottish draft Budget 2018-2019: equality statement

Chapter 12
Culture, Tourism
and External Affairs

Introduction

The Culture, Tourism and External Affairs portfolio seeks to promote Scotland’s interests at home and abroad through European and International Affairs. It contributes to delivering Scotland’s economic ambition by investing in Scotland’s unique heritage and culture as well as its capacity for creativity, tourism and major events.

The portfolio has a role to play in enhancing the quality of life for Scotland’s communities. This is achieved through widening access to, and participation in, high quality cultural events and opportunities, and by supporting young people’s learning and creativity through engagement with culture and heritage.

Key Strategic Priorities

Promoting Scotland and its interests at home and abroad is a key strategic priority for the Scottish Government. The External Affairs budget will continue to deepen Scotland’s relationship with key countries in the pursuit of furthering sustainable economic growth in Scotland, increasing Scotland’s profile on the world stage and contributing as a good global citizen towards the achievement of the United Nations ( UN) Global Goals (including Goal 10, ‘reducing inequality within and among countries’). The budget also supports the attraction of talented and skilled individuals to live, study and work in Scotland.

The development of our Culture Strategy for Scotland will explore the role of culture in our lives, articulating the powerful and transformative effect that culture can have in contributing both directly and indirectly to the health, wealth and success of our country. It will seek to harness the potential of culture to overcome inequalities in many areas including health, education, justice, employment, housing, and democratic participation. A key aim of the strategy is to ensure that there are equal opportunities for everyone – individuals, artists and cultural producers from all backgrounds – to engage in culture and the arts.

We will continue to invest in the arts and culture through Creative Scotland, the National Collections and the National Performing Companies. This helps to ensure that:

• Scotland’s culture reaches a diverse and inclusive audience at home and abroad.
• All children and young people are encouraged to, and have the chance to, engage in culture; and that this engagement is sustained throughout their lives.

The Scottish Government seeks to make Scotland a world-class tourism destination, providing a perfect stage for world-class events and supporting our tourism industry to maximise the contribution of the visitor economy to Scotland’s prosperity. The Major Events budget will support a strong and inspirational programme of events and festivals each year, including the European Championships in Glasgow 2018. These generate business, create jobs and boost the economy while delivering benefits to all of Scotland’s communities and build on our nation’s strong reputation and international attractiveness.

The historic environment is a vital part of our heritage and communities and is also hugely important to the national economy. The Scottish Government will work to ensure our diverse and evolving cultural heritage thrives and is celebrated, and that our historic environment and world-class collections are cared for and enjoyed by new and diverse audiences and future generations right across Scotland.

Equality Implications Of The Draft Budget 2018-19

Europe and External Affairs

In 2018-19, funding for the British-Irish Council remains the same as in 2017-18. There has been an increase in the International and European Relations budget of £1 million to support our increasing international presence and activity. These budget lines will help Scotland to participate to the fullest extent in negotiations on the UK’s future relationship with the EU and its member states. Our relationship with Europe and Scotland’s active membership of the British-Irish Council are critical to the delivery of other key strategic goals, including education, health and sustainable economic growth, which all focus on equality outcomes in their delivery.

The International Development Fund and Humanitarian Fund enhance international activities which seek to build upon historic and contemporary relationships that exist between Scotland, partner countries and the wider international community. This is in line with our commitment to be a good global citizen, continuing to make distinctive contributions to addressing global challenges. The overall International Development Fund and Humanitarian Fund budget in 2018-19 will be maintained at 2017-18 levels with funding for International Development and Humanitarian Aid at £10 million and
£1 million respectively.

Our International Development work supports a range of specific equality projects focusing on gender, disability and low-income households, covering health, education, renewable energy, civic governance and economic development. In 2018-19, for example, we will fund training for women from International Conflict Zones to give them the skills and confidence to maximise their contributions to building a safer world by involvement in UN peace processes. We are confident that by placing equality at the heart of our international agenda, our work will have the greatest impact on those who experience disadvantage, both at home and abroad.

Culture, Tourism and Major Events

Creative Scotland and Other Arts support artistic work which explores and promotes equality and tackles discrimination in Scotland. Continued commitment to Creative Scotland in 2018-19 will ensure organisations can continue to deliver diverse programmes of work which are of particular benefit to equality communities.

In particular, increased resource in this portfolio will support the establishment of a dedicated Screen Unit within Creative Scotland. In addition to better alignment with and coordination of public sector support for the TV and film sector, it will also increase production and inward investment, boosting audience, company and skills development. By bringing together creative, skills and enterprise partners through the Screen Unit to deliver an ambitious vision for cultural, social and economic development of the sector, we will work more effectively towards generating inclusive growth through an expanding film and television industry.

We are also supporting the National Film and Television School’s plans to establish a base in Scotland which will help break down barriers to entry into the screen industry. The aspiration of the National Film and Television School’s project is that a third of total places should be funded by bursaries so as to widen recruitment to those disadvantaged in particular by their socio-economic background, gender or disability.

