Enterprise and Culture Committee, 10 Feb 2004

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Official Report 170KB pdf

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Budget Process 2005-06

Agenda item 3 is budget scrutiny for 2005-06. Quite a few members have served on the Finance Committee at different stages and will know that, in previous years, committees have had difficulties in scrutinising the budget.

Given that the committee has already considered many areas connected with the enterprise side of its work and that we cannot consider the whole budget process anyway, it might be useful to examine the arts and sports side of the budget. After all, there has been considerable media interest in the funding of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet and in the Scottish Football League and the National Lottery's contribution to sport. I think that those would be reasonable areas for consideration.

I see that Jamie Stone is champing at the bit to get in.

I absolutely agree with your comments, convener. However, could you add the Scottish Community Drama Association to that list? We have all received representations about the fact that it has lost its £40,000 funding.

I have lodged a motion on that matter.

Oh, have you? Have I signed it?

Please do not start any conversations.

The suggestion that we should concentrate on the arts and sports elements of the budget is very sensible and worthy of support. After all, the committee has not really directed its attention to those matters since it was established nine months ago. I also like the idea of inviting the Scottish Arts Council and sportscotland to give evidence to the committee. Indeed, we should also invite other bodies to do so. Although I acknowledge Jamie Stone's comment about the Scottish Community Drama Association, I have noted a number of other organisations that we might consider under the headings of arts and sports to ensure that we get a spread of opinion.

That said, although I would be happy to hear from the SCDA—indeed, the 7:84 Theatre Company was another company that occurred to me—we need to avoid hearing only from those organisations, because they will simply end up making a plea to have their funding restored. Although in that respect both companies have very worth while cases that must be heard, we are not the people to whom they should make those cases. I do not want the committee to be diverted in that way.

As far as sport is concerned, it might be useful to hear from the Scottish Institute of Sport, which is based in Stirling, and Scottish Disability Sport as an umbrella organisation. As for golf, the Executive is rolling out a plan to give every nine-year-old some experience of golf. I am not sure about the deadline for that initiative—I think that it is to be rolled out by 2007—but it is certainly part of the run-up to the Ryder cup in 2014. As a result, it might be appropriate to hear from the Scottish Golf Union.

Women's football is the biggest growth sport in Scotland, and it might be interesting to hear from some of its representatives. Moreover, we could hear from a couple of minority sports such as judo or cricket—we could not describe women's football as a minority sport—which have made a case for funding but do not believe that they receive money that is appropriate to their coverage.

With regard to the arts, I think that the Dundee Repertory Theatre is a good example of how a local authority has linked itself with a theatre to draw in more funding. The theatre has also played a part in the regeneration of Dundee's inner city by helping to establish a cultural quarter with the Dundee Contemporary Arts centre.

Finally, we cannot really deny that we should hear from Scottish Ballet/Opera. I say Scottish Ballet/Opera, because of course the same board covers both companies. However, any such discussion would not be in the context of pleas for funding; instead, the bodies could indicate how the crisis that has emerged again this year could be avoided in future.

I merely throw those suggestions into the pot for members' consideration.

I am largely interested in what are called minority sports such as quad biking, trail biking and so on. Given Jamie Stone's point about the community drama folk, I have a question for the Scottish Arts Council and sportscotland that is appropriate and which centres on the strategies that they have in place to deal with less mainstream activities. In other words, what about those groups—and, in the case of the National Lottery, individuals—that want only a small amount of funding, but for whom that tiny amount is essential to keep them going? An issue about minority sports that are not priority sports was raised recently with me by folk who had had their funding withdrawn altogether.

I agree with Mike Watson about Dundee City Council. Perhaps we might frame our questions in the context of the effect of local cultural strategies on regeneration. Although Dundee City Council has been very good and is perhaps the leading example in that respect, a number of other local authorities have introduced such strategies.

Indeed. In fact, I would also mention Fife Council in that context, particularly in relation to traditional music. For instance, Sheena Wellington was employed by that council as a traditional music development officer.

The title was traditional arts development officer.

Sheena Wellington might be worth speaking to not only as an individual, but as a representative of Fife Council.

We should also take into account the work that has been done in Glasgow.

I agree to the proposals, with the proviso that we do not see ourselves as having discharged our duty on those areas of our remit by carrying out the budget scrutiny.

I am happy to consider those two general issues. Mike Watson gave us an interesting list, but a general debate must be had about how much funding for sport and the arts should go to national bodies and how much should go to communities. That is particularly true of the arts. We need to consider whether there is a proper balance in the distribution of funds to support arts throughout the country. That is a significant debate, but I am not sure that the proposals for potential witnesses would give us a flavour of it.

In fairness, a lot of local authority funding goes into community projects.

I accept that. However, Scottish Arts Council funding is supposed to be national, but it is not distributed in an even-handed way throughout the country. On sport, it would be wholly inappropriate for us to ignore national issues and to concentrate only on what are seen as minority sports. We need to address sport nationally as well.

I am surprised that Brian Adam did not mention the impact of London's bid to host the Olympics and what that might mean for sports funding in Scotland. That issue will clearly be on the political horizon and we should touch on it.

I have a question for the First Minister on Thursday on that very subject.

That will deal with the issue, then.

I am sure that it will settle the matter.

Clearly, the recommendations on page 4 do not exclude our taking oral evidence from other bodies if we think that the written evidence merits it or is of particular interest. However, there is a limit to the number of organisations that we can interview and we could get into difficult questions of balance. I hear what members say: we will tailor our questions to the Scottish Arts Council and sportscotland in the light of what has been said.

Given the issues that we have chosen to consider, the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport will be the appropriate minister to have before us. Will we also take a general approach and hear from the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, or is that not necessary at this stage of the budget process?

That is up to the committee, but the view that we took at an earlier meeting was that, during the four-year cycle, we hope to consider the budgets in turn. Many of them simply involve handing out cash to other bodies, which then spend it. I am sure I have put the matter far too crudely, but that is what happens in accounting terms. I do not think that we will ask the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning to give evidence, unless members insist.

Fine.

The clerk has reminded me that the issue might depend on what is produced in the budget. If the minister decides to scrap Scottish Enterprise's budget and spend the money on something else, we might ask him along—to congratulate him, in Murdo Fraser's case.

We live in hope.

Although we are not taking evidence on aspects of the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning's portfolio, from memory, last year we had a session on the general figures—it was not in great depth. Perhaps we ought to reserve the right to do that if we feel that that would be appropriate.

We can do so if we think that the budget is interesting enough to justify that. Obviously, all budgets are fascinating, but if we think that the enterprise part of this one is particularly interesting, we will invite Jim Wallace along.

Do members agree to the recommendations in the paper?

Members indicated agreement.