BBC Trust sits on its hands over BBC Alba

Never the most decisive or authoritative body, the current BBC Trust, post the excesses of the Hutton Enquiry, is one of the most damaging the organisation has experienced.

Today, the Trust announced that it is to extend the timetable for its review of BBC ALBA, the Gaelic television service run in partnership by MG Alba and the BBC.

‘Extending the timetable for its review’ – always the dithering bureaucrats response. Play for time and hope red corpuscles returns to ageing brain cells.

Would it be too cynical to wonder if this, as with other difficult decisions, is being postponed until after the General Election for fear of a negative outcome losing the Labour Government votes in Scotland?

Alasdair Morrison, chairman of MG ALBA, has said, with admirable restraint: ‘Today’s decision is disappointing as we had hoped the BBC Trust was in a position to give the go-ahead for access to Freeview now.

‘The success of the channel to date has been recognised and is not a factor in today’s decision.

‘The only outstanding issue is the question of what services need to be universally available in Scotland. We will continue to work constructively over forthcoming months with the BBC Trust and the BBC to secure access to Freeview for viewers, which is fully in line with its function as a public service channel.

‘We believe that access to Freeview is supported by the vast majority of people who responded to the BBC Trust consultation, BBC management and across the political spectrum in Scotland.

‘The issue of impact on other BBC services such as radio, needs, in our view, to be put in context. There will be negligible impact as virtually all the radio stations will continue to be available on radio and online’.

This situation of prolonged uncertainty reinforces the need for Communications to be devolved to the Scottish Government.