I agree with my colleagues. The relationship with Government has been extremely good, and we have developed close relationships with ministers that we did not have before. We have an extremely good relationship with the officials, who have a good understanding of how the companies work.
I am not sure whether the fact that the Government is such a substantial funder of the companies is a weakness, but it makes us vulnerable if there are major reductions. However, that has happened following a period of economic recession during which some of the sources of private money—corporate concerns, trusts, foundations and individuals—have also come under intense pressure.
At the point at which we changed from Scottish Arts Council funding to Government funding, there had been a history of 15 or 20 years of financial crisis in the national companies. That was partly stabilised by an uplift in funding from the last year of Scottish Arts Council funding to the first year of Scottish Government funding.
Our grants for 2016-17 are, in cash terms, actually lower than those for the last year of Arts Council funding and, therefore, significantly lower than for the first year of Scottish Government funding. Because that is cash terms, it does not take into account inflation. Therefore, one of the major benefits of direct funding is being squeezed significantly.
Having said that, I believe that the continuing close relationship that we have with Government through the international touring support has been tremendous. That has done a lot to give us a higher profile and increase recognition of our contribution to the country as national companies.
It is important to consider private sector income. As Government funding has gone down with the pressure on public funding over the past few years, we have all been reasonably successful at increasing private sector funding—mainly individual giving in the case of the SCO. That has been a real development area. It has been under pressure but, in many ways, it has been a good news story so far.