Chamber and committees

It feels very joined up from the way that you have talked about it. I noticed in the papers today that the BBC had a programme launch and it was talking about the cost of living crisis. It said that it will be transmitting programmes that are about escapism but also resilience and that there will be cost of living elements throughout the programmes. I am interested to know whether BBC Scotland is planning to do that, because we have a slightly different environment here.

Does that apply to BBC Alba as well?

I have a question about budgets. Rhodri Talfan Davies mentioned that the overall budget for the BBC is at a standstill, although you have the advantage that you know how much money you will have in the coming years. However, funding for things such as Radio nan Gàidheal, BBC Alba and the BBC Scottish symphony orchestra appears to remain at the same level with no inflationary rises. I am interested to know how that might impact on output. For example, can the orchestra continue to travel?

I thank the witnesses for coming along. “River City” began 20 years ago? Gosh, that is quite frightening—I can remember when it was first commissioned.

I will continue with the theme of impartiality, as well as ask about breadth of service, a theme that Rhodri Talfan Davies has just introduced. We had a debate in the chamber on public service broadcasting. One of our colleagues Stephen Kerr said:

“It is 20 years since ... devolution ... and ... the BBC has not ... caught up with that”.—[Official Report, 3 March 2022; c 107.]

Stephen Kerr was previously an MP, as you will know. In the debate, he went on to talk about the coverage that Westminster gets compared with the coverage that this Parliament gets. I am interested to know your thoughts on that. Do you have any plans to change how you cover what happens in this Parliament—everything from First Minister’s questions and committee sessions to parliamentary debates—given what could be happening here in the coming years?

A few of us attended the international culture summit in the Parliament during the summer, and that was the key message that came out of that from across the world, so thank you for that.

What do you do with all the information about the environmental footprint of productions that you get from the albert calculator system that you talked about?

Last year, I asked about network programme commissioners being based in Scotland. I am interested to hear about the progress that you have made there.

That was very sobering—I think that we used that word when we took evidence last week, as well. I will throw back to you the question that you just asked. Given this crisis, how are each of your organisations looking at the way that you operate?

Lucy Casot, you talked about small museums that had perhaps been planning capital work that would reduce costs but have found that the costs are increasing because of the cost of living situation. I was also reflecting on your point about warm spaces, which I think impacts all of our witnesses. Across my constituency of Argyll and Bute that is what local organisations have been looking at. If those spaces are impacted, where are people going to go? I suppose that that also touches on the wellbeing of people in Scotland.

There are a few topics there to explore. You have all touched on them, but I would like you to expand on them.

Sir John, in your introduction you talked about people making decisions about how they were going to spend their money. On Monday, we had a round-table session with various community groups and the stark point was made that people will look at £20 and try to think about how they are going to spend it. I ask you the same question that I put to Lucy Casot. What are you looking at with regard to the way in which you operate?

Are you finding that the independent companies are learning from the information that they are putting in and perhaps changing their behaviours?