Big boost for Creative Scotland in first reshuffle in Scottish Government

Alex Salmond today removed three Government Ministers, saying: ‘There have been no failures in the ministerial team, but I have asked them to make way to give colleagues an opportunity to show what they can contribute’.

Giving way are Culture Minister Linda Fabiani, Schools Minister Maureen Watt and Housing and Sports Minister Stewart Maxwell.

Michael Russell, the current Environment Minister moves to take over Culture from Linda Fabiani who was regularly found wanting in her role. This has been most keenly felt in the mess that has been made of the Scottish Government’s forward-looking strategic initiative to combine the current Scottish Screen and Scottish Arts Council into a unitary bodty, Creative Scotland.

The two bodies have, under cover of compliance, had room to scrap like the proverbial ferrets in a sack and manoevre incessantly to preserve their vested interests against the common interest. A minister with credibility in the role and the personal authority to carry it, as Michael Russell possesses on both counts, could have achieved the transition cleanly. Mr Russell now inherits a lumpen morass and will have some serious stable cleaning to do.

The Minister will also have work to do in refreshing the perception of arts and culture today by those steering its development. For Argyll noted that, in the recent intelligent structuring announced by Ewan Brown – appointed as Chair of Creative Scotland in November 2008 – there was an omission of some concern.

The published structural division of cultural sectors showed no evidence of a real grasp of the role the Internet is playing and will develop in creativity and in the relationship between the creator and the audience. This is not simply a commercial relationship. It is an interactive relationship – with all that this implies for the creative process and the fluidity of the ‘product’ – and it is technologically a highly skilled area for development. Scotland is well placed to set out to take the lead in this field.

In this promotion Michael Russell will work directly under the First Minister’s with the formal title of Minister for Europe, External Affairs & Culture. His new responsibilities include: Europe, external affairs, culture and the arts, architecture, built heritage, Historic Scotland and lottery funding, major events strategy, Gaelic. This brief is understood to cover the Independence Referendum to come in 2010.

Mr Russell’s move is accompanied by new additions to Government – backbenchers Alex Neil, Keith Brown and Roseanna Cunningham.

• Roseanna Cunningham takes over from Michael Russell as Environment Minister under Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead
• Alex Neil, who fought to the last to save the Bank of Scotland, takes up a revised post as Minister for Housing and Communities under  Cabinet Secretary Ncola Sturgeon
• Keith Brown becomes Minister for Schools and Skills under Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop

Another change in the reshuffle is the logical addition of Sport to the existing portfolio of responsibilities held by Public Health Minister, Shona Robison.

The First Minister says: : ‘The SNP group is extremely fortunate in having such a strong team of backbenchers and the purpose of the reshuffle is to give talented individuals such as Alex Neil, Roseanna Cunningham and Keith Brown the opportunity to make their contribution to government and the delivery of vital public services for the Scottish people’.

The overall picture of this reshuffle demonstrates the maturity and internal cohesion of the Scottish Government. The First Minister has promoted Michael Russell – one of the candidate’s who stood against him in the election for party leader following the resignation of John Swinney. He has brought in to Government Roseanna Cunningham, another such candidate. He has also brought in Alex Neil, who withdrew his own candidacy for the leadership after Alex Salmond publicly blamed him for having consistently sabotaged John Swinney’s authority..

This is a confident reshuffle to the credit of all concerned and one determined to maximise the impact of the spectrum of ability available.

The photograph above of Michael Russell outside the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood is issued by the Scottish Government and is reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.