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Mr Barker said that you, rather than Government or anyone else, would be aware of points of divergence. Is there any point of divergence on which you have made representations to the Scottish Government and that the Government would be able to address?

I appreciate the huge breadth of the issue and that, even if you do nothing at all, you will diverge, because of the reasons already mentioned. Is there any obvious point of divergence that has caused you concern, that you have made representations on and that might be within the gift of the Scottish Government to address?

I apologise for being late, convener, and I apologise to the panel as well. Even from the part of the meeting that I have listened to, the situation seems disastrous, to be honest. Continual issues of guidance and regulation make for a very hard environment to work in.

However, to stick with EU departure and the TCA, I have two points. First, you mentioned that the lack of any kind of formal monitoring of divergence by the UK Government was crucial. The committee tries to carry out such monitoring, and the Scottish Government is committed to doing that, too. Are those commitments irrelevant? Does the UK have to do that monitoring, because of the relationship with the EU?

Secondly, on the point that you made about uncertainty, I think that most people never saw Brexit coming—not far in advance, anyway—and I predict that most people will not see what will happen next. Things may change very quickly. For example, would going back into the single market change things? It would be disruptive, of course, as a further change, but would it eliminate some of the current problems, or is full EU membership required in order to effect such a change?

Those are my two questions. The first is, is there value to your organisations in committee and Scottish Government monitoring of divergence and the attempt on the part of the Scottish Government to limit divergence, or does it have to be the UK that monitors that? The second is, what might the effect be of going into the single market?

It has been quite heartening but also surprising to hear that people are fairly sanguine and are working through solutions. That is good to know but, because we have some big players around the table, it is surprising to hear what is quite discordant.

I was contacted this week by a small firm in Kintyre whose business has been decimated because it cannot export its cooked fish products. The difference between the big players—who know how to get around Government and legitimately prosecute their interests—and the vast majority of businesses, which are small and medium-sized enterprises, is stark.

Irene Oldfather mentioned that when she spoke about SMEs. Have you listened to such businesses and do you have feedback from them? As best I can gather—I think that most ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ have heard about it—their experience is quite different. We read in the media—that does not necessarily mean that it is true—that there are major issues because of the impact on small businesses. How can they work their way through the TCA? For small businesses, that can be a huge challenge.

I agree with what Agnes Tolmie said. Back in the mists of time, I did an exchange course as a student. It was outwith the EU, but I gained a huge amount from it.

Tom Sallis made points about the WTO being a way to influence the EU indirectly and, earlier, about South Korea and the Asia-Pacific region. The other side of this is the absence of trade agreements between the UK and countries around the world. One or two have been signed, but people say that the New Zealand one is pretty disastrous. Previously, of course, we would have been included under EU trade agreements. What has been the impact of the absence of trade agreements? Has there been any impact on exports, trade or other matters?

If it is the case that there are opportunities that can be exploited, we are years since Brexit and that has not been realised. We have not done a deal with the big ones, such as the US and Canada, and I am much less optimistic about India than Mr Sallis is, to be honest: Modi has made it fairly clear that we will not do a deal any time soon. We miss more opportunities the longer this goes on; if they exist, we are missing out. We were told deals would happen very quickly. That is my concern.

I do not know as much about this as I would like to know, but, from the opening comments, it seems that the big question is about where we go from here. If there is no pre-made plan based on ideology or whatever else for where we should go, surely we should take a pragmatic approach by thinking about how things that are not currently working could work better. Irene Oldfather made the point that the situation is likely to change over the course of the year, but surely it is about trying to deal with the pressure points and friction points. That is my suggestion.

I am happy to offer this advice for no fee whatsoever. [Laughter.] A sure-fire way to increase the BBC’s viewership figures is to address the absurd situation that we have in Scotland whereby we cannot see free-to-air international football matches, especially competitive ones, that involve our national team but can see matches from other countries. Would the BBC support the designation of international Scottish football matches as part of what are called the crown jewels?

I do not think that there is a shared understanding in the sector of the financial pressures—or in this committee, either, by the way. As for the examples that have been mentioned, I would just note that the last one, about Denmark, came up at a previous meeting when I asked representatives of the sector to come back with meaningful comparisons, not with independent countries, which have fewer constraints on their budgets, but with devolved Administrations. I should say that, so far, I have had no response from the sector to my question.

You have mentioned the constructive relationships with different partners in the sector, but I am not sure that I have seen that with Creative Scotland. Perhaps I can get your view on a couple of points. First, as I mentioned last week to Creative Scotland, I attended an event with the culture minister just before Christmas at which the Creative Scotland representative felt it necessary to publicly lambast the Scottish Government to the hundreds of people who were attending the meeting. I would also note the contrast between the press release that was put out by Creative Scotland on what it termed the £6.6 million cut—which as we now know is for backfilling a shortfall in national lottery funding—and the fact that its reinstatement last week was passed with virtually no comment. I think that there is a real issue with Creative Scotland’s approach to the Government.

I am sure that the cabinet secretary will say that the relationship is very constructive, but all I will say is that that is not the evidence that I have seen. Is he aware of any tensions with Creative Scotland?

The total expenditure in the UK is around £6 billion, more than a third of which is raised from sources other than the licence fee. What is the equivalent figure for Scotland for money raised from sources other than the licence fee?

I will make one last point. The table that we have says that the spend as a percentage of the licence fee collected is 86 per cent. You referred to that figure. You also mentioned the fixed costs for nation-based organisations, about which the committee heard previously when it asked about Wales. If the nations are smaller, the spend gets to be larger. Given that there is a premium, if you like, to deliver services in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the 86 per cent figure seems quite small. It is less than 100 per cent of the licence fee collected and includes the premium that you have to pay. Is that a matter of concern and are you looking to address it?