Education, Culture and Sport Committee, 26 Nov 2002

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Official Report 194KB pdf

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Scottish Media Group

Item 5 on the agenda concerns an update on the Scottish Media Group. I confirm that the minister has received a letter from me, in which it has been noted that

"if a proposal is noted to the DTI under the special newspaper merger scheme, the fact will be announced publicly and the clerk will be advised by the DTI of the announcement."

Would there be any merit in seeking a cross-party meeting with the minister, Melanie Johnson? I do not know whether such a meeting would be forthcoming; it might not be possible because there is a quasi-judicial role and the minister may not be able to meet us. However, there might be some merit in seeking a meeting to put the committee's views on the record, if members are happy with that as a way to proceed.

I entirely concur with that. It is a good idea. In addition, I wonder whether now is not the time to ask to speak to the Scottish Media Group and ask about the group's intentions? The group has not published the shortlist of three bidders, despite saying that it would. Clearly, there is an attempt to keep this away from the glare of public interest as far as possible, but that glare should be on the matter, and a meeting in open session with the Scottish Media Group would be very valuable.

We have to be careful and decide whether such a meeting would be valuable. I understand your point about whether it would deal only with issues such as confidentiality and contract details, which, given that people may feel that they could not discuss certain subjects with the committee, could take away from its value. There would be merit in the committee writing to the Scottish Media Group and requesting that it supply information about the status of the bids by next week. I am happy for the committee to review the contents of the reply at next week's meeting.

I am happy to return to the proposal next week once I have had sight of the reply.

May I also abuse my position as convener and urge members to sign my motion and to urge their parties' business managers to include it as a subject for debate in members' business as soon as possible?