Enterprise and Culture Committee,

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Official Report 199KB pdf

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Work Programme

Item 2 concerns our future work programme. We have a paper that outlines our current commitments and the scope that we have. Committee members will see in the bullet points on page 2 of the paper suggestions that have been picked up from the Official Report and members' suggestions over time. Do any committee members wish to say anything on any or all of those bullet points?

I have a quick suggestion, which will come as no surprise to the committee. I want to test the waters and find out whether other committee members would be interested. The suggested inquiry into European Union regional development funds would be of interest from a Highland perspective. There have been continuing arguments, with which I will not bore the committee now, about lines being drawn on maps in the Highlands. That is my bid, but I will respect colleagues' views.

I refer to the bid that I made when I first joined the committee: we need to do something serious on sport. An inquiry into the implementation of sport 21 would be appropriate at this time. I understand the points that Jamie Stone is making. I would like to deal with all of the above. Given the committee's role and the lack of any kind of strategic overview of sport, I bid for an inquiry into sport 21.

I know that Shiona Baird was keen on holding an inquiry into changes in the retail fabric of Scotland's towns and cities in recent years and the role of supermarkets, which she thought could be an important and interesting inquiry. Although the retail sector is important in itself, it also has significant knock-on effects on Scottish agriculture, for example. Shiona thought that such an inquiry should be a priority, given what is happening on the issues at Westminster.

We have considered employability in the past, as it is an important issue. My only slight reservation about taking it on in the autumn, in the run-up to the elections, is that it might get a bit party political. It might be worth recommending that our successor committee consider the issue post-2007.

I am interested in considering sportscotland. Similarly, it would be worth holding an inquiry into EU regional development funds. An inquiry into the Scottish film industry might have too narrow a focus.

Changes in the retail fabric in Scotland's towns and cities are an interesting area for debate, but I wonder whether an inquiry might overlap with the work that the Environment and Rural Development Committee is doing, as it is considering the power of supermarkets in dealing with farmers and so on. It might be better to wait and see that committee's conclusions before we undertake a similar piece of work.

On the suggestion of a committee bill to promote microgeneration schemes in Scotland, there are two members' bills on similar subjects. It is probably unrealistic to attempt to promote a committee bill at the back end of the session, given the lack of parliamentary time.

My preference is to hold an inquiry into sportscotland and the national sport strategy and/or an inquiry into EU regional development funds.

The committee has been threatening to conduct an inquiry into employability for some time, so the matter is clearly outstanding. However, I acknowledge Murdo Fraser's concerns about the potential for such an inquiry to become party political in the run-up to an election campaign. I have previously thrown my weight behind the proposal to consider sportscotland and sport 21. It is a good time for that, given that a review of sport 21 is taking place and is due to report in the next couple of months.

On the suggestion for an inquiry into the Scottish film industry, I am conscious that Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council are being remodelled to form creative Scotland. I wonder whether we should allow that to happen before we consider whether to hold an inquiry.

All in all, I am most keen on holding an inquiry into sport 21.

I take on board the point that Murdo Fraser and Michael Matheson made that holding an inquiry into employability in the run-up to the elections might make it rather more partisan that it would be otherwise. However, I think that we should do something on employability, given the long-awaited employability strategy, on which what is happening with Careers Scotland in relation to Scottish Enterprise has a great bearing. Holding an inquiry into employability would tackle some of the issues that are raised in bullet point 3 in the paper to do with the number of young people not in employment, education or training. It would be wise for the committee to engage in some sort of scrutiny of the employability strategy as it unrolls.

I also take on board the point that it would be a good time to hold a full inquiry into the implementation of sport 21, given that it is being reviewed. Having produced the report on football, I am aware of the huge interest that there would be in an inquiry into sport 21. However, I am loth to say that we should ignore the employability strategy.

Given that I am only a substitute member of the committee, I will bow to the views of others. For the reason that Michael Matheson has given, the committee should consider holding an inquiry into sport 21. As Murdo Fraser said, the Environment and Rural Development Committee is investigating the role of supermarkets and I expect that the European and External Relations Committee will examine regional development funds.

