Serious concerns
as to whether the Creative Scotland Bill will meet its objectives
have been expressed by the Scottish Parliament's Education,
Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee in its Stage 1 Report
published today.
The bill seeks to establish a new national cultural development
agency to be called 'Creative Scotland', replacing
current organisations the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen.
In its report the committee supports the plan for Creative
Scotland and recognises a desire in the arts, culture and creative
industry sectors for the creation of the new body as soon as possible.
However, the committee believes that the bill lacks clarity in a
number of important areas and will require significant amendment
at Stage 2 of the parliamentary process to sharpen its focus and
clarify a number of issues.
Committee Convener Karen
Whitefield MSP said:
"The committee supports the proposal to establish Creative
Scotland as the 21st century arts and creative industry body for
Scotland. We recognise that there has been a long period of
consultation and review and that the sector is now looking for
clarity and stability.
"However, without further clarification of Creative
Scotland's priorities, the bill's goals of developing
and stimulating the creative economy and widening access to
culture, could overlap, compete and confuse the organisations with
whom it will work. The evidence received by the committee showed a
high degree of concern surrounding the detail of the bill."
The committee makes further recommendations including -
*
Calling on the Scottish Government to clarify the funding of the
new body, given that its extended remit will not be matched by
comparable increased funding levels in the first three years.
* The need for a well balanced Creative Scotland board with a
broad range of relevant experience and expertise.
* The
committee also wants more information on how Creative Scotland
will work with other organisations in the sector, including
enterprise agencies local authorities and the voluntary
sector.
* Further consideration should be given to the issue
of definitions within the bill. Currently, terms such as
"arts and culture" and "creativity" are used
but not defined.
The Stage 1 debate on the bill is scheduled to take place in June.
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