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I am content to support the proposal, on the clear understanding that it does not result in any divergence between the UK and the EU, that the revocation of measures is purely technical in nature and that they are indeed now redundant, which is why they are included in the SI.

We have covered those, so that is fine.

David, last time you were in front of the committee, you made the case for capital investment in the yard in order to keep it competitive. Will you update us on where that is at and comment on your plans, alternative sources of investment and the Scottish Government commitment?

That is okay. We will get around things eventually.

What I am hearing from David Tydeman is that the yard is able to bid for the small vessel replacement programme with the facilities that it has at the moment. Is that right? Is it right that, even with limited or no investment, you are still able to do that, or is short-term investment required at the yard to enhance your bid or enhance it a little bit with an eye on more medium-term opportunities? I am trying to unpick whether there is a barrier to the yard bidding for that programme.

I thank the minister for the response and welcome him to his new position. Data from the Greyhound Board of Great Britain revealed that more than 22,000 dogs were injured and more than 800 were killed within a five-year period across the United Kingdom. That jaw-dropping figure shows that as long as greyhounds race around oval tracks at high speeds, they will continue to get seriously harmed or killed. Does the minister agree with the view of thousands of respondents and key organisations, including the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Dogs Trust, that the licensing of tracks would fail to address the inherent risks of greyhound racing?

I apologise to members in the chamber: I need to leave early to attend a committee meeting.

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its response to its consultation on the licensing of activities involving animals. (S6O-03090)

Thanks.

I want to pick up on a couple of points in the report. There is a recommendation that the UK Government should work with the Scottish Government to create, in effect, a Scottish brand. How easy would that be to do? There is clearly an intersection of interests around the economy, with joint aspirations, but to what extent can we go beyond that? How would you see that evolving?

Regarding the international offices and the joint working between missions and embassies, we find that there are different programmes of work between, say, the Copenhagen office and the Irish office, and Washington will be different again. Does there need to be a consistency of approach? You have highlighted that there is perhaps a difference in energy or focus from one office to the next. Does that play out in terms of our interests in those particular countries and regions? Is there something more about the joint working that needs to be codified or brought into a more consistent approach?

My last question is about how the relationship plays out in Ireland. I did not see on the list of concerns from the secretary of state that there had been inappropriate bilaterals or meetings in Ireland. When the committee went to Ireland recently, my sense was that there was a very different set of expectations there, that conversations were far more fluid between politicians in the north and south and across the UK, and that there was less concern about, or stricture put on, the nature of those conversations and who has to be in the room. Is that your conclusion?

The “Promoting Scotland Internationally” report is really interesting, and I want to pick up on a couple of points.

The focus of the report is on promoting Scotland internationally, so it is all about culture, economic development and the diaspora. Is there a question for your committee, Mr Wishart, about how Scotland projects itself internationally, particularly from a global justice perspective?

Giving birth to the industrial revolution is in our history, and we were part of a colonial project of empire. There are questions about how we relate to the world now. I am thinking about the Scotland-Malawi link as a way to address global justice in a modern age. Beyond the work of embassies, economic development and promotion, which are hugely important, is there anything that needs to be considered in how we project ourselves as an international player? That brings in soft power, the United Nations climate change conference of the parties and things that you have already mentioned.