Seòmar agus comataidhean

Under our second agenda item, we will take evidence on the progress of the empire, slavery and Scotland’s museums project. We are joined by Lucy Casot, the chief executive of Museums Galleries Scotland, and Sheila Asante, its delivering change programme manager; and by Jatin Haria, the chair of the empire, slavery and Scotland’s museums steering group, and Zandra Yeaman, a member of the group.

I thank the witnesses for their attendance and for their joint submission. As outlined in our papers, we hope to cover your views on the Scottish Government’s response to the recommendations; the actions that have been taken by the museums sector; the next steps, including the work to scope a new organisation to lead on that work; progress on the delivering change project; and potential barriers to progress.

I will start by asking about barriers to progress. How content are you with the progress that has been made thus far to embed the recommendations? What do you see as the key stumbling blocks that might lie ahead? How proactive are the museums sector and individual museums in delivering the work?

Who will volunteer to answer first? I will put you on the spot, Lucy.

Jatin Haria wants to come back in, Stephen.

Good morning, and a warm welcome to the 26th meeting in 2024 of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. We have received apologies from Keith Brown, and Jackie Dunbar is attending as his substitute. I invite Ms Dunbar to declare any relevant interests.

I also welcome Foysol Choudhury, who joins us as a substitute for Mr Bibby.

I put on record our thanks to Megan Caskie, who is, sadly, leaving us to take up a promoted post in the legislation team. I can say with confidence that our loss is the legislation team’s gain. On behalf of the committee, I thank Megan for her tremendous effort and wish her every success in her new role.

Our first agenda item is a decision on taking business in private. Are members content to take item 3 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The post-study work visa ,as it was, was made in Scotland initially, and we had an exception for that. It was then taken on and rolled out across the UK but was subsequently withdrawn, except in relation to Cambridge and Oxford. It is difficult to see the balance from a Scottish perspective, as the issue is complicated, and we have been impacted slightly differently by that process. However, the figures are interesting, nonetheless.

I am glad that Professor Portes and Professor Hall are still with us, as my question is probably best directed to you. It concerns the issue of data. We have heard that a lot of financial services are now going through Irish companies—those in the EU, so not Northern Ireland. We have also heard from the culture sector and touring artists that many of them are now joining Celtic-type festivals through an Irish base and that Scottish artists are losing out from that point of view. I want to get to the nub of whether there is any way of capturing that economic impact—the benefit to Ireland—or any way at all that we could expose or understand that data more broadly?

That has exhausted questions from the committee. I thank you all and put on record my thanks also to Mr Buckley and Professor Barnard for their attendance. It has been very helpful.

Good morning, and welcome to the 25th meeting in 2024 of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. Our first agenda item is a decision on taking business in private. Are members content to take item 4 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Under our second agenda item, we will continue to take evidence on the second phase of our review of the trade and co-operation agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union. The second phase focuses on mobility and trade in services. All our witnesses join us remotely, and I welcome Professor Catherine Barnard, professor of European and employment law at the University of Cambridge; Professor Sarah Hall, deputy director of UK in a Changing Europe; Mike Buckley, director of the Independent Commission on UK-EU Relations; and Professor Jonathan Portes, professor of economics and public policy at King’s College London. I appreciate that Professor Barnard and Mr Buckley have only a short time with us, so we will try to be succinct, which is always a good thing, and succinct answers might help with that, too.

I will ask the first question. In his recent Mansion house speech, the governor of the Bank of England said:

“The changing trading relationship with the EU has weighed on the level of potential supply. The impact on trade seems to be more in goods than services”.

Guidance from the European Commission has suggested that the TCA

“provides for a significant level of openness for trade in services and investment in many sectors including professional and business services”.

What is your assessment of the impact that the TCA has had on services from a UK perspective?

I bring in Mr Adam. You will need to be quick, as we are really short of time. If you could be succinct, I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

I thank the cabinet secretary and his officials for attending. The session has been really interesting, and it has laid out some of the challenges on keeping pace when the pacemaker is neither in your team nor setting the pace nor the direction of travel.

I will close the committee meeting. We were going to review evidence today, but we will come back to that next week if that is possible.