Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Minutes of Evidence

APPENDIX 3

Memorandum submitted by the Scottish Office

INTRODUCTION

1. This memorandum describes the role and involvement of the Scottish Office in the development and co-ordination of plans for celebrating the Millennium in Scotland. It should be read in the context of the memoranda submitted by other Government Departments, by the Millennium Commission and by the New Millennium Experience Company.

BACKGROUND

2. Scottish Office Ministers wish to see the Millennium marked in Scotland by a nationwide reflection on the past and celebration of new beginnings and new aspirations, particularly in the context of the Scottish Parliament which will be fully operational by the end of 1999. They have also been fully involved in discussion of the Government's involvement in Millennium celebrations at UK level.

3. The Scottish Office has been involved since the outset in the discussions of the Millennium Co-ordinating Group. The Churches and Other Faiths Sub-Group, the Local Communities Sub-Group and the Media Relations Sub-Group have UK-wide remits and representation from Scottish organisations as appropriate.

CAPITAL PROJECTS

4. The Millennium Commission has awarded £196 million to 19 major capital projects in Scotland. These are listed in full at Annex A. This represents 15.3% of the total capital grant awarded by the Commission to major projects throughout the UK. The Select Committee will have the opportunity to see a number of the projects which have been grant aided during its visit to Scotland on 17-18 June.

SCOTTISH MILLENNIUM FORUM

5. In addition, however, Scottish Office Ministers have agreed to the establishment of a Scottish Millennium Forum with the remit of overseeing and giving guidance to the various organisations in Scotland involved in the preparation of Millennium celebrations. These organisations include the Scottish-based Lottery distributing bodies and NMEC which make up the Scottish Millennium Festival Committee, and others which, while not being directly involved in this way, have an immediate input into Millennium celebrations and events in Scotland, both in the year 2000 and beyond. They include the churches, the voluntary sector, local government, industry, the Trade Unions, and a number of other Non-Departmental Public Bodies. A full list of the membership of the Forum is attached at Annex B.

MILLENNIUM FESTIVAL COMMITTEE

6. The Scottish Millennium Festival Committee was established as one of the regional and national committees set up by the five Lottery distributing bodies operating in Scotland and the new Millennium Experience Company. The establishment of these committees reflected general agreement that UK-wide coordinating arrangements would not be appropriate, given the differing circumstances of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. Its role is to advise participating Lottery bodies and NMEC on strategic funding priorities and themes for the Millennium Festival Fund in Scotland; to assist these bodies in co-ordinating grant-aided festival celebrations throughout Scotland; to lead the promotion and marketing of funding opportunities, and to oversee branding and communication of the Festival. It is serviced by the New Millennium Experience Company. The amounts available for distribution as grants in Scotland are as follows:

Arts	£1.32m
Sport	£1.32m
Heritage	£1.32m
Charities	£1.74m
Millennium Commission	£2.85m
NMEC	£1.85m
(sponsorship in cash and in kind)
Total	£10.4m

7. Officials of the Scottish Office were involved in the appointment of the Partnership Manager of the New Millennium Experience Company in Scotland, and have been involved as observers in the discussions of the Millennium Festival Committee. The Scottish Office also acts as Secretariat to the Scottish Millennium Forum. At its initial meeting on 6 April the Forum decided to recommend to the Millennium Festival Committee the following broad themes underpinning its grant-giving activity:

the spiritual dimension of the Millennium;

youth/age and the interaction between the two;

lifelong learning;

rural issues;

democracy and the Scottish Parliament;

empowerment;

recreation in all its forms.

OTHER SCOTTISH MILLENNIUM EVENTS

8. A large number of public and private sector organisations in Scotland will be organising Millennium events in the course of the year 2000. Local authorities will wish to consider celebrations in their own areas. Edinburgh's Hogmanay, in particular, will be one of the major UK Millennium events. It has recently been developed by the local authority into a 4-day festival. The City Council propose that the celebration should be extended in 1999 from 4 days to 7 days, with the objectives of:

—  attracting visitors to the city in an off-season period and maximising the value added by visitors at that period;

—  raising Edinburgh's profile as a European capital both nationally and internationally; and

—  providing a high quality event for the enjoyment of participants, including the residents of Edinburgh.

The centrepiece of the celebrations is the street party on the night of 31 December-1 January. The profile of this event, and of the celebrations as a whole, will clearly be raised by the opening of the Scottish Parliament and the generally enhanced vision of Scottish identity following on from devolution.

DEVOLUTION

9. On devolution, responsibility for policy in the great majority of the subject areas in which projects are being grant-aided by the Millennium Commission and the Millennium Festival Committee will pass to the Scottish Executive. The Government cannot pre-empt decisions of Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Parliament on the involvement of the Executive in preparation for the Millennium in the later part of 1999, and their realisation in the year 2000. Nevertheless, one option would clearly be to continue the co-ordinating mechanisms established pre-devolution, with the Scottish Executive exercising broad oversight over the activities of the Scottish Millennium Forum.

June 1998

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Prepared 12 August 1998