Research by Creative Scotland and others has highlighted the complex barriers to access and progression in the industry. We will also work in partnership with broadcast regulator Ofcom to press the BBC and other public service broadcasters to continue to advance equality and diversity in their businesses and to aim for fuller and more authentic representation, on and off screen, of Scotland’s many diverse communities.

The Scottish Government’s long-standing investment of £109 million since 2007 in the Youth Music Initiative has made a huge impact in helping young people across Scotland access music making opportunities and develop their wider skills and learning. Funding at 2017-18 levels of £9 million will be maintained in 2018-19 to continue work to boost young people’s confidence, self-esteem and personal skills and support the development of skills for wider learning, including literacy, language and numeracy skills and development.

We are committed to early intervention programmes that support our young people, raise attainment, tackle inequality and empower our communities. Sistema Scotland works across four areas reaching 2,000 children weekly, and has huge potential to transform lives and help tackle inequality. Independent evaluation highlights that as well as increasing the confidence, aspirations and self-esteem in the children and young people involved, Sistema Scotland is making a real and positive difference benefitting families and wider communities in Raploch, Govanhill and Torry. The recent opening of a new Big Noise centre in Dundee extends Sistema Scotland’s reach. Scottish Government investment of £2.5 million will enable Sistema Scotland to reach 700 more children to access its inclusive teaching and learning opportunities in 2018-19.

The National Performing Companies place education and participation at the heart of their core activity to enhance the wellbeing of individuals who participate. Continued support for the National Performing Companies will ensure a range of initiatives are targeted at young people to increase access to performing arts across Scotland, such as the Royal Scottish National Opera Junior Chorus, and outreach programmes such as those run by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Opera.

Continued commitment to working with our partners and providing funding support for the themed years programme will ensure focus on and delivery of the themes of the Year of Young People 2018 (participation, education, health and wellbeing, enterprise, equality and tackling discrimination, and culture). A programme of cultural and educational events and activities, co-designed with young people, will inspire Scotland through its young people, celebrating their achievements, valuing their contribution to communities and creating new opportunities for them to shine locally, nationally and globally. Our Programme for Government sets out a number of policy commitments linked to the Year that aim to improve the life experience and life chances of Scotland’s young people so they can thrive and be equipped to take advantage of opportunities.

Tourism is a key sector for Scotland’s economy and the latest strategic guidance for VisitScotland highlights the need for the organisation to embed equality and to actively promote this in everything it does. Funding for VisitScotland will reduce by two per cent in 2018-19, however, a range of initiatives will continue to be supported in order to realise the Programme for Government ambition to ensure tourism continues to progress equality and opportunity for all.

VisitScotland has a key role in ensuring Scotland is an inclusive, welcoming destination, collaborating with the industry in the delivery of several inclusive tourism projects and assisting tourism businesses to promote and provide both quality customer service and access for the inclusive tourism market. Our work with the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund – which will see £6 million invested over 2018-20 – will provide for the services and facilities tourists and communities need to support sustainable growth in rural tourism across Scotland. VisitScotland is currently working with the industry and the Family Holiday Association to provide vulnerable and disadvantaged families in Scotland a short break or day out via ScotSpirit 2017.

Scottish Government support to the National Museums Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland and National Library of Scotland to provide free public access to the collections will continue in 2018-19, with additional funding provided to help the National Collections to deliver the pay policy. Continued support for the National Collections to provide free access will be of particular benefit to those on low incomes, of whom women, disabled people and some minority ethnic groups are disproportionately represented.

Historic Environment Scotland

Historic Environment Scotland cares for and promotes Scotland’s historic environment, providing support for heritage building repairs, employment for those with traditional building skills, and contribution to the regeneration of Scotland’s town centres. Historic Environment Scotland also encourages engagement with, participation in, and enjoyment of the historic environment and increases the diversity of people accessing it. The Historic Environment Scotland ‘Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report’ outlines how it is working to deliver its public sector equality duties and sets out four equality outcomes it aims to achieve by April 2021. Due to Historic Environment Scotland’s capacity to generate additional income, a reduction of eight per cent in funding to Historic Environment Scotland in 2018-19 is not anticipated to have negative impacts on older people and disabled people who are the groups least likely to visit historical places.

National Records of Scotland

There will be an increased budget for National Records of Scotland from 2017-18 to support the ongoing design of the 2021 Census. During the course of 2018-19, National Records of Scotland will carrying out testing on a range of equality questions, including the possible inclusion of a question on sexual orientation. In addition, work will start to develop the range of systems and services required for the 2021 Census, and National Records of Scotland will be working with equality groups to ensure that the approaches taken are appropriate and accessible to all.

Additional resources will also support demographic analysis to inform our understanding of the impact on certain protected characteristics in particular areas and other activity, such as the needs of faith and cultural groups as part of the death certification process.

Conclusion

This portfolio has a key role in enriching people’s quality of life across a range of protected characteristics. Where budgets are protected or increased, this helps to enhance access to, and participation in, Scotland’s culture and heritage. It will be important to maintain current levels of investment to ensure the long-term sustainability of programmes, activities and sites.