Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you. Can we have the volume of the witnesses up a bit, please? Thank you. This room is a terrible echo chamber sometimes.

I will invite committee members to question the witnesses.

Our second agenda item is to continue to take evidence on the second phase of our inquiry in relation to the review of the European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement, focusing on trade in services. I declare an interest, as I am a member of the British Computer Society.

We are joined by Vivienne Mackinnon, director of veterinary partnerships in the school of veterinary medicine at Scotland’s Rural College and junior vice-president of the Scottish branch of the British Veterinary Association; Dr Joseph Maguire, associate professor in the school of computing science at the University of Glasgow and co-chair of the Scottish computing education committee of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT; and Ben Addy, managing director of Moxon Architects and member of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. Thank you for your attendance.

I will open with a broad question. How has the TCA impacted your sector, in terms of trade in services, and what differences do you see between the situation pre-Brexit and post-Brexit? I will ask Vivienne to start.

Good morning, minister. I am substituting today, so I am new to some of the agenda here. In your opening statement, you talked about the world-leading legislation that has been passed and the gap between ambition and implementation. I have been around for quite a while—I remember the first-ever autism strategy being launched and voting on some of the key pieces of legislation—and I am really concerned that implementation has not met that standard. I would like to find out more about data, how you will measure progress and the accountability mechanisms that will be built into the bill.

The specific example that I know most about, which is in education, is co-ordinated support plans for young people. Those are legislatively underpinned, but what happens on the ground is that people get a plan that is called anything but a co-ordinated support plan, which frustrates the whole process. We know that the Parliament has really struggled with post-legislative review. How will you ensure that the bill achieves the culture change that you are talking about among our delivery services and partners, such as the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, education services and the national health service?

I have had every assurance from those who have given evidence that the work has not stopped just because the bill has been delayed.

Thank you, convener. I have no relevant interests to declare.

In relation to workforce issues, the Department for Work and Pensions access to work programme offers people a lot of support in the workplace, such as support with travelling to work and the offer of support workers who can be with people full time. Is there enough knowledge of that support? Is it difficult to access? What work do you do with the DWP to ensure that people can access as much support as is available at the moment?

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.

Thank you all for attending. I remember speaking in the debate in 2020 and saying that I wanted the space to be a museum without walls along the model of the National Theatre of Scotland. We need to get that message out about it being everywhere but nowhere.

That said, I visited the Canadian museum for human rights in Winnipeg, where incredible work is done to recognise human rights issues not only for First Nations people but right the way through history and around the world. The museum recognises all the genocides, even the ones that we do not recognise. It was profound.

You have a difficult dilemma in trying to strike the balance, but I wish you all the best in progressing the work. We have taken on board everything that you said about what you want our asks of the Government and the cabinet secretaries to be.

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.