Chamber and committees

I will ask two questions, one of each witness. The first question follows up on the issue of commissioning the programmes in Scotland. Steve Carson talked a bit about rebooting after coming through the pandemic. You have different types of new projects, such as drama, comedy and factual content. Can you give us the numbers as well as a sense of how you are retaining and increasing employment opportunities not just for actors but for all the staff who are involved in making new content?

Over the years to come, is there scope for increasing the number of new productions in Scotland?

Yes. It would be useful to get a sense of job numbers as well. Maybe you could write to us with those numbers after the meeting.

I have a different question for Leigh Tavaziva, about what the BBC is doing to address the challenges for different types of broadcasting, particularly the important role of public sector broadcasting, given that viewing figures for private online streaming services have rocketed during the pandemic. What consideration are you giving to accessibility and different ways of accessing BBC products? I am thinking of younger and older people in relation to the costs of accessing services through connectivity and broadband. What is being done about that at the UK BBC level?

I have a quick question. It was good to discuss screen production, but I want to talk about live performance. We have lost a lot of incredible talent because of the pandemic. Can we talk about forward planning? The 75th Edinburgh international festival is next year. That is a huge economic issue, not only for Edinburgh but for the wider economy. Can we think about resilience and recovery in the live performance sector? What more can the Scottish Government do to ensure that people and venues in that sector are supported? It must be incredibly difficult for them to plan ahead after the difficulties and uncertainty of the past year.

Those two answers were very useful and help us to think about accountability and what further scrutiny we should do.

I return to my first question to the cabinet secretary about the priorities that you will change in the short term. You are clearly of the view that the system is not working as intended, and there have been big changes as a result of Brexit. I know that you want a different constitutional settlement in the long run, but, to make things work now, so that you—and the other devolved Governments—can get the job done, what is your top priority? I note that the Welsh Government has republished its suggestions on how things need to change. What short-term changes do you want that you think would be of assistance? I think that it would be helpful for the committee to put those to UK ministers itself.

I want to pick up on the comments that you made in your opening remarks about the purpose of devolution, which is to increase decision making and accountability in Scotland as part of the UK. You gave a pretty full critique of how things are working at the moment. Today is the committee’s first chance to talk to you and we are thinking about the next five years. It feels to me as though there are three levels: the ministerial level with joint ministerial relationships; parliamentary accountability and the relationships between different parts of the civil service across the UK; and the local authority level. Your description of the current structures and relationships is not overly positive. What are your short-term suggestions for how we begin to reset those relationships, given that we are at a critical moment?

When we look at common frameworks and think about how we deliver parliamentary accountability on that raft of different frameworks, what changes need to be made? I suspect that there is agreement around the committee table that “noted” is not a full way of engaging with us and letting us know what is being discussed at the most senior levels. Knowing that might help us to think about our questions and what UK ministers we want to have a fuller discussion with as we set out our work for the next five years.

Congratulations on your appointment, Clare. I now hand over to you.

I will take this opportunity to say that I am also one of the vice-presidents of the European Movement in Scotland. That is in the voluntary section of my entry in the register of members’ interests, too. Thanks for that reminder, Patrick.

Agenda item 2 is the choosing of a convener. Parliament has agreed that only members of the Scottish National Party are eligible for nomination as convener of the committee. My understanding is that Clare Adamson is that party’s nominee. If any member disagrees with that nomination, they should type N in the chat bar.

I am delighted to declare that no one has typed N in the chat bar.

Clare Adamson was chosen as convener.

We have two excellent legacy papers that will be really useful. The one from the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee is good and has a lot of recommendations. From my perspective, and bringing the two reports together, it is about what we can do to add quality to the Parliament’s scrutiny.

In relation to Brexit, there are clearly issues that we need to think through. Donald Cameron is right that other committees will be interested in issues such as Erasmus+ and trade. There are wider issues about what happens post-Brexit and how the devolution settlement is working. We need to pick up those overarching issues, as Donald Cameron said.

I am interested in the recommendations about scrutinising the Scottish Government’s external affairs and international development work. We should look at the external affairs strategy and the international development programme, both of which will be really important as the world begins to reopen post-Covid. We need to consider Scotland’s role—that is an important issue for us.

The points about common frameworks and interparliamentary work are important. It is key for the committee to promote such work. That is partly about our relationships under the devolution settlement, but it is also about post-Brexit relationships across the UK. That is a really important piece of work for us.

There is a huge agenda on culture post-Covid. Yesterday, the First Minister made a statement about the beginnings of reopening. In Edinburgh and the Lothians, festivals are a huge issue. There are issues about the capacity of theatres and venues such as live music venues to come back post-pandemic. Another issue is the impact of arts funding, both pre-Covid and in relation to what will happen to regenerate the sector. I suspect that I am not alone in having been contacted by artists, musicians and others involved in the culture sector who do not work full time and who basically have had no work at all during the pandemic. There are a lot of issues to pick up there.

We also have the legacy expert panel’s report. I wonder whether, for our first session, it would be useful to get an update from the panel, just to help to shape our work, as we have such a lot in our brief. It is about six months since that report was produced, so it would be useful to get an update.