Chamber and committees

I will start with Professor Nicola McEwen, but the question is for the entire panel. To what extent is the Scottish Parliament’s legislative and scrutiny function being underutilised as a result of the powers retained by the Scottish ministers in a post-Brexit environment? To what extent is the Scottish Parliament’s role evolving or not evolving in a post-Brexit environment in its interactions with the Scottish ministers?

We have touched on some of this, but I want your thoughts on the requirement or otherwise for the role of the civil service to be revised in light of devolution in the post-EU environment. The context is that committees and parliamentarians face capacity issues, yet we have a duplication of effort. For example, I met a UK Government minister about my dog theft bill. The minister said that the department had done extensive work, and he suggested sending me a briefing on the issue. Most people would think that that was a reasonable course of action. However, UK civil servants said that that would not be appropriate and that they would send it to the Scottish Government, which would pass it on to me. More than a year later, I still do not have the briefing.

In the context of all this, is there a way in which we can avoid duplication of effort and utilise the experience and expertise, even to a limited extent, of the civil service, via committees, perhaps with redacted or withheld content? I want your thoughts on how we can work smarter.

Thanks, Paul. That is very helpful.

Would any of the other panel members like to comment?

Welcome, panel. I have a question for the entire panel, but I will start with Huw Irranca-Davies, if that is okay. I am interested in the role that you see for committees in your respective institutions in addressing some of the challenges and issues with regard to devolution in a post-EU environment. What, if anything, can be done to strengthen the role of committees in that regard?

Thank you. That is helpful.

I will move to William Wragg. What are your reflections on the post-EU environment and how your committee is handling that?

As a follow-up, how might capacity for those increased functions affect your ability to fully scrutinise?

We have covered extensively the programming on radio. That is really helpful for when we ask the BBC about the situation, but is there anything else outwith that sphere that you would like to ask the BBC about with regard to supporting jazz, piping and traditional music? I was interested that Professor McKerrell mentioned, for example, musical experience at commissioner level. Would you like to add anything so that we can ask the BBC about it, whether with regard to television or visual digital format or on the structuring of how the programmes are commissioned?

That is really useful. Would any other witnesses like to contribute?

That is really useful.

We have some interesting analogies for when the BBC appears before us.