Education, Culture and Sport Committee, 03 Sep 2002

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 3, 2002

Official Report 131KB pdf

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Reporters

We move to item 3 on the agenda, which concerns the appointment of reporters.

Members will be aware that the national audit of museums and galleries was launched by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport in July 2002. The committee has been monitoring the matter and I think that it is our intention to proceed with some form of committee investigation or inquiry into the issue. Members have before them a suggested remit and timetable for such an inquiry and I seek recommendations as to who would deal with the inquiry.

It is important that we consider this issue now. I suggest that Jackie Baillie and Michael Russell work on the matter. I assume that the work would have to be done within a fairly tight time scale.

Are those two members happy to take the inquiry on?

Yes, we are.

Do you intend to examine in particular the issues of independent museums, which are important parts of some communities, and industrial museums? I know that the committee has visited New Lanark, one of the industrial museums. I think that those areas would be an important part of the inquiry.

Very much so. Jackie Baillie and I have both been active in the case of the Scottish Maritime Museum and I have been active in the cases of a number of other museums, including Verdant Works and New Lanark. The independent museum sector is also important, particularly given the difficulties that are being experienced by places such as the Biggar museums.

It is important to remember, however, that difficulties are being experienced throughout the museum sector, which is one of the reasons why progress is desperately required.

Do we agree to appoint Mike Russell and Jackie Baillie to deal with the inquiry?

Members indicated agreement.

The committee has expressed an interest in Scottish football; members will be aware that petition PE380 on fans' participation in the decision-making process within Scottish senior football is still outstanding. We have said that we will consider the matter again and I am aware that, before the recess, we said that we wanted to consider areas around youth development and the structure and finances of Scottish football.

It seems to be a large and wide-ranging inquiry, so I suggest that we consider first the outstanding petition—because of the time scale and the fact that a member of the public has submitted it—then youth development followed by structure and finances.

Which members would like to deal with that inquiry?

I would like to nominate you, convener, because you have a known interest in football and have produced an excellent report on sport in schools. The subject is clearly up your street and I look forward to seeing photographs of you standing in various football grounds wearing a selection of football strips. The photograph that was published recently in a Sunday newspaper showing you dressed appropriately during the campaign for a yes-yes vote in the devolution referendum showed that you are an enthusiastic supporter of lots of things.

Ian, some people had not realised that that was a photograph of me and I was quite happy about that.

I am not entirely sure what Ian Jenkins is nominating the convener to do. Am I right in thinking that it is to prepare a report in response to the petition on the subject of fans' involvement?

Yes, but the committee also agreed before the recess that it wanted to examine more closely youth development in Scottish football. However, in the first instance, a response to the petition on the issue of fans' involvement would be our primary responsibility. After that, the committee could decide the direction in which it wanted to progress.

Looking at the paper that has been put before us, I must express a fear, as I have done at previous meetings, that we are in danger of taking on a task that is too large, which is acknowledged by the clerks. The issue of the structure and funding of Scottish football is particularly large and I suppose that that is why you are not keen to move on to it just yet, convener. We are also aware that events move quickly in that area. However, the issue of youth football is unlikely to change quickly and is of a scale that the committee can address. Furthermore, whereas senior football relates to business, youth football relates to sport and education, which are areas in which we have an interest. I give my complete support to the idea of an inquiry into that area and suggest that such an inquiry should start sooner rather than later, given how close we are to the dissolution of Parliament.

I know that I share some of your views, having discussed the matter with you before. That is why I said that we should concentrate first on the petition, then on youth development and then, if we have time, on the structure and finances of Scottish football, as that would be a huge inquiry and I do not know whether we will be able to deal with it in the time available to us.

You are a good choice for the person to deal with the issue, convener, as you have a background in community development and working with young people. I urge you to consider football for girls, especially in the light of your earlier report for the committee. I invite you to meet the bairn supporters in Falkirk. They would welcome the opportunity to talk about their experience and the issues that are open to them.

I asked earlier for clarification of what Ian Jenkins was proposing. It seemed clear to me that the idea was for you to examine supporters' involvement in senior clubs. Now, however, the deputy convener is looking forward to the work that you will do on youth football. Are we doing one report followed by another or are we doing two at the same time?

That is up to the committee.

I know that, but I want us to be clear about what is being done so that there is no ambiguity. I would like to ensure that a large number of organisations have the opportunity to make their views known to whoever is reporting on both matters.

I will take guidance from the committee. I am happy to do one report or both.

What would you like to do?

To be honest, if we do one and leave the other for later, we might run out of time. The priority should be to report to the committee on the petition, as it has been outstanding for some time. However, alongside that, I can issue a call for written evidence on youth development before going out to speak to people.

I am happy with that.

I am happy with that, too.

For future reference, I would like to put on record the fact that I also have an interest in rugby.