Speeches by Smith.

“Who should ultimately be the lead on that responsibility for Zone Ex? Who should be the person we look to? Is it the police or is it somebody else?”

“Yes, and we will have the same resource issues with different local councils, I guess, as well. I suppose people might want to come to a council and want to put on a big event, and those people might have varying experience and quality. How do we hold them responsible and give them the tools that they need to be able t…”

“You do not have a role in deciding anything, by the sound of it. You are very supportive and it is clearly working well, but you are not an overseeing body that says, “You’ll do that. You’ll do that”.”

“How do you work with local authorities? Say Glasgow and Edinburgh wanted to go for the same event. What is your role in managing that?”

“Just on that, if you do not mind, Chair, you are sounding a slight note of caution there. We have heard that Scotland is the leader in this field and that lots of people are saying that we need a UK strategy as well. You are talking about respecting the devolved nations, which is understandable. How do you think it cou…”

“How could it cause problems for the Scottish strategy?”

“Continuing to talk about collaboration, what is your role in liaising with the Scottish Government and bringing the various inevitably siloed bits of Scottish Government together when you are dealing with event organisers?”

“How do you work with local authorities? Say Glasgow and Edinburgh wanted to go for the same event. What is your role in managing that?”

“You do not have a role in deciding anything, by the sound of it. You are very supportive and it is clearly working well, but you are not an overseeing body that says, “You’ll do that. You’ll do that”.”

“Presumably you have regular catchups with the local authorities. Do you sit down and plan a strategy for each city?”

“How could it cause problems for the Scottish strategy?”

“Just on that, if you do not mind, Chair, you are sounding a slight note of caution there. We have heard that Scotland is the leader in this field and that lots of people are saying that we need a UK strategy as well. You are talking about respecting the devolved nations, which is understandable. How do you think it cou…”

“You mentioned the Commonwealth Games. In that process, did the Commonwealth Games organisers come to you or did they go to Glasgow?”

“You mentioned the rally event. So that we understand how you fit into that, what was the process for bidding for and then organising that event?”

“Who sits on the advisory group?”

“We have to talk a little bit about consistency in how they operate now, which you have both mentioned. First, with the culture, Ken, you said that this is an open forum where people are encouraged to come along and contribute. Is that culture consistent across the country? Is that the general practice where everybody i…”

“Doesn’t YouTube have a responsibility? It is not just the Government’s responsibility or anybody else’s. You mentioned Oli from Blue Zoo. Blue Zoo make “Numberblocks” and say that they could not do it if they were relying on their revenue from YouTube. Given that commissioning from public service and other production c…”

“You must have had those conversations with them, though, haven’t you, about when it will all be ready?”

“Yes. So at what point do you expect that to be uploaded and ready and watched enough so you can make a judgment as to whether it is getting the discoverability and prominence that you would like it to get?”

“Looking at the other public service broadcasters—and I know the BBC is not monetising its content—the Government have called for the relationship between YouTube and the public service broadcasters to be on, in their phrase, fair commercial terms. Do you accept that there is some unfairness in the commercial terms?”