Hansard

I thank the members who have made themselves available at this early hour.

Today is the start of a new era for Scotland's culture. I know that both the cultural sector and my parliamentary colleagues have been waiting for the launch of our review of culture: it begins now.

The review of the cultural sector is, in my opinion, a once-in-a-generation opportunity. It is a precious opportunity to consider seriously and maturely the place and provision of culture in Scotland and to decide the best ways in which to ensure its future support.

On St Andrew's day last year, the First Minister, Jack McConnell, set out a vision for cultural provision in Scotland. The core vision was of each citizen securing the right to access to and excellence in our diverse culture and the right to pursue the means of fulfilling whatever talents might be within them.

The message of his speech was greeted warmly by those within and outwith the cultural sector, and we intend to deliver on the aspirations and inspiration behind the speech. Politicians had spoken before, extolling the importance of culture for its own sake and its ability to inspire. However, in that speech, we had for the first time a reflection on the essential nature of cultural activity and on the fact that there is not a single part of our physical, intellectual and emotional lives that cannot be touched in some way by exposure to and experience of cultural activity.

The First Minister said:

"Let's agree the centrality of cultural activity to all aspects of our lives – why it's important and how it can revitalise us individually and as a national community."

Since that landmark speech, we have been giving careful consideration to how we can make that vision a reality. We had established a partnership commitment to deliver a review of the cultural sector within Scotland and we have had to consider the best way to ensure that the review can have maximum reach and impact, engage the greatest number of citizens in Scotland and benefit from the immense experience and brilliance of our creative communities. How can we ensure that people from all branches of the arts, heritage and creative industries, and from national bodies, local government and the private and voluntary sectors, can take part?

Instead of just doing a standard review, the purpose of my discussion and deliberation has been to think of a more effective way to engage in the review and to consider the form and process of the consultation. Consultations are often engineered or developed and they have their place, but sometimes they fail to penetrate beyond the usual people whom we would expect to make a contribution. Given that we have this once-in-a-generation opportunity, it would be unforgivable to make that mistake when it comes to something as intrinsically important in the lives of the people of Scotland as culture, which is fundamental. I strongly believe that the opportunity to make a change in how we view cultural provision deserves a far more innovative approach.

I want those whom we would expect to make a contribution to respond and to take part, and of course they will do that; they are some of the brilliant people that I mentioned earlier in my speech. However, they are not the only ones. There are many others who have tried to make their voices heard in the recent past and who have not always felt that they have achieved that. We would like many other voices to be heard much more effectively on cultural activity and development in Scotland.

I share the commitment that the First Minister identified to see culture as a rich source of inspiration and enjoyment. Therefore, I have decided that we should establish a new independent body, a cultural commission, which will undertake the review in full consultation and partnership with the people of Scotland. I have asked James Boyle, who is currently chair of the Scottish Arts Council, to chair the commission. He will be remunerated at the same rate as attaches to his SAC post. I know that James is respected by many in the cultural community—his experience and background indicate that. I have also been impressed by the work that he has undertaken so far with the SAC. He has decided—with me, and rightly in my opinion—to stand down as chair of the SAC on taking up his post at the commission. We shall take steps quickly to fill that vacancy.

The other members of the commission will also need to be selected carefully to provide the right blend of expertise and knowledge. I expect that there will be a small core membership, which may establish sub-groups for specific strands of business.

The other appointments will be made once the commission's chairman has been able to scope its full work in further detail and to consider the available candidates. We will aim to make a further announcement in time for the commission to get down to business from the beginning of June.

People may ask why there is to be a commission and how it will work. I see some clear advantages in establishing a commission to carry out the cultural review.

The commission's members will be highly experienced people who understand Scotland's rich and complex cultural landscape. An external commission, drawn from the wider community, will be best placed to listen to the cultural sector and to understand what it tells them. Its members will also know who the many different stakeholders are—they are not always those who occasionally see themselves as the singular stakeholders in Scotland's culture.

In my opinion, the commission will be able to look beyond and to confront stereotypical notions of culture. It will be asked to employ innovative and radical thinking in the work that it undertakes. I will look to the commission to use some of that innovative skill to develop new ways of involving more people in cultural activity in Scotland. When they have done all that, by June next year, I will welcome their recommendations on how we can deliver the St Andrew's day vision for developing access and excellence in Scotland's cultural life. I want to look forward to a positive 21st century solution for a sector whose governance, in many cases, developed over many decades in the previous century.