Like Murdo Fraser, I will go through the list of inquiry options. The issues of employability and the Executive's proposed framework, and the plans to tackle the number of young people who are not in employment, education or training, are interrelated. I would not want the committee to forget about those issues but, given that we are still waiting for the policy paper, it might be best for the committee to react to that paper rather than to institute an inquiry before it comes out.

I will park the sport 21 proposal, in which there is a considerable amount of interest, and go through the other options. An inquiry into European regional development funds would be relevant to the work of the Enterprise and Culture Committee, given the evidence that will have been gathered to date on their lasting benefit to Scotland and Scottish industry. ERDF and the European social fund are both predicated on the need to improve the capacity of the workforce and the ability of regions to make changes in industry, so they are relevant to what we do.

I find the idea of an inquiry into the creative industries and the work of Scottish Screen, in particular, quite attractive, especially in the light of the proposed merger with the Scottish Arts Council and the success of Ken Loach's film—which had a Scottish screenwriter—at the Cannes film festival. Such an inquiry would be relevant to our efforts on the creative industries.

I think that colleagues are right about the suggestion relating to the retail fabric of Scottish towns and cities, on which a fair amount of work is being done already. Although Shiona Baird has been assiduous in examining the issue, I propose that we do not hold an inquiry on it at this stage.

Murdo Fraser made a good point about the microgeneration proposal—we do not have time to prepare a committee bill. There are already members' bills on that subject, one in the name of Shiona Baird and the other in the name of Sarah Boyack. Moreover, it is highly likely that the issue will feature in manifestos.

I remind members that, as the convener pointed out last week, we have the opportunity to produce a legacy paper. A good suggestion was made that we could work up such a paper by examining the recommendations that have emerged from the inquiries that the committee has done over the session, identifying which recommendations the Executive has accepted and assessing what it has done on them. Although our paper would not be binding on our successor committee, it would flag up a considerable number of existing issues.

Perhaps we should commission some research on regional development funds because part of the work of the operators of those funds in Scotland is to examine their continuing benefits; I suspect that some of that analysis has been done. I believe that the committee would benefit from a short piece of research that examined the evidence on what has been done, what lessons have been learned and where the funds should go in future.

A number of members have identified sport 21 as an area that is of relevance to the committee and on which we have done relatively little work. I believe that the review of sport 21 will report in October, so perhaps we should get the Scottish Parliament information centre to do a scoping paper on a potential inquiry, which we could ask to be produced for us just after the summer. We are talking about an inquiry that we would hold in the autumn. I suggest that we also ask SPICe to do a scoping paper on a potential inquiry into Scottish Screen and the creative industries, so that we can make a choice with some background information.

Do members agree to that?

Members indicated agreement.

I do not see any great enthusiasm among members.

I understand the points that you are making about the creative industries, but I am not sure whether this is the right time to be going down that road, particularly because of the merger. Nevertheless, I am happy to wait and see what comes out of the paper.

On the review, I have a feeling that I had a parliamentary answer fairly recently—in the past week or two—in which the minister said that the review itself will be completed and with the minister during the summer. It may be that a response will be published in October, but I was told that the review would be completed over the summer months.

In that case, a paper on sportscotland for the first or second meeting after the recess in September would be quite good. I would also like to push the paper on the creative industries, at least to the extent of seeing what the issues are.

You commented on Shiona Baird's assiduousness in promoting the issues to do with small businesses and the retail sector in particular, and you said that you would outline some suggestions for how that subject might be addressed.

I did. It occurred to me that the Planning etc (Scotland) Bill is going through at the moment. I could not commit a future committee to any work, but it seems to me a future committee might want to consider the implications of that bill and the changes in planning legislation for business. That would also include opportunities for the retail sector, particularly in enhanced town centres, an area where we all share the same sorts of concerns. That would be a good time to consider the issue. The Office of Fair Trading will have finished its work down south and the Environment and Rural Development Committee will have finished its current work here, so all that evidence will be available, which might allow the Enterprise and Culture Committee to consider both those pieces of work, plus the Planning etc (Scotland) Bill. The OFT report will not be binding on Scotland but will nevertheless be highly influential. We can look at that report in conjunction with the Planning etc (Scotland) Bill and consider whether there are issues for the committee.

Is that something that you would envisage including in the legacy paper?

Yes.

Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.