Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Official Report 414KB pdf

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Ofcom (Memorandum of Understanding)

Under item 3, the committee is invited to consider the draft memorandum of understanding between Ofcom and the UK Government, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament, as outlined in paper 3. I invite members to comment.

I think that the memorandum of understanding is in a standard format and I guess that the wording is standard. It states that—

Will you refer us to the part that you are looking at?

Yes. It is paragraph 4 on the second page of the covering paper, but I am not sure whether it quotes from the memorandum.

The memorandum is the critical bit.

I realise that. I refer to the three bullet points that begin “Ofcom will consult”, “Ofcom will consider” and “Ofcom will send”.

I feel that that does not give a lot of power—

That is the briefing paper, John.

I accept that.

I am looking for the specific part of the memorandum that is causing concern. I am told that it is paragraph 8.

Yes, that is correct. I am sorry about that. It is the same wording. If all that Ofcom has to do is “consult” and “consider”, and then send the plan, that does not give the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish Government a lot of powers. I accept that that is the case, but I want to highlight that we are not in a terribly strong position.

I am looking at bullet point 2 of paragraph 6 on page 4. I would like to know exactly what is meant. It states:

“Prior to any appointment, the Scottish Government will be required to consult with the Secretary of State. This will enable the Secretary of State to ensure that the Board will function effectively”.

If the secretary of state is only being consulted, I would have thought that they could not ensure anything.

The Government signed off on that part of the memorandum, so it seems to be happy with it and to have fewer concerns than you do.

Fair enough. Those were just points that jumped out at me.

On a positive note, and also referring to paragraph 6 and looking at the first bullet point, I certainly welcome Scottish ministers having sole

“responsibility for approving members of the board of MG Alba.”

That is a very positive step.

I gather that the committee’s being invited to approve the memorandum is simply a courtesy rather than a legal necessity. It is a memorandum of understanding between four parties, of which the Scottish Parliament is one, so our deliberations will merely form part of the consideration rather than being binding on anybody. I just want to be clear about that.

My understanding is that we will produce a short report on the memorandum, and it will then go to Parliament for approval.

So, there is an approval process to which we are contributing.

Yes.

That is fine.

I am sorry. I did not formally welcome John Finnie’s welcoming comment, but I thank him for that.

You are welcome, convener.

I see the memorandum as quite a positive move, and the Smith commission has rightfully recommended it. I note that the parties involved are the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Ofcom, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament, but I am unsure about how the Scottish Parliament as a body is party to the MOU. Is it through the committee or the full Parliament, or through members individually? How do we participate in the MOU process, as distinct from participation by Scottish Government ministers and Ofcom?

This agenda item is part of the process of the MOU coming before Parliament. It will go before Parliament to be agreed once the process is complete.

So, with regard to our on-going relationship with Ofcom, we as a committee will have the ability to invite Ofcom to present evidence. There is no mandate for it to attend, but—

No, but my understanding is that it is absolutely right for the committee—it will be this committee—to ask Ofcom to come before it to explain how things are going. We can call Ofcom in here and question it on the memorandum of understanding. I think that the committee should welcome that.

I echo that welcome, but I point to bullet point 4 in paragraph 6. We have the power to require Ofcom to appear. We can invite anybody to the committee, but now we will be able to require Ofcom to appear. That is a very welcome change—albeit that, in practice, I am sure that Ofcom would have been willing to come and see us.

I take your play on words—

Oh, no, It was not that.

I always think that it is nice to invite people even if they are required to attend.

Yes—of course.

Are members content to recommend that Parliament approve the memorandum of understanding?

Members indicated agreement.

That concludes our consideration of the MOU. We will report on the outcome of that consideration to the Parliament.