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At its November meeting, the Trust considered a public value assessment (PVA) of the proposals and separately a market impact assessment (MIA) conducted by Ofcom. The Trust decided that, whilst the service proposal could deliver public value, more evidence was necessary than presently available for the Trust to conclude that the level of likely public value would be sufficient to justify the level of investment proposed. Therefore, unless further evidence is provided by the Â鶹Éç Executive before the public consultation closes in December, the Trust was not satisfied it should approve the service.

Speaking on behalf of the Trust, National Trustee for Scotland, Jeremy Peat said:

"The Trust's own research shows a high level of potential support for a new Gaelic Digital Service in Scotland. 75% of people in Scotland agree that a dedicated Gaelic service is important and around a third say that they would use the service. Further, Ofcom's assessment shows that the service would generate significant positive market impact within the Gaelic media sector. But the Trust has a duty to ensure that investment of the licence fee delivers high public value. In the case of a dedicated Gaelic Digital Service, that means that the additional investment needed must create potential value to more of Scotland's licence fee payers than are already served by existing Gaelic services.

"To that end we have challenged the Â鶹Éç Executive to provide additional information to demonstrate both the Gaelic Digital Service's educational benefits and how it would appeal to a wider audience. If we receive satisfactory evidence we would be minded to approve the service, subject to some specific requirements and conditions being met. In the event that the additional information requested is not provided or is unsatisfactory, the Trust would conclude that insufficient public value would be created by a Gaelic Digital Service and therefore we would not approve the service for launch by the Â鶹Éç."

The Trust's provisional conclusions summarise the areas where further evidence is required as follows (paragraph 5.3):

• The Trust is not convinced that the proposal for the service places enough emphasis on the role of the service in attracting new speakers to the Gaelic language. In particular, we have not seen sufficient evidence as to how the educational strategy will be delivered – which we regard as key to the public value of the service.
• Although we can see that some programmes could appeal more widely to an audience beyond Gaelic speakers, we have seen very little evidence of a convincing plan for appealing to a wider audience in Scotland – certainly not sufficient to justify the projected reach of the service.

The Â鶹Éç Executive and GMS proposals

The Â鶹Éç Executive has applied to the Trust to launch a new tri-media Gaelic service in partnership with GMS. The service would consist of:

• A dedicated digital TV channel in Gaelic, broadcasting for up to 7 hours a day
• Â鶹Éç Radio nan Gaidheal
• Significantly enhanced Gaelic content for users of bbc.co.uk

The service would be mixed-genre – including the daily news and weather in Gaelic. The television service would be available on satellite and broadband from launch and on digital cable later in 2008. Distribution on digital terrestrial television (Freeview) would be available in Scotland only after digital switchover, when existing provision of Gaelic on Â鶹Éç Two would be withdrawn. Switchover in the most populated areas of Scotland would take place in 2010. The service would cost £24.8million per annum, of which GMS would contribute £10.1 million and the Â鶹Éç £14.7 million. The Â鶹Éç's total funding of £14.7 million consists of £7.2 million already allocated to Gaelic services, £2.5 million for new content and related spend, and just over £5 million for distribution costs.

Trust conditions of approval

If the additional information requested is provided by the Â鶹Éç Executive, and is satisfactory, a decision by the Trust to approve the Gaelic Digital Service would also be subject to several conditions. These include:

• Processes to demonstrate that commissioning, particularly from the independent sector, will be clear and transparent.
• Confirmation that a Sky EPG listing can be obtained.
• The Â鶹Éç Executive must provide fuller details of how the management structures and financial and accountability controls for the partnership will function, with a report from Â鶹Éç internal audit giving a clear opinion on them.
• Confirmation that funding arrangements meet Clause 75 of the Charter (for use of alternative funds in addition to the licence fee to provide a Â鶹Éç public service).
• The Â鶹Éç's Controller of Fair Trading must confirm that the proposals for training of independent production companies meet with the Â鶹Éç's fair trading guidelines.

In addition, the following conditions should be covered within any service licence issued by the Trust or by amendments as appropriate to other service licences:

• Launch on DTT should await a review by the Trust by 2010.
• The future removal of the opt-out from Â鶹Éç Two is authorised now but also subject to review by 2010.
• The service licence should run for 5 years. Any renewal of the licence will be subject to approval by the Trust.
• The service licence would only be valid whilst agreed funding is provided by the GMS.
• There should be a target of at least 25% of GDS commissions from the independent sector by the second year of operation (FY 2009). The aspiration of the Â鶹Éç Executive and GMS of at least 50% is endorsed by the Trust, and we will look at progress achieved in working towards this in 2010.

Next steps

The Trust's provisional conclusions will now be subject to a 28-day consultation period which opens today and closes at 5pm on 19 December. The provisional conclusions document includes questions to which the Trust is particularly interested to receive responses (page 28). We expect the Â鶹Éç Executive to provide the additional information requested by the Trust within the consultation period. The Trust will take account of all responses before reaching its final decision, which will be published in January.

Ends

Notes to editors

Timetable

19 Dec 2007 Consultation on the Trust's provisional conclusions closes and the deadline for the Â鶹Éç Executive to respond to the Trust's request for additional information.

28 Jan 2008 Latest date for publication of the Trust's final decision on the proposed Gaelic Digital Service.

The Â鶹Éç's public purposes

The Royal Charter and Agreement state the six public purposes of the Â鶹Éç, which include: "Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities". As part of that Public Purpose, Clause 9(2)(b) of the Agreement calls on the Trust when setting remits for the Â鶹Éç "to have regard, amongst other things, to the importance of appropriate provision in minority languages".

Other documents

The Trust's provisional conclusions on the proposals for a Gaelic Digital Service are available on the Â鶹Éç Trust website, along with all previously published material, including the public value assessment, Ofcom's market impact assessment, audience research, and responses to the first period of public consultation.

The PVT process

General information about the Public Value Test process is available on the: Tools we use page.