Seòmar agus comataidhean

It is nice to see you here, Mr Wishart. I will continue the theme that Mr Cameron raised when he asked you about the chapter of your report that is entitled “Beyond the tartan: Scotland’s international brand”. This is not meant to be a provocative question, despite the fact that it will come across that way. The Anholt-Ipsos nation brands index, which the Scottish Government uses to monitor Scotland’s international reputation, ranks Scotland in 15th place. The UK is ranked sixth. Where is England’s place in that index?

I think that it would be equally frustrating for English people, who are not able to talk about and celebrate their own culture and everything they do that is absolutely brilliant.

In your report, you quoted Anthony Salamone, the founder of European Merchants, which is a Scottish political analysis firm, who wrote in his evidence that it is

“still the case that many people around the world recognise Scotland more for its past than its present, and know Scotland’s cultural traditions but not its scientific excellence.”

I reiterate that there is nothing that I like more than putting on a kilt and marching down somebody else’s high street, whether in Berlin or someplace else, because it attracts a huge amount of attention. However, is that not also a failure? We are the country of the enlightenment and of so many scientific and medical innovations that have made such a huge difference across the world, yet we are still recognised only for the traditional cultural things rather than for the scientific and engineering expertise that Scotland has given to the world.

I will be brief. You picked up a point about SDI—that it can sometimes gain regional advantages or added value in its interactions. On the other side of that, when the UK is talking, it has primacy in any discussions that are had. The best example that I have of that is that, when the UK Government was speaking to a Japanese delegation, Richard Lochhead tried hard to get Scotch beef on the menu as an export potential, but he was told, “That’s not currently a priority for us.” There will be tensions about whose priority is more important. Is that just a cost of doing business and being part of the union?

I could go on, convener.

I will go back to Mr Cameron’s question about how we measure our international efforts. If you are looking at the UK overall as a brand—I find that strange, given that the UK is not actually a country—is it not difficult to extrapolate from where Scotland takes the direct benefit of its own culture and where England does the same?

Furthermore, there are aspects of our culture about which people in this country will say, “I hate that,” and take offence—an example would be the “See you, Jimmy” hats; it is the same for the Irish and the talk about leprechauns. However, in terms of international recognition, those aspects are hugely valuable to us. Does that not make it more difficult for us to get to the real value of what Scotland promotes internationally?

I hear what you are saying about our having to do more. One of the witnesses that you had before you, Professor Murray Pittock, spoke about innovation, contemporary strengths and sectors such as space. As your committee’s report notes in that regard,

“more could be done by the UK Government to platform more of Scotland’s innovation”.

Professor Pittock said that that was “not currently happening optimally”. That is his quote, not mine. That is something that we will be considering.

You said in one of your conclusions:

“In its response to this report, the UK Government should agree a definition of the Scottish brand to be advanced by it internationally, followed by annual reporting updates on embassy activity promoting Scotland that has taken place each year.”

I presume that that would be in conjunction with the Scottish Government in order to make that as effective as possible. You could possibly respond on that.

St Patrick’s day is huge across the world—nothing gets the Irish brand out there more than St Patrick’s day, whether in Sydney, Beijing or New York. Should the Scottish Government not be doing more to make St Andrew’s day a much bigger festival, even if that involves hooking into the traditional? If we hook into the traditional side, it gets our voice out there far more internationally. If we do not do that at home, why would we expect others in the diaspora to do it?

Is there a danger, then, that tenants and leaseholders will just say, “This isn’t going to work for me. I’ll do the absolute minimum and continue to take as much in base payments as I can”?

I have a brief question on that. Are the communities that are getting that food looking for more exotic stuff?

Indeed.

I want to go back to the point that Douglas Bell and Steven Thomson made about the role of tenants, how we involve them in what the Government is looking to do through the objectives and the difficulties that will be faced in that regard. The issue relates not only to secure tenants, but to guys on 25-year leases and so on. Will there be a problem in getting those folk involved in delivering the objectives? Is it the case that tenants and people who are on 25-year leases might not be part of the partnership in delivering the long-term goals that we are trying to achieve?