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Good morning, Jeremy. We have talked a lot about advocacy this morning, which is a really important point in relation to your bill. We have also talked about the current Scottish Human Rights Commission, the remit of which, you have stressed, is far too broad. From the communication that you have been having with various groups and organisations to piece your bill together, can you tell us how easy or difficult it is for a disabled person to contact the commission and seek that advocacy just now?

Thank you very much. I am not sure whether anyone else wants to come in.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to comment?

I do; it is just a short one. We have rightly spoken about the cultural assets of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee and their cultural significance and importance, but, of course, we have local culture and heritage right up and down our country. North Lanarkshire, which is an area that I represent, is well known for its deep-rooted industrial heritage. How do we level things up when it comes to cultural protection? I can understand why people gravitate to areas such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, but we do not want to lose the deep-rooted cultural pockets that exist in other areas, which are very important to our history, and which have excellent examples of local museums and other cultural buildings. How do we level things up in that regard?

I also want to ask about our rural communities, which are harder to get to. It is harder for people to visit museums in rural areas. How do we protect the cultural assets of those areas as well? We would not want important cultural assets such as libraries and museums to disappear from more rural areas.

I think that we are both in the same boat, convener.

Good morning. My question relates to local government. We have spoken a lot about collaborative working and partnership between various levels of government. That will, of course, be really important in relation to what happens over the next few years, particularly given the difficult financial challenges that all sectors are experiencing as a result of the levels of funding that are available.

I have always been struck by the different funding streams, or the different ways in which local authorities operate, in relation to their leisure facilities and cultural assets. Some councils use arm’s-length external organisations, while others keep things more in house, if I can use that phrase. Is it difficult for the sector to navigate that as a whole, given that councils are doing different things in different places? Do we need a further review of ALEOs and of how councils are operating their leisure and cultural assets to try to protect them as much as possible? After all, another difficulty that local authorities are having just now concerns the use of ring fencing, which, of course, exposes our leisure and cultural assets, as they are not included within the protected brackets as other sectors are.

I do not know who wants to kick off on that.

I think that we are both in the same boat, convener.

Good morning. My question relates to local government. We have spoken a lot about collaborative working and partnership between various levels of government. That will, of course, be really important in relation to what happens over the next few years, particularly given the difficult financial challenges that all sectors are experiencing as a result of the levels of funding that are available.

I have always been struck by the different funding streams, or the different ways in which local authorities operate, in relation to their leisure facilities and cultural assets. Some councils use arm’s-length external organisations, while others keep things more in house, if I can use that phrase. Is it difficult for the sector to navigate that as a whole, given that councils are doing different things in different places? Do we need a further review of ALEOs and of how councils are operating their leisure and cultural assets to try to protect them as much as possible? After all, another difficulty that local authorities are having just now concerns the use of ring fencing, which, of course, exposes our leisure and cultural assets, as they are not included within the protected brackets as other sectors are.

I do not know who wants to kick off on that.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Of course, we have the children’s commissioner. Young people across Scotland have different experiences and different needs and require different levels of support, and I am sure that everyone will agree that the children’s commissioner does sterling work in making sure that young people throughout the country are supported.

Therefore, when it comes to representation and advocacy, do you think that a disability commissioner would not be able to perform the same role as the children’s commissioner performs? Again, it all links to rights—we cannot get away from human rights. There are commissions on human rights, there is a children’s commissioner and we could potentially have a disability commissioner. All the existing bodies play an important role in supporting and advocating for the people whom they are there to help.

Thank you, convener, and good morning, minister.

You mentioned pathways and expectations to improve and support the lives of people with disabilities, which we can collectively agree on. However, that is completely different from advocacy, which is important when we look at commissioners. A concern has been brought up in the conversation this morning about what a broad disability commissioner would advocate for with regard to people with various different types of disabilities. Is bolting on disability to the role of the human rights commissioner diluting the voice of disabled people? I think that that is the primary reason that we are discussing a disability commissioner.

I am pleased that we have spoken about the need to avoid a hierarchy of rights, because I think that that is really important. I am glad that the Government is now moving in that direction, but is it not the case that because it encompasses everything, its approach to human rights is far too broad, which is why we face the problems that we face?