Committee
Enterprise and Culture Committee, 23 Jan 2007
23 Jan 2007 · S2 · Enterprise and Culture Committee
Item of business
Creative Scotland
Stuart Cosgrove:
Watch on SPTV
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak, convener.Picking up on some of James Boyle's comments, I want to focus on industrial development for the creative industries. It is worth stressing that over the past few years, during which strategy has been reviewed, Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council have looked towards forming a coalition and Scottish Enterprise has gone through internal review, something significant and potentially quite threatening has happened, which is that Scotland has lost its premier place in development thinking on creativity.As the director of nations and regions at Channel 4, which means that I manage Scotland and the English regions, I have noticed that certain of Scotland's regional competitors, including the north-west of England, Northern Ireland and other, smaller places, have got their acts together in a more joined-up way than Scotland has—for all sorts of reasons. I want to deal with some of the areas in which we might have lost our leading position. Four or five years ago, many people looked to Scotland when deciding where to go next.There are three legs to the stool of the development of the creative industries. The first is support for indigenous creative companies that have key talent based in Scotland and which are likely to grow and thrive here. That is one set of challenges.A second set of challenges is about inward investment. We need to think about how we can secure and bring in next generation media companies. Ireland, for example, has not been shy in seeking to attract next generation media companies and distributors such as Google, Skype and Bebo. If we assume that digital distribution will be as much about web enhancement as it is about TV broadcasting, I do not think that Scotland's inward investment strategy is necessarily strong. For example, there is no one at Scottish Enterprise who has power on the board to support that function. Most of our strategic thinking on inward investment has not been about getting next generation media companies to have headquarters in Scotland. That issue needs to be addressed.The third leg of the stool of development is policy and strategic issues. As James Boyle pointed out, broadcasting policy is reserved to Westminster, but economic development is devolved to the Scottish Parliament. It is clear that those two are not disconnected. A big driver of market development in the creative industries, particularly in television, is the power of the public service broadcaster, whether that is the BBC, which is the biggest public service broadcaster, or Channel 4, which is my organisation. We are going through charter renewal phases and the financial review of Channel 4 by the Office of Communications. Ofcom has talked about the possibility that a so-called public service publisher, which would be a next-generation publishing commissioner, might be sited outside London. On all those issues, I sometimes feel that Scotland is not boxing with all its power and ability.An unintentional consequence of the decisions that we are making could be that serious economic development for the creative industries falls off the table. In other words, creative Scotland would be judged on creative successes—a feature film that wins awards or an artist who wins international praise. We would feel good about ourselves as a nation. We should and do want that and we should aspire to that, but in its development of economic benefit, Scottish Enterprise has said that the creative industries are less important in its hierarchy of needs. There is nothing wrong with Scotland wanting to pursue life sciences, nanotechnology and all the other sectors that we are prioritising—that is good—but we must understand that creativity and the digital industries are changing significantly. We may miss a significant historic opportunity if we simply relegate it in our economic development thinking and say merely that a body whose job is to reflect creativity will take up the baton of responsibility alone. We have underplayed or underresourced our thinking about—and perhaps even underthought—the industrial development of our creative companies.
In the same item of business
The Convener (Alex Neil):
SNP
Since it is about two minutes past two, we will make a start. I welcome everybody to the third meeting in 2007 of the Enterprise and Culture Committee.I will...
Professor John Wallace (Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama):
I am John Wallace, and I represent the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab):
Lab
I am Karen Gillon, Labour MSP for Clydesdale.
Paul Durrant (Dare to be Digital):
I am Paul Durrant, and I represent the Dare to be Digital project.
Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab):
Lab
I am Richard Baker, Labour MSP for North East Scotland.
Ken Hay (Scottish Screen):
I am Ken Hay from Scottish Screen.
Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD):
LD
I am Donald Gorrie, Liberal Democrat MSP from Central Scotland.
Graham Berry (Scottish Arts Council):
I am Graham Berry from the Scottish Arts Council.
Susan Deacon (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab):
Lab
I am Susan Deacon, Labour MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh.
James Boyle:
My name is James Boyle. I chaired the Cultural Commission, and I am now retired.
Lizzi Nicoll (Federation of Scottish Theatre):
I am Lizzi Nicoll from the Federation of Scottish Theatre.
Professor Philip Schlesinger (University of Glasgow):
My name is Philip Schlesinger, and I am from the centre for cultural policy research at the University of Glasgow.
Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con):
Con
I am Murdo Fraser, Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife.
Jenny Williams (Glasgow Film Office):
I am Jenny Williams from the Glasgow Film Office.
Stephen Boyd (Scottish Trades Union Congress):
My name is Stephen Boyd, and I am an assistant secretary with the Scottish Trades Union Congress.
Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green):
Green
I am Shiona Baird, Green MSP for North East Scotland.
Stuart Cosgrove (Channel 4):
I am Stuart Cosgrove, a director at Channel 4.
Christine May (Central Fife) (Lab):
Lab
I am Christine May, Labour MSP for Central Fife.
The Convener:
SNP
And I am Alec Neil MSP, committee convener and member of the Scottish National Party. On my left are the clerks, led by Stephen Imrie, and the official repor...
Stuart Cosgrove:
People contained in a room and everything being filmed over a period of time—I hope that nothing too controversial happens. Laughter.
The Convener:
SNP
We circulated a background paper prepared by the Scottish Parliament information centre. I hope that everybody received it, but if they did not, it is availa...
Graham Berry:
The legal creation of creative Scotland is still some way off. The draft Culture (Scotland) Bill has recently been published, and we are currently in a consu...
Ken Hay:
Obviously, we have been going through where we are with the process. Scottish Screen has supported the proposals for creative Scotland because there is a key...
The Convener:
SNP
I will come to James Boyle next. James, in your role with the Cultural Commission, you were the architect of much of what is being discussed in the public do...
James Boyle:
Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I remain sceptical about the cobbling together of the Arts Council and Scottish Screen. I apply the test of public va...
Stuart Cosgrove:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak, convener.Picking up on some of James Boyle's comments, I want to focus on industrial development for the cr...
The Convener:
SNP
Would you like creative Scotland to take over the enterprise network's responsibility for media industries and creative industries?
Stuart Cosgrove:
As long as conditional on that expectation was the idea that creative Scotland would have a strong inward investment capability that was resourced—James Boyl...
Christine May:
Lab
The speakers so far have considered opposite ends of the spectrum. Stuart Cosgrove talked about what we are aspiring to and where we hope to go; Graham Berry...
Graham Berry:
It needs to be noted that the Scottish Arts Council and, I assume, Scottish Screen are already working in the creative industries sector. A huge proportion o...