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Yesterday, as you will all know, was international women’s day. I said in the chamber:

“looking back and learning are essential to moving forward.”—[Official Report, 8 March 2023; c 45]

You have given us a lot of evidence about your experience in the civil service, and it has been absolutely fascinating. I was struck by the phrase “assertive and muscular unionism”. I apologise because I did not write down who said it, but I am interested to hear your thoughts on whether there is anything in the way in which the Windsor framework came about that can be learned from, in moving forward post devolution. Moreover, is there anything that we can learn from Norway or Switzerland about how things are constructed, as a way in which to improve relationships across Parliaments and Governments in the United Kingdom?

I asked about the interconnections between east and west.

I thank the panel, and I thank Kate Rowell for that last comment.

I represent Argyll and Bute, which has mixed farming. One of the key things in farming throughout Argyll and Bute, and certainly on the islands, is the sustainability of population and how the investment—I think that that is the right term to use—connects much more to the wider community.

Martin Kennedy, you talked about LFASS. I wonder whether you could expand a bit on what the ARIOB is advising with regard to LFASS payments. [Interruption.] Sorry—I am getting noises off from a sedentary position. I would also like to know how you have been looking at ensuring that population is sustainable across Scotland and at the interconnectivity of farming from the west coast to the east coast. It is a big question.

I think that my question falls into this topic of conversation, convener. I am interested in hearing people’s views on the monitor farms and how they are feeding into the ARIOB process. Also—I should have asked this the last time—what have you been doing to ensure that tenant farmers are included in the way forward?

Thank you for coming. Mr Cameron trumped me with his final question: I had been going to ask whether any lessons had been learned from the recent engagement between the UK Parliament and Europe about Northern Ireland.

I would like to bring the discussion back to one of the points that Mr Irranca-Davies made about how we can ensure that we get the right scrutiny in a timely manner. All Parliaments have different timetables, and as Mr Golden highlighted in his question, each Parliament has different resources. Therefore, I am interested to hear about how we in the devolved Parliaments can ensure that we are able to feed in properly, in a reasonable manner, and that, in doing so, we are shown respect by the UK Government.

From listening to the panel’s responses, I have been struck by the fact that the newer Parliaments in the United Kingdom are pushing for change, but there is a feeling that Westminster might be less willing for change to happen. I might be wrong in that perception, but I am interested to know the panel’s thoughts on how we get over that. Mr Irranca-Davies, can I start with you?

Thank you. Mr Wragg, do you have anything to add?

You will have watched last week’s evidence session, when we took evidence from musicians that programmes were already reaching an international audience. In response to questions that Mark Ruskell asked, there was concern that that could be lost. There is also a question of how the archive is grown. All the musicians who came last week talked about the pleasure and the positive memories that they had of recording for BBC Scotland.

The witnesses at last week’s meeting commented on the impact on community music and how you will continue to grow that. My colleague Sarah Boyack and I attended an interesting meeting of the cross-party group on culture and communities on Tuesday night, and there was a comment about the privilege of imagination and play, which really struck me. I have been thinking about that, and BBC Scotland is in a privileged position to enable imagination and play to happen across Scotland and across Scottish communities and culture. I am concerned that the solutions that you have put forward, specifically for jazz, might not allow imagination and play to continue in that musical genre.

From the piping perspective, Finlay MacDonald gave us an important insight into how different communities in Scotland view piping and the different stories behind it. I am concerned that that might be lost. How will you mitigate and compensate for the concerns that were raised by musicians last week?

The BBC SSO’s output is mainly commissioned by Radio 3. The funding comes out of BBC Scotland’s budget, so are you working with Radio 3 to commission a different type of output? How will that relationship to work?

I agree with your final statement. From our perspective, in the evidence that stakeholders in Scotland have given to us, they have said that that is an important way for them to get the Scottish perspective—in your case, it is the Welsh perspective—through. That leads on to the issue of transparency with the people of our respective nations and making sure that they understand what changes could be happening to them and how they get their say on that.

Baroness Drake, is there anything that you would like to add on that?

You have touched on this in previous answers, Baroness Drake, but I wonder whether you would again, for the record, give your thoughts on how it might be made a bit more difficult—I might not have paraphrased that correctly—for the UK Government to avoid seeking devolved consent.