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Thanks for that. You also mentioned the importance of scrutiny of the board in particular. The committee has had concerns in the past when it has tried to scrutinise the work of boards and there has sometimes been an evasiveness or a willingness to use their two different funders to obscure proper scrutiny, and almost a resentment at being held to account. That will not apply to all members of the board but to those who attend the committee.

Could you say anything about that? Is it just that there needs to be greater scrutiny by the board or does your review tell you that the organisation as a whole needs to better understand that it is being held to account and not shrink from that?

Have you seen Creative Scotland’s response to your review?

Thanks. My last question.

You were taken down the road of being asked about the cabinet secretary’s involvement earlier, to the surprise of nobody on the committee. However, your review was not a review of the cabinet secretary but a review of Creative Scotland. The answers that you gave referred to the two meetings that you had with the board, the recommendation that there should be greater working with the sponsorship team in the Scottish Government, and the fact that you had meetings with the cabinet secretary. Do you agree that that kind of engagement is pretty much the norm for such reviews?

Good morning. First, my single greatest achievement in my less than illustrious ministerial career was having haggis, albeit slightly modified, put back on sale in Canada. That was some years ago. We still have to crack the US market.

John Devine, as part of North America, are you making substantial plans for the world cup? There is the potential that Scotland could be based in Canada. Whether it is or not, if you look at what was done in Germany, the international office there started planning from the draw right the way through to where it always ends for Scotland: the group stage. The tournament surely provides a fantastic opportunity. Could you say anything about what preparations are in train so far?

On the point about having the best evidence available, it seems that you were not aware of some things that Creative Scotland now says were in train and under way. You were not told about them. I imagine that that will concern the committee, as will your response to Mr Bibby earlier about not being told performance monitoring information. I do not know why the review was not given that information. Leaving that aside, however, I have two final points.

One is on the issue of discontent. Mr Halcro Johnston has already mentioned the northern isles and the Highlands. Usually, when we talk about being fair across Scotland, we say that, in addition to the central belt, the Borders and the Highlands should be looked after. That leaves huge tracts of Scotland quite discontent. You will be very aware of the situation in Clackmannanshire, for example. However, there are areas, such as Ayrshire, that do not feel they get a look in. The big arts festivals in Edinburgh soak up a lot of the funding. It may be that those areas are so culturally barren that they need some speculative funding. Maybe that is where Creative Scotland has to be bolder. Can you confirm whether you found different parts of Scotland saying that they were a bit discontent with the extent to which they get attention—far less any finance—from Creative Scotland?

It is likely that, en route to the final, Scotland will be in Canada at some point. I wonder whether you have taken lessons from what happened in Germany, because that was an astonishing boost to Scotland. As was said earlier, Scotland enjoys a pretty warm reputation there. I certainly remember being in the ambassador’s residence and being embraced by a senior member of the Christian Democratic Union who said, “We like our Scottish friends because they want to stay with us.” Those were her exact words. She was looking at the ambassador when she said it. We have a good reputation there. We often are not aware of the number of Germans who come, in particular, to the Highlands in Scotland. Are your plans as detailed at this stage as they were in advance of the draw for Germany and have you learned from that?

I think that you have answered the question for both sides, in Germany and in Canada. You are quite right to say that the boost is related to the fans and their behaviour and conduct, of course.

John Devine, this committee talks to Historic Environment Scotland and we have just been speaking to people about Creative Scotland, neither of whom—I cannot speak for the whole committee—seem to have a huge presence in North America. In relation to HES, for instance, the diaspora in North America could help to contribute to the refurbishment, maintenance or on-going support of various buildings around the country and I am not aware that HES taps into that much. We have also heard from Creative Scotland that they do not have capital funds and so on, and I am sure that they could do more in North America. Is that something that your office does at all? I know that that may be more based in the US, if it is based at all, but what experience do you have of that?

That is pretty much the same response that we got from HES. I think that you have to go after some of those opportunities and they are quite niche, but thanks for that.

My last question is to Nick Leake, because I do not want him to feel that he has been left out. Obviously one of the main purposes of the international strategy is to encourage investment in Scotland. It is down there in the report.

Scotland currently has the highest levels of foreign direct investment of any part of the UK, apart from the south-east of England, and has done very well for over a decade now on that. We also have lower unemployment than the rest of the UK, a better productivity record more recently, and now a good international credit score, as well. Are you able to measure how our offices have contributed to that?

This committee visited one of the haggis manufacturers not far from here and heard the same story about difficulties being exacerbated since Brexit. I am sorry; please go on.

It is good to see you both again. I have a couple of questions, and will play devil’s advocate. The first is, how much of what you found during the review could be attributed to the fact that, since it was formed 15 to 20 years ago, Creative Scotland has endured as much austerity budgeting as everybody else? Was that reflected in the concerns that were raised? Is it likely that a grant-giving body that has been rationing public funds for 15 years will give rise to some centres of discontent? Capital in particular has been slashed over the past decade or so. To what extent might austerity budgeting explain some of your findings?