The Scottish Arts Council (SAC) has vowed to continue to work with the Scottish Parliament to establish Creative Scotland, a new body to support Scottish arts and culture, (see AP166) despite the fall of the relevant bill at its first legislative hurdle in the Scottish Parliament. MSPs agreed the motion “That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the Creative Scotland Bill”, but rejected the accompanying Financial Resolution by 68 votes to 49. The Finance Committee had criticised the bill’s Financial Memorandum as “the weakest that has been produced in the current parliamentary session”. Despite the announcement by Linda Fabiani, Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, of £5m extra funding for a ‘Creative Scotland Innovation Fund’, concerns about the budget for the new organisation, which will replace both SAC and Scottish Screen, have grown. Labour’s James Kelly, a member of the Finance Committee, said that the new cash would merely “replace the £5m cut in real terms that was announced when the budget was set for the new body”. Lib Dem Iain Smith, who moved against the bill’s Financial Resolution, said that “over the period from 2008 to 2011, its funding will reduce from £50m to £48.04m in cash terms”. There was also concern over the workload and remit of the new body, which will encompass a wide definition of ‘culture’. Labour’s Karen Whitefield questioned what the exact role of Creative Scotland in relation to the creative industries would be, and identified further concerns over “the potential for overlap” between Creative Scotland and local authority arts and education provision. In response, Fabiani stated that “As well as being the lead advocate for the creative industries, Creative Scotland will support creative enterprises in the first stages of their business development.” Ken Macintosh (Labour) said that Fabiani had “come within a hair’s breadth of misleading Parliament” over funding announcements, and that she had “managed to blow the good will of the chamber by trying to mislead us”. SAC, Scottish Screen and the Transition project – the group making plans for the new body – issued a joint statement recognising that “the Scottish Government remains fully committed to the establishment of Creative Scotland and we will continue to work closely with them to realise the clear ambition expressed by Parliament”.
