Chamber and committees

This needs to be your final question, Mr Bibby—a really small question, please, and a really succinct one.

That is helpful. Thank you very much. We will move to questions from colleagues, and I will bring in Keith Brown first.

I want to share something with you regarding the committee’s work in the context of Ms Forbes’s questions about the regional broadcast studios and Mr Bibby’s comment about really local broadcasting. When the committee held its inquiry into culture in communities, we went to Orkney and met stakeholders there, and in the morning I was interviewed in the studio in Kirkwall. As a parliamentarian who has worked in committees for a long time in this place, I note that the engagement that we got from the local community from that single broadcast, which brought the Parliament’s work right into the community, was fantastic. That was possible in that context, but it could be contrasted with a committee working in Glasgow or somewhere else, noting the focus of the broadcast news there. Given that experience in Orkney, I think that it would be helpful to get a reflection on that space and on how the work of the committee and the Parliament could be used.

Good morning, and welcome to the second meeting of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee in 2024. Our first agenda item is a decision on taking business in private. Are members content to take agenda item 4 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Welcome back. Our third item is our final evidence session on the budget. We are joined by Angus Robertson, the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, and by Penelope Cooper, who is the director of culture and major events at the Scottish Government. A warm welcome to you both. I invite Mr Robertson to make a brief opening statement.

Shona McCarthy, would you like to come in next?

Thank you very much. I now call Francesca Hegyi.

I will come to Shona McCarthy, but that will have to be the last response to the question, as we are right up against time.

Mr Stewart, do you still have a new line of questioning?

On that note, I suspend the meeting to allow the witnesses to change and to give members a very short comfort break of three minutes or so.

Mr Munro, we heard from some of the organisations that time is of the essence and that they are already having to commit to commercial contracts without knowing what their budget is for this year. You said that you have to have discussions with the Government. Are those already diarised, or do you have an indicative timeline as to when that process might be finished?