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Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee 11 March 2021

11 Mar 2021 · S5 · Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee

Item of business

Cultural Sector (Impact of Covid-19)

Iain Munro Watch on SPTV

In the early weeks and months of the pandemic, we internally swung in those early moves to provide the initial support. As I noted in my opening remarks, that was a combination of our on-going commitment to and flexibility around the existing funding awards. We also put in place resources on our website to support people in finding access to other forms of support not just through us, but through other partners. You should bear in mind that, in the very earliest days of the pandemic, there was an expectation that the pandemic would have a certain arc that would begin to ease by the end of the calendar year. Clearly, that has not come to pass and we can talk more about that. In those early weeks and months, we conceived a programme of support that was a combination of support for individuals and organisations, with forms of relief funding that would stabilise the situation, coupled with support for adaptation to a completely unprecedented environment. Another aspect was the combination of how to process those funds—if we were to secure them—through open application mechanisms, where anybody could make an application, and some strategically targeted funds. We engaged in conversation with Scottish Government officials about that over those early weeks and months. Of course, that predated the subsequent funding being made available. To the Scottish Government’s credit, it began to make moves using its own resources prior to the UK Government consequentials coming through, to support the bridging bursaries and the performing arts venues relief fund, for example. It was quickly after that—three days, I think—that the UK Government consequentials were made available. The consequentials that flowed in for all cultural support totalled £97 million. That was not just to cover support that would be channelled through Creative Scotland and our arena, but to cover museums and galleries, historic environment, heritage and events. Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government, with organisations in those other areas, were in conversation about how best to make use of that funding. It is interesting to look for a moment at the UK context. As the committee will be aware, the consequentials that flow into Scotland are time limited to the financial year in which they are made available. The value of all that investment from the £97 million-worth of funding, whatever proportion was coming through Creative Scotland, would need to be processed, committed and spent by the end of March—that was the end point of the value of that investment. I think that everybody was also paying attention to what other parts of the UK were doing with the investment. The equivalent in England, for example, was £1.57 billion. Through our networks, we were tuned into partner organisations, to understand what they were planning to do. A stark compare and contrast became apparent. In our conversations with the Scottish Government, we were clear that we needed to provide support for individuals—and securing that on-going support is a big part of what we have been able to do. That has not been the case in, for example, England, where the vast majority of the £1.57 billion is in support of recovery funding for organisations. Almost immediately, we saw Creative Scotland’s initial thinking informing and influencing what packages of support would be available in Scotland. If I reflect back, we have seen a lot of support for individuals, organisations, open access funding, stabilisation and relief. We now need to pay attention to support that is for strategic and targeted approaches and about adaptation. Undoubtedly, the pandemic is going on much longer than any of us would have liked, and the impacts will be lengthy. It is a truism that the creative sector was one of the first to close and will be one of the last to reopen, in its fullest sense. Yes, sustained investment for relief will be important, but we must also look at funds that will be available to support recovery and, importantly, renewal. A lot of the conversations that are on-going are about how to influence the Scottish Government on that. Ultimately, however, Scottish Government ministers made the decisions about the purpose and priorities of those funds.

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Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee 11 March 2021

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