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There is a long list of items that I want to raise, but I shall try to accommodate contributions from all members who have something to say.
I draw the committee's attention to the latest developments relating to the Scottish Media Group and Grampian Television. Members may be aware that a report published last week was highly critical of Scottish Media Group's stewardship of Grampian Television. That followed on from our discussions about the regional content of programming on Grampian and from the evidence that we took from SMG's management on 1 March.
One of the most positive things that came out of last week's events was the action of the ITC. There had been a great deal of speculation as to whether the ITC would be prepared to act in such circumstances, but it showed in no uncertain terms that it would.
I agree with Mike Russell and Lewis Macdonald. It might be worth writing to the ITC to thank it for responding positively. As Mike said, we should keep a watchful eye on developments and inform SMG, the National Union of Journalists and the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union of our requests. We need to keep up to date. I am pleased with our progress so far, but we must not lose touch.
At the previous meeting, we discussed returning to the issue and inviting back representatives. It would be a good idea to do as Mike suggests and leave the matter for six months; that will enable us to see what is happening before deciding whether we want to follow things up. Is that agreeable to members?
I echo Mike Russell's points about SMG's positive response to last week's report. That should be recognised.
That concludes our discussion on Grampian.
I wanted to talk about my report on rural schools. I was rather disconcerted to receive a telephone call from a journalist last week, saying that it is alleged in certain quarters that I am dragging my feet on the report in view of the so-called Argyll situation. I want to emphasise that my report is complete bar the evidence from Moray Council. Hitherto, there have been difficulties—perhaps that is too strong a word—that I am sure you can confirm we are in the process of resolving, convener. Once we have the Moray Council stuff, we can complete the report. I am anxious to get it finished. It has been dragging on and you know how frustrated I have been about the situation. Nine tenths of the report is ready.
I can confirm that the clerks have received a letter agreeing that you should visit Moray Council. I hope that that visit can be arranged as quickly as possible and that you will be able to present your report to the committee shortly afterwards. We always recognised that, while you were reporting on rural school closures, the committee might want at some stage to take the issue further, based on your report.
I understand that the committee will receive a petition next week on the closure of a primary school in Argyll. Because I have had sight of the correspondence, I know that it will also raise more interesting issues on school capacity, which Ian Jenkins spoke about today, and on the use of information and statistics by local education authorities to pressure parents into making decisions. Without prejudging that petition, I am sure that the committee will want to treat it seriously, as it comes well founded and from good sources, and to determine how it integrates into Jamie Stone's report.
I am entirely in the hands of the committee—I shall do whatever committee members deem best.
I am aware that that petition is coming; the Public Petitions Committee has already discussed it.
Yes, it has.
At this stage, I want Jamie to complete his report, which may well inform our discussion of the petition. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that this is the last time that a local authority will have to consider the possibility of school closures. I had hoped that Jamie's report would be able inform us about the procedures that were being followed and how closely communities felt that they were involved. That would have given us some information in order to be able to consider the matter in a bit more detail at a later stage.
I ask members to note further developments in the continuing saga of Scottish Opera. The Sunday papers yesterday contained some fairly incredible reports—which I understand to be substantially true and to which the BBC will make further contributions tonight—that it is now admitted that the merger will apply only to the boards of the companies and to nothing else. That story is germane to this committee's remit in a number of ways.
I was not surprised when I read the papers yesterday. Many of us were convinced that the merger would never work—that it was not working—and that people were just paying lip service to the idea. The news is not at all comforting and, despite the time that we spent on our inquiry, I am not satisfied that we have sufficient information to hand. If we have time, I would like to revisit our inquiry in order to consider what is happening now. We were told, "Okay—we've moved along. The merger's going to happen and that will make it so much easier." My sources in the trade unions indicated that the merger was not working, but that they wanted to give it a chance. As far as we can see, there has been no real merger of the companies.
As an initial move, I suggest that I write, as convener, to Duncan McGhie, the chairman of Scottish Opera, about the concerns that have been raised by the media. That would give him an opportunity to put the record straight and outline how he sees the situation. Following that, we may want to call witnesses, but I think that we should get his response first, so that we can determine the accuracy of the reports that we have read.
Duncan McGhie was unresponsive about workers' representatives on the board. That issue should also be raised with him, because months have gone by, yet nothing has happened. It would be nice to have information on Scottish Opera from someone else, too. We might ask the trade unions that gave evidence to us before to give us their view of what has happened in writing, so that we are not relying on a single source.
I support that.
Are we happy to do that? Fine.
I suggest that, as well as seeking Duncan McGhie's opinion, we seek the views of Scottish Ballet and the Scottish Arts Council. We would want to hear the ballet's opinions for obvious reasons—it is the other party—but we want the SAC's views because part of our discussion was about the extent to which it was aware of what Scottish Opera was doing and what decisions it was taking. It would be interesting to find out the extent of its involvement in any aspect of the outcome, and to find out its view.
I am not unhappy about that. My original suggestion was based on the fact that Duncan McGhie was to be the chair of the joint Scottish Ballet-Scottish Opera board, and was representing both. I am more than happy to contact the Arts Council as well.
On a point of information, convener, I presume that the stage 2 meetings that have not been used are also cancelled.
No, Mike. We gave out a list of additional meetings last week. We were going to start taking evidence on special educational needs.
I did not see that—I was not at one of the meetings.
We will cancel the meeting on 7 June and will draw up a fresh list—you will get a copy of it.
Thank you.
That will mean that we will not have all-day sittings, but we will probably have a meeting a week.
The bureau has decided to do what?
It has decided that committees should meet once a month either in Glasgow or Stirling.
Each committee—
No. A Monday afternoon slot in Glasgow and Stirling is now booked permanently. We are asking committees to make use of that slot if they can. We are encouraging committees to do so because the facilities are there—and it helps with the facilities here in Edinburgh.
We are seeking a date when we could take that up. It might be useful to take evidence outside Edinburgh.
Finally, I inform the committee that the Executive has now produced a response on the children's commissioner. Members will recall that we had asked the Executive for a memorandum. I hope to put that on the agenda for next week's meeting.
I was wondering whether Mike Russell had any more news on the film inquiry.
A press statement has been issued and a letter has been drafted. I have to agree to the list of people to whom the letter is to be sent, and then everything is hunky-dory.
Thank you. As I indicated, we will take the next item in private.
Meeting continued in private until 15:39.