Seòmar agus comataidhean

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?

Thank you.

Thank you. I now move to questions from members.

I ask Mr McManus to be brief.

Mr McManus, do you want to come in on that subject?

Thank you. Your final comment goes into an area that we have not been able to touch on today, which is the importance of the cultural community to the wellbeing economy agenda. In our budget scrutiny, we are focusing on funding for the culture sector, but we have already seen how many other areas it picks up on, including the fair work agenda. We also did not talk about the climate or the net zero targets and how they will affect touring companies and the industry in general, but there is a lot there to discuss.

This is pre-budget scrutiny as the budget is yet to be published, but a touring fund was announced in the programme for government. Also, given that the subject came up, I note that the Government has said that it is committed to providing regular funding by agreeing three-year funding settlements. I am sure that the committee will be interested to see the detail of that, given the evidence that we have heard today.

I thank Mr McManus and Mr Dallman very much for their attendance.

Mr Ruskell, do you have a small supplementary question?