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While the BBC is operationally and editorially independent, the Scottish Government recognises and shares the music sector’s disappointment with the decision to decommission some cultural music programming on Radio Scotland.

We acknowledge the challenging financial position the BBC is in, which has been exacerbated by the UK Government’s decision to freeze the licence fee, and shift responsibility for funding free licences for over-75s onto the BBC’s shoulders.

However, any reduction in the breadth of BBC Scotland’s offering, including its cultural music content, is a matter of concern. Certain musical forms, such as piping or jazz, are not traditionally thought of as mainstream musical offerings so the BBC coverage is essential to ensure people are able to access them.

It’s important that the BBC listens to these concerns. We engage with BBC Scotland on a regular basis, and will continue to do so, to ensure that the music sector’s concerns are fully recognised. We will also continue to press the BBC to deliver on its commitments to commission high-quality, distinctive Scottish output for audiences.

The Scottish Government recognises and shares the music sector’s concern with the decision to reduce the breadth of cultural music programming on Radio Scotland. Certain musical forms, such as piping or jazz, are not traditionally thought of as mainstream musical offerings and it is essential that the BBC listens to the concerns of the music sector so that audiences are able to continue to enjoy pipe and jazz music on BBC Radio Scotland.

The Scottish Government maintains its strong commitment to young and establishing musicians, including through its long-standing investment of over £140m since 2007 in the Youth Music Initiative. This helps young people across Scotland to access music-making opportunities, and supports them to go on to careers in the music industry.

The Scottish Government will continue to press the BBC to deliver on its commitments to commission high-quality, distinctive Scottish output, including in relation to music.

Most SG owned artwork is on display in Government buildings, with access limited to SG staff and contractors and accompanied visitors. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14450 on 9 February 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

There are no plans to purchase artwork in 2023.

Information on entrants to Scottish universities and colleges from deprived areas is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in the annual ‘Report on Widening Access’ statistics publication.

It provides the proportion of undergraduate entrants to Higher Education at either college or university. 2021-22 data will be published in Spring 2023.

This Government firmly believes that every child growing up in Scotland, regardless of their background, should have an equal chance of attending university and participating in higher education.

To date we have made progress on work to support fair access to higher education. The number of full-time first degree students entering university from the most deprived areas in Scotland is at a record high; latest Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) statistics show that 5,595 Scots entered university in the academic year 2021-22 (an increase of 80 students on the previous year). This is a 41% increase since the establishment of the Commission on Widening Access by this Government.

We have exceeded the Commission on Widening Access target to have 16% of full-time first degree entrants from the most deprived areas at university by 2021, with 16.5% of the 2021-22 cohort coming from the most deprived areas in Scotland. In his final report published on 31 May 2022, the previous Commissioner for Fair Access stated that Scotland continues to “set the pace in terms of fair access to higher education among the UK nations” and that it has been “an unambiguous success.”

We know we have more to do, however, and that is why we have recently appointed a new Commissioner for Fair Access, Professor John McKendrick. Professor McKendrick brings to the role a wealth of experience related to tackling poverty and inequality in Scotland, including work supporting children and young people in education. This appointment will help drive forward progress towards the 2030 target, and towards ensuring students from deprived areas receive opportunities to achieve their potential by having fair access to higher education.

Scottish Government does not have an art collection and SG records show there have been no purchase of original artwork by SG since 2007.

The award winning Great Tapestry of Scotland (GToS) is an excellent example of the Town Centre First Principle (TCFP) in practice. This principle has been embedded in the recently approved National Planning Framework (NPF4), so that future planning decisions will help to guide development to locations that support tourism and regeneration of our towns.

The Scottish Government is also supporting local authorities, businesses, and communities to promote regeneration within towns including through the Place Based Investment, Vacant and Derelict Land and Empowering Communities Programmes. In particular, on 6 February, it was announced that 15 projects, across Scotland, have successfully secured around £10 million funding, from the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme, to prioritise the reuse of such land as well community regeneration and town centres.

Since joining the Scotland + Venice project in 2016, Architecture and Design Scotland has supported the commissioning and work of external curatorial teams on behalf of the Scotland + Venice partners, (Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, the British Council (Scotland), the V&A Dundee, and Architecture and Design Scotland).

Funding allocated directly by Architecture and Design Scotland towards the Scotland + Venice project in the years 2016-17 to 2022-23 is provided in the following table.

We know that deprivation is a significant driver of excess mortality and reduced life expectancy. Reducing poverty and inequality therefore sits at the heart of our investment across all portfolios and remains the best way of improving life expectancy.

Increasing life expectancy across Scotland remains a clear ambition for this Government and we are using all the powers and resources available to us to create a fairer Scotland. We are doing that by ensuring health services are accessible to all, committing £19bn to public services over the next year; committing £4 billion in social security and welfare payments over the next financial year; and extending the Scottish Child Payment to families with eligible under 16s – by increasing it to £25 per week per child.

Furthermore, our Care and Wellbeing Portfolio, as the principle strategic reform vehicle in Health and Social Care, is being designed to promote a ‘health in all policies’ approach in order to strengthen cross-government collaboration on key and critical issues that contribute to the goal of reducing inequalities and increasing life expectancy.