Our future support for culture must harness all the available resources in ways that deliver best value. In this context, best value means trimming unnecessary bureaucracy and ensuring that the maximum possible level of resources is directed to cultural activity and to unleashing the innate creativity of people throughout Scotland.

When I served in local government, as a convener of arts and culture and then as a leader of a local authority, maximising resources was always a challenge and collaboration, co-ordination and co-operation were vital. There are many excellent examples of how local government has faced that challenge in the cultural sector. I expect the commission to draw on and to benefit from the wealth of knowledge and experience in local government.

The creativity of Scots—from the classroom to the boardroom—is the edge that we need in a competitive world. Our duty as an Executive is to enable the conditions to be developed to allow creativity to flourish—whether in arts, science, commerce or industry.

The First Minister said:

"If we can all work together, it could result in the most extraordinary release of talent and, crucially, a stronger, more vibrant and confident country."

That is an aim that I think everyone in the chamber shares. He continued:

"We would be recognised around the world as a creative hub – a powerhouse of innovation."

That is a bold aim, but it is achievable if we have the right infrastructure to deliver it.

The commission has an important task to perform; I am confident that James Boyle and the members who are appointed in the coming weeks will be equipped to deliver. Today I will also publish an Executive statement that sets out the policy framework and the terms of reference for the commission's work. Those should be available today and I urge members to study them. We are embarking on important business, which may well lead in due course to the introduction of legislation for the Parliament to consider.

We will consider all the action that we must take to bring our arrangements for cultural provision into the present century. We will do that from a position of first principles. We need to be clear about where we want to be and how we can get there. Therefore, in my opinion, we first need the review: to take stock, to look again at our cultural infrastructure and to ask whether it is fit for purpose. I believe that we can do better with what we already have.

On the principles, we must foster the innate creativity of our young people and energise a new generation by creating the conditions that encourage them to realise their cultural potential. Many members of the Parliament go to schools in their constituencies and regions on constituency and parliamentary business. They see the benefits that young people get from creativity. I want the commission to consider ways in which good examples of that can be made more widespread throughout Scotland.

The review of the cultural sector will take as its starting point the premise that each person in Scotland has rights of access to cultural activity. I want us to work towards more equitable cultural provision for people in Scotland regardless of where they live, how old they are or how much money they have.

To achieve that, I believe that a basic shift may be required in our cultural, political and administrative agencies to change the way in which they approach and deliver what they do. As I mentioned, collaboration, co-operation and co-ordination are strengths that we must learn to maximise in all sectors of government and across the cultural sector.

I have already had a series of discussions with many of my ministerial colleagues about the way in which investment in culture can improve Scotland. I hope that those discussions will result in positive developments. There needs to be a similar dialogue across the private and voluntary sectors, which bring so much to our cultural infrastructure in Scotland.

Make no mistake: the work that I have launched today ranks as one of the most crucial undertakings of this Executive's partnership programme. I have briefly outlined our policy; the commission will now provide practical recommendations on how we may implement it. If legislation is required, we will publish a culture bill by 2007. Throughout all the above—policy, practice, legislation—the key values of access and excellence will be the guiding principles. No longer do I wish to have the tired debate that access is traded for excellence, or excellence for access. We have the capability in Scotland, among the agencies, institutions and individuals that make up our cultural sector, to ensure that both of those principles are enshrined in what we do.

The Scots writer Thomas Carlyle summed up many of our intentions when he wrote that the great law of culture is,

"Let each become all that he was created capable of being."

That is what we want for all of Scotland's society, for this generation and generations to follow.

As one of our best young playwrights, David Greig, a recent winner of the SAC creative Scotland award, said when asked about his work:

"the real effects begin to emerge 10 to 15 years down the road … you keep emitting your message or calls like a whale swimming in some vast ocean … hoping that someone somewhere, will get the message."

Our message is that we can make a difference to Scotland's cultural future. Each of us in this chamber and beyond has a responsibility in shaping Scotland's cultural future.