Commenting after his written questions on ministerial podcasts were answered by the Finance Minister, Derek Brownlee MSP, Scottish Conservative Finance spokesman, said:
“Although the number of Ministerial podcasts downloaded is as low as you would expect for the interest generated by the current Executive, it is concerning that the figures are so poor and, as of yet, we do not know how much money has been spent on the project.
“Of course government should embrace new technologies, particularly if it saves money on glossy brochures and advertising in favoured newspapers, but there doesn’t appear to have been a great deal of enthusiasm for this particular project.
“I notice that in the four days after I submitted my questions (on September 14th), the number of downloads of Patricia Ferguson’s Sport Summit increased eleven-fold. Were civil servants and party workers ordered home to top up the original embarrassing answer of eight?
“If not, then when she leaves office next May she has a promising career in commercial broadcasting ahead of her. Perhaps it wouldn’t stop there either – if this staggering increase over four days continues then it is not too long before she tops the charts. The Scissor Sisters had better watch out.
“Gordon Brown might have the Artic Monkeys on his ipod, but on this evidence it is unlikely he has anything from the Scottish Executive.”
Notes to Editors
1) One of Derek’s other questions, asking how much money had been spent on these ventures, received a holding reply
2) Below are the questions Derek asked and the responses he received
Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions the podcasts on (a) the Sports Summit at Stirling University, (b) schools to junk junk food and (c) the Athletes Commission for the 2014 Commonwealth Games were downloaded prior to 14 September 2006, broken down into those downloaded from (i) within the Executive and (ii) external sources.
(S2W-28391)
Mr Tom McCabe:
Ministerial Events Podcast downloads prior to Sept 14:
(a) 9 (by Sept 18 this figure had risen to 90)
(b) 16 (22)
(c) 32 (33)
The figures apply principally to external sources. The internal SCOTS computer network used by Executive staff prevents the downloading of any video or audio files other than SETV (the Executive’s internal communications and learning channels) content.
However, the Executive web team has a stand-alone broadband connection for quality control purposes and this was used for one viewing of each podcast.
SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE