Chamber and committees

Good morning. I warmly welcome everyone to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. We have received apologies from Mark Ruskell, who has other committee engagements this morning.

Our only agenda item today is pre-budget scrutiny of culture sector funding, as part of our pre-budget scrutiny work. The committee is currently looking at the continuing impact of Covid-19 on the culture sector and the sector’s long-term future.

We have with us our second panel on the topic. We welcome Matt Baker, orchestrator, the Stove Network; Fiona Campbell, convener, the Traditional Music & Song Association of Scotland; Clara Cullen, a venue support manager at the Music Venue Trust; and Mike Jones, managing director, The Stand comedy club.

We will move straight to questions. I remind members that if they want to direct a question to a particular witness, I will ask that witness to answer first.

The Stove Network and the TMSA have talked about the importance of culture to wellbeing in our society, and the Government has indicated that it wants to move to a wellbeing society. I would like to hear first about the cultural social prescribing model mentioned in the Stove Network’s submission, and then about how the concept of a wellbeing society affects all your organisations. I will go first to Mr Baker and Ms Cullen, and will then bring in the other two witnesses for an industry view

I am also keen to think about how we can push for resources or where we should target them. In the evidence from the Stove Network, Matt Baker, you talk about the work of the culture collective and the Sistema model. What are the top priorities of investment in retaining people in employmentas well as keeping the sector going over the next year or two as we come through the pandemic?

I am afraid that we have lost Ms Campbell from the call again. Mr Cameron, do you want to come back in?

I think that Ms Campbell is back and wants to come in. If any of the witnesses want to answer a question that has been directed to someone else, I ask that they could type R in the chat in BlueJeans. It is difficult to convene the meeting virtually, as you do not get the same sense that someone is desperate to answer a question online as you do when we are in the room together. I will bring in Ms Campbell.

No, we have echoes and things. I am really sorry about this, but if you remove yourself from the call I think that we will be able to proceed.

Under item 2, we will take evidence from Steve Carson, director of BBC Scotland, and Leigh Tavaziva, chief operating officer at the BBC, on the BBC’s annual report and accounts. I welcome our witnesses to the meeting and invite Mr Carson to make a brief opening statement.

Good morning, and a very warm welcome to the third meeting in session 6 of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. As a result of Mr Harvie’s ministerial appointment, he has stepped down from the committee. I thank Mr Harvie for his contribution during his—albeit brief—time with us. His place has been taken by Mark Ruskell, whom I welcome to the committee. We look forward to working with you, Mr Ruskell. I invite you to declare any relevant interests.

Thank you very much, Mr Carson. We will shortly be moving to questions from members—and it would be helpful if they indicated whether their questions are being directed to Mr Carson or Ms Tavaziva. First, though, I have a general question. You mentioned the launch of the new channel. Do you feel that it has met its initial objectives? I note that, in April 2018, Ofcom raised concerns about a lack of new programmes and the removal of potential opportunities for independent producers. Will you reflect on that, the channel’s other objectives and how successful you think that it has been?

I will go to Mr Dallman first to answer that. If you could try to keep your answers short, that would be helpful.

I will finish with a final question on the back of Ms Minto’s. The BBC strategy says that one of the BBC’s purposes is

“To reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in doing so, support the creative economy across the United Kingdom”.

The creative economy is very important in Scotland. As we move towards a wellbeing economy, culture will be at the heart of that. BBC Radio Scotland made some big changes in approach to some of the lunchtime programmes. Popular segments such as the newspaper review were removed. There was a change in the make-up of programmes, particularly phone-in ones. This is a personal observation, but it seems to me that, quite often, the ordinary members of the public who are on such programmes are the same people over and over again and are not a very diverse group.

I also want to ask about the opportunities for new programming. Dr Allan was talking about programmes such as “Tutti Frutti”. In the past, many of the BBC’s drama productions and other screen productions came from radio. Will there be opportunities for new talent? Will new music talent be showcased? Will there be new drama and new opportunities for people on BBC Radio Scotland?