Hansard

Given the publication of the strategy in March, I was going to ask the minister what steps had been taken thereafter to make it a reality, so that intervention was helpful.

As others have said—Ruth Davidson mentioned this in her intervention—we know that broadband take-up is low in Scotland. In my home city, it is lower even than the Scottish average. It seems to me that we have a chicken-and-egg situation. People will not be tempted to receive their programming from broadband if it is as slow, weak and unreliable as mine often is, but without a critical mass of users we will not get the quality content that people want.

If we are ambitious for broadcasting in Scotland, as I believe that we all are, we must produce good-quality material, and the Government, through its agencies, must support those producers who share that ambition. In its submission to the Scottish digital network panel, Creative Scotland stated:

“Our key message is that a digital network could be transformational—for the cultural sector and for the engagement of audiences, but the key will be investing in content.”

I am sure that none of us would disagree with that. That investment must be targeted not only at the bigger companies, but also at the smaller ones, which must be supported. We have a breadth of talent in our creative industries but it all needs support to help it to thrive and develop.

Scottish Labour supports the idea of a Scottish digital network, but we strongly believe that quality should be the driving force of the network and we do not believe that it should be introduced at the expense of existing channels. Any strategy for the network has a delicate balance to achieve if it is to be successful.

The Scottish digital network panel also seemed to talk only of Scottish content and the opportunities to promote that content around the world. I sincerely hope that that was not what it was suggesting. Our culture and our people benefit from and are stronger because of their exposure to other countries over the years. Surely, we want to ensure that we have access to what other countries have to offer. The joy and the success of events such as the Edinburgh international festival exist in the coming together of cultures from around the world and the opportunity that we are given not only to see new performances by our own companies, but to experience the very best that the world has to offer. I believe that a digital network should be no different.

I am delighted that BBC Scotland has now exceeded its own interim target for production in Scotland, but I am even happier that much of that production has been good-quality drama and interesting and insightful documentary programmes that have attracted audiences both in Scotland and throughout the UK. I am sure that many of those programmes will go on to be sold abroad, too. However, although the BBC has made significant progress, it still has work to do to meet the 8.6 per cent target that the Scottish Broadcasting Commission suggested and, unfortunately, other broadcasters do not seem to be making the progress that the BBC has made, which is a bit disappointing.

As someone who was there at the beginning, I am very pleased that BBC Alba is now on Freeview. I have also watched with pleasure the growth in the range of programming that that service now offers. When I watched RockNess the other weekend, I was particularly interested to see the way in which the broadcasters were able to switch languages and bring us in and out of the culture, which I thought was very clever.

The minister talked about local TV, and I am interested in the point that she makes. I refer back to the draft culture (Scotland) bill, which became the Creative Scotland Bill. In England and Wales, local authorities can broadcast some limited information about the services that they offer and the work that they do. The original draft bill contained that provision for Scottish local authorities; unfortunately, it was then stripped out by one of the minister’s predecessors. I realise that that is not what the minister is talking about today, but that might have given us a foot in the door and made that part of the debate a little bit easier.

Members might be interested to know that it looks as though Brad Pitt may make his next film in Glasgow and that the next Batman movie may also be filmed there. I am sure that the Presiding Officer is a big Batman fan. If those projects go ahead, they will provide a real boost for the city and will reward the good work that is being done by the city council and its partners in attracting such high-profile work to Glasgow. Other local authorities working with Scottish Screen and now with Creative Scotland have had similar successes. That is to be welcomed and supported because it brings money into our economy and further enhances our reputation as a tourism destination. Nevertheless, we could do more and I hope that Creative Scotland will prioritise that area.

I look forward to the rest of the debate and to the speeches that colleagues around the chamber will make. I confirm Scottish Labour’s support for a Scottish digital network and our belief that it should offer content of the highest quality and that its establishment should not be at the expense of existing channels. We must invest in the skills and training that will allow Scotland to be a destination of choice for programme makers.

I move amendment S4M-00308.2, to leave out “, particularly” and insert:

“and the need to invest in skills and training to maximise opportunities for the industry and”.