Scottish Parliament Committee report highlights that we need a step-change in funding for heritage and culture

The Scottish Parliament’s Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee has today (31 October) published a pre-budget report on ‘funding for culture’.

The report pointed to a number of factors including declining public investment and reduced revenue post-Covid as reasons for worry int he sector.

Prospect Negotiator David Avery said:

“This reports confirms what Prospect and others have been saying for some time, that the funding mechanism for culture and heritage is broken.

“Employers, trade unions and representative bodies are all agreed that heritage bodies face a perfect storm of a real-terms reductions in public funding, increasing costs and reduced income generation post-Covid.

“Heritage workers have seen a decade of austerity cuts, the Covid pandemic and are now facing a cost-of-living crisis. Without a step-change in the way we fund our heritage bodies they may not be able to function in their current form and there are significant risks to recruiting and retaining highly qualified heritage professionals who are among some of the lowest paid skilled workers.

“This is a UK-wide problem which both Scottish and Westminster governments need to wake up to. National culture and heritage are hugely important both in and of themselves, and to tourism and the wider economy. If you don’t protect them, and public access to them, then we all lose.”