Chamber and committees

I am comfortable with time if you want to ask your final question, Mr Simpson. It is entirely up to you.

I thank Ms Mahon, Ms Street and Ms Robinson for their attendance at committee this morning. We have particularly enjoyed having a BAFTA in the room; we do not normally experience that in the Scottish Parliament. Thank you very much for your attendance.

Five minutes.

Item 3 is Scotland’s census. From the National Records of Scotland, I welcome Paul Lowe, registrar general and chief executive, Peter Whitehouse, director of statistical services, and Anne Slater, director of operations and deputy registrar general. I invite the registrar general to make a brief opening statement.

Mr Lowe, the census work is not yet complete, although the deadline has passed. Can you give us a bit of background on what remains to be done and possible timescales for when we might have a report on the learning points from this year’s census?

I will move to questions from the committee. Ms Boyack is first.

Agenda item 1 is a decision on taking business in private. Are members content to take item 4 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

I am conscious of time, but Mr Ruskell wants to ask a question.

Under item 2, we have two panels on Channel 4. I welcome our first panel: John McVay, chief executive officer, Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television; Nicole Kleeman, managing director, Firecrest Films; and David Smith, director of screen, Screen Scotland. I give a warm welcome to you all virtually.

I will open with a question for David Smith. How would you describe the working relationship between Channel 4 and Screen Scotland? Can you give us an update on the memorandum of understanding between the two organisations?

Welcome back. Our second panel this morning is on Channel 4 and, indeed, it is members of Channel 4 who are here with us. We have Alex Mahon, chief executive; Jo Street, head of daytime and features and head of the Glasgow hub; and Briony Robinson, senior external affairs manager.

I hope that you were able to hear the first panel. Something that came through quite strongly for me was the importance of relationships and location in Scotland. Could you elaborate on FormatLab, the new partnership with BBC, Screen Scotland and Glasgow Council, and say how that might impact on the output from the Kelvin hall studios in particular?