Update on the Last Two Weeks
What’s happened in the past two weeks?
As the events of the past two weeks have moved so quickly, we have produced a summary of major developments:
Creative Scotland cut announced – 27 September
On 27 September, Creative Scotland provided this supplementary submission to the CEEAC Committee confirming the Scottish Government planned to re-instate a £6.6mil cut to Creative Scotland, previously reversed in February 2023.
CEEAC Committee – 28 September
Creative Scotland Chief Executive, Iain Munro, provided evidence to the CEEAC committee and discussed the impact of the cut and the organisation’s planned mitigations. Key takeaways include:
- The cut relates to Grant-in Aid funding that CS receive from the Scottish Government and use to support 119 cultural organisations across Scotland through Regular Funding.
- Creative Scotland’s Board agreed on 27 September, to use £6.6m of National Lottery reserves to prevent having to make a 40% cut to the Regularly Funded Organisations, in their next payments due in 2 weeks’ time.
- Mr Munro highlighted to the committee that reserves of £17mil had been built up by Creative Scotland in order to enable the provision of transitional funding to current Regularly Funded Organisations who are not successful in their application for the new Multi-Year Fund. Repurposing reserves to fill the financial hole left by this cut will constrain Creative Scotland’s ability to provide this transitional support.
- Using National Lottery reserves in this way can only happen once. The budget for 2024/25 will not be decided by the Scottish Government for some months yet but should the Scottish Government choose to sustain this reduction, CS will require to pass it on to the sector.
- Creative Scotland is additionally awaiting confirmation of a further £4m in the budget for 23-24 to cover Screen, the Culture Collective and the PLACE initiative.
Culture Counts were also invited to give evidence on 28 September to the CEEAC pre-budget scrutiny enquiry, alongside: Isabel Davis (Creative Scotland), Julia Amour (Festivals Edinburgh), Chris Breward (National Museums Scotland), Francesca Hegyi OBE (Edinburgh International Festival), Brenna Hobson (National Theatre of Scotland) and David Watt (Culture & Business Scotland).
The session focused on reactions to and impact of news of the cut to Creative Scotland and the wider context and challenges for the Culture Sector, in terms of both home and international working.
The evidence session can be watched here
The transcript of the evidence session can be found here
Campaign for the Arts re-launch petition – 28 September
On 28 September, Campaign for the Arts launched a petition, urging Scottish Government to reverse once again the plan to cut Creative Scotland’s budget by £6.6mil. This cut, originally announced at the end of last year, was overturned in February after a major campaign with over 15,000 members of the public showing their support. The new petition is on track to see similar levels of support.
The campaign can be found here
CEEAC Committee – 5 October:
The Scottish Parliament Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Committee heard evidence from Angus Robertson MSP – Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture as part of their pre-budget scrutiny enquiry.
The evidence session can be watched here
The transcript of the evidence session is available here
Given the proximity of the news of the re-instatement of the £6.6mil cut to Creative Scotland, much of the committee’s questioning of the Cabinet Secretary focused on this decision and its impact.
Reasons provided by the Cabinet Secretary for the cut to Creative Scotland were given as a result of rising costs, the Scottish Government has been reviewing its commitments in the light of the changing financial circumstances, such as persistently high inflation and the impact this has had on overall costs and public sector pay settlements – following the economic and financial damage caused by Brexit and the austerity policies pursued by successive UK governments for more than a decade.
The Cabinet Secretary confirmed that there will be no detriment to any Regularly Funded Organisation in this financial year.
The Cabinet Secretary confirmed that elsewhere in the portfolio, the cost of the UCI World Championship Cycling event had increased by £8m and this was being spread across Government budgets.
He committed to restoring £6.6mil to Creative Scotland in the next financial year. However, no details regarding the wider funding settlement for the culture sector and for Creative Scotland in 2024/25 were provided.
First Minister’s Questions – 5 October:
The culture sector featured prominently in First Minister’s Questions, particularly with MSPs raising concerns around Creative Scotland’s Funding. The First Minister also confirmed that subject to Parliamentary approval they would seek to restore it in the next financial year.
FMQs can be watched back here
The transcript is available here