Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 16 June 2011
16 Jun 2011 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Scottish Broadcasting and the Scottish Digital Network
Of course I welcome that; indeed, the cabinet secretary has highlighted the progress that has been made in such areas. However, we still have some way to go.
In such challenging economic times, the funding of the Scottish digital network will be key to when it is established and I agree with the recommendation of the Scottish digital network panel that was established by Blair Jenkins, that it be funded through an allocation of the licence fee. As the cabinet secretary has pointed out, the Welsh broadcaster S4C is to receive £76 million annually; in Germany, the regional public service broadcaster for Hesse, which serves six million people, receives £170 million of public funding; and in the Spanish region of Valencia, the public service broadcaster, which serves five million people, receives £150 million. The amounts that we are looking for are quite in line with those that are being allocated in the rest of the Europe.
Given that Scotland had no voice in the negotiation of the current settlement, I urge the BBC to revisit the six-year licence fee, which will run until 2017. If that is not possible, the potential funding gap could be filled with a share of the proceeds from the sell-off of the cleared spectrum following the digital switchover. In 2010, Germany raised £4 billion from a broadly similar auction.
I support the motion.
15:33In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick)
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-00308, in the name of Fiona Hyslop, on Scottish broadcasting and the Scottish digital network. 14:55
The Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs (Fiona Hyslop)
SNP
I welcome Patricia Ferguson and Ruth Davidson to their front-bench positions. I look forward to working with them and other MSPs to support culture in Scotla...
Ruth Davidson (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
Does the minister agree that we have a problem with take-up in certain parts of the country, particularly in my part of Glasgow, which, despite having some o...
Fiona Hyslop
SNP
I fully agree. Indeed, that point was made in the Government’s digital strategy, which we launched in March of this year. The member is absolutely right. We ...
Ruth Davidson
Con
Is the cabinet secretary criticising the Scottish Government for consulting her when it does not need to? That sounds a little like what she is doing, which ...
Fiona Hyslop
SNP
I am not criticising the Scottish Government because we are the Scottish Government.
Ruth Davidson
Con
I meant the UK Government.
Fiona Hyslop
SNP
We went proactively to the UK Government when it was making its local television proposals and said, “Look, the Scottish digital network could sit within tha...
Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn)
Lab
I thank the minister for her good wishes. I hope that she will not mind my saying that it is good to see culture back at the Cabinet table. It has languished...
Fiona Hyslop
SNP
That is a very important point. Our digital strategy, launched in March, set out that we want to see significant progress by 2015. We also have a commitment ...
Patricia Ferguson
Lab
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 interventi...
Ruth Davidson (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
I thank the cabinet secretary for her good wishes to me on taking up my new post as the culture spokesperson for the Conservatives. I also welcome the ascens...
Fiona Hyslop
SNP
Ruth Davidson talks about future proofing and price. Surely a publicly funded Scottish digital network, with free access to all and available on television a...
Ruth Davidson
Con
That is where the conflation and confusion are. We have always installed the strategic hardware centrally. That is fine, but if somebody uses their personal ...
Fiona Hyslop
SNP
It is a very important point. I refer the member to the evidence that Blair Jenkins gave to the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee in the pre...
Ruth Davidson
Con
I am glad of the reassurance that such a development would be by invitation. I worry about protecting a service for which members of the Parliament fought ha...
Clare Adamson (Central Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I am delighted to speak in the debate as we examine the plans for broadcasting in Scotland and the proposals to establish a Scottish digital network. In 200...
Patricia Ferguson
Lab
I gently suggest to Clare Adamson that much of that has to do with editorial practices in programming situations. For example, if she casts her mind back to ...
Clare Adamson
SNP
I agree that the broadcasting opportunities that a Scottish digital network would bring would allow far more of those kinds of events to be covered and to be...
Ruth Davidson
Con
Does the member acknowledge that the amount of UK network programming that has been commissioned, executed and filmed in Scotland and which has been shown to...
Clare Adamson
SNP
Of course I welcome that; indeed, the cabinet secretary has highlighted the progress that has been made in such areas. However, we still have some way to go....
James Kelly (Rutherglen) (Lab)
Lab
I welcome the opportunity to take part in this afternoon’s debate, first and foremost because in my years as an MSP this is the first time I have spoken abou...
Fiona Hyslop
SNP
I agree with all the comments that the member has made, but it is important to accentuate the fact that the Scottish digital network is not just about progra...
James Kelly
Lab
I agree that it is not purely about TV programming. There are important technological opportunities, which I will come to later in my speech. As well as publ...
Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I have a background in the media, that I receive continuing rem...
Ruth Davidson
Con
Is the member suggesting that, for example, “Lip Service”, a network programme shown on BBC 3 and set in Glasgow, featuring a bunch of Glaswegian lesbians, w...
Joan McAlpine
SNP
I have not seen the show, but I have heard that it is an excellent piece of programming. I certainly would not include it in my comments, but we have made sh...
Ruth Davidson
Con
In the lead-up to last year’s general election there were a number of Scottish debates, which involved the Secretary of State for Scotland, the shadow Scotti...
Joan McAlpine
SNP
That is wrong: we were excluded from those debates. I could say a great deal about those debates, which completely ignored Scotland and in which we were not ...
Helen Eadie (Cowdenbeath) (Lab)
Lab
Like the minister and many others who have spoken in the chamber today, I welcome the huge improvements that have been made to Scotland’s digital infrastruct...