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That is helpful. Thanks for your answers.

I want to come back to the issue of production. Mr Davie said that the Ofcom test is not good enough for the BBC.

Good morning. I agree with my colleagues George Adam and Stephen Kerr on coverage of the Scottish Parliament. I raised that issue last year.

I hear, too, what has been said about the BBC Scotland channel having no content. I appreciate that you have to take decisions when there is potentially better content. I will leave others to decide whether that is the case. However, given that there is nothing on the BBC Scotland channel during the day, it seems to me that that should be looked at, even in light of the constraints. I heard the answers that were given earlier; I just wanted to put that on the record.

You have talked about doing the right thing, investing in Scotland and doing more. Concerns have been raised regarding “The Traitors”. Research by the Scottish film maker Peter Strachan involved analysis of the crew and showed that, for the latest series, 5.9 per cent of the crew were Scottish. I think that we would want to do better than that, if we are talking about doing the right thing and investing in creative industries and Scottish production.

I understand that three new series of “The Traitors” are set to be filmed over the next few months—a UK version, a US version and a celebrity version. In terms of achieving better outcomes, doing more and seeing greater investment and more people in Scotland employed in production that the BBC is supporting and that qualifies as Scotland based, how many more people from Scotland can we expect to see working on those three series in the coming months?

Do you think that the Ofcom test should be changed, and, if so, to what?

I need to ask about “The Traitors”, although I am not looking for spoilers, because I have not caught up yet—that is not what I meant.

As we have heard, there are a lot of concerns about London-based production groups having a nominal base in Scotland and being counted in the Scottish production quotas. Earlier, we mentioned the different sorts of definition. One clear definition of a production that would qualify as Scottish could involve someone living and working in Scotland and having a company that is based in Scotland. However, there is an issue whereby, essentially, a production could qualify as Scottish simply because it has a person with a desk in an office in Scotland. If you would not go for the definition that involves someone living and working in Scotland and having a company based here—I think that Hayley Valentine suggested that that should not be the definition—what do you think that the definition should be?

I will reflect on that and get back to you. Scottish Swimming might have some suggestions. It might be worth looking at Inverclyde Council as an example of local authority good practice because, despite financial challenges, it has done a lot of positive work to provide free swimming for local schoolchildren and an eight-week programme of swimming lessons for primary 5 pupils.

Good morning, convener and the committee. Thank you for allowing me to join you this morning.

I am sure that, as you have said, convener, we all appreciate the life-saving skill of swimming and the importance of our swimming pools and the health benefits that they can provide to people of all ages.

In the brief time that I have, though, I want to concentrate my remarks on the impact on children and young people of having the opportunity to learn the basics of water safety and having the ability to swim. According to Scottish Swimming analysis from quite some time ago, 40 per cent of primary school-age children were leaving school without the ability to swim. That shocking statistic should deeply concern all of us.

As you said, convener, I raised the issue of the provision of school swimming, in particular, at last week’s general question time, and there was cross-party support for that. I recognise, too, the cross-party support for this petition. I have to say that I was not particularly encouraged by the minister’s response, and that is why I am here today. When I asked for the latest statistics on the number of children and young people across Scotland who were leaving school without the ability to swim, the minister was unable to give them to me. We should at the very least be able to quantify the problem, with the latest statistics. I was also disappointed by the lack of detail from the minister when I asked about the Government’s plan to ensure that every child and young person had the opportunity to learn the skills that I mentioned.

What we do know—because Scottish Swimming has told us this—is that since the pandemic the demand for swimming lessons has never been higher. I know that from my own children and, indeed, the backlog in swimming lessons. However, community access to pools is being reduced not just by pool closures but by the significant reduction in the opening hours of existing pools across Scotland. Costs are rising for families, too, as was evidenced on Saturday by an article in The Herald by Andrew Learmonth that set out information showing that the cost of juvenile swimming lessons and sessions had risen by 30 per cent over the past six years.

There are also proposals to close swimming pools. There is the example of the five in Dundee, but I know that Dundee City Council is not alone in facing these problems. I appreciate that not every school and not every community has a swimming pool, but, to put it simply, I believe that the current picture is making it harder for young people to learn the life-saving skill of swimming, whether in or out of school.

The petition urges the Scottish Government to help keep our swimming pools and leisure centres open by providing financial investment for pools, and it would be remiss of me not to mention that, a couple of years ago, the Scottish Government received £6 million of Barnett consequentials from the then United Kingdom Government’s swimming pool support fund. I, along with a number of colleagues, urged the Scottish Government, on a cross-party basis, to pass that money on to local councils and leisure trusts. Sadly, that did not happen.

We recognise that swimming pools are expensive to run, particularly given the energy costs, but we also have to recognise that we have had swimming pools for decades and they have survived past energy crises. We also need to plan now for energy prices reducing, as we hope they will do, in the years to come.

I ask the committee to consider, in addition to what is set out in the petition, my view that the status quo is not good enough. It would, of course, be welcome if the Scottish Government were to do what Scottish Swimming was calling for—who would not agree with that? However, if it does not, the question is what the Government and Parliament will do to ensure that the provision that we have is properly utilised, to identify the current extent of the problem of young people leaving school without the ability to swim, and how the Government plans to address it.

I hope that members of the committee will consider those points and raise those questions with the Scottish Government.

That is an important issue to look at. The BBC will be at committee next week; I am sure that ensuring that Scotland and all nations and regions of the UK get their fair share of production will be a topic of discussion.

On cross-portfolio working, I want to ask about education. Robert Burns is a significant part of Scottish culture. His writings have influenced our history and have been part of the curriculum for some time. However, the move to downgrade Burns from higher English has been criticised by many, including Professor Gerard Carruthers, who holds the Francis Hutcheson chair of Scottish literature at the University of Glasgow, who has said:

“It is vitally important that we provide our young people with endless opportunities to study Burns”.

What is the culture secretary of the Scottish Government’s view on the downgrading of Burns in the curriculum in Scottish education?