Scots pay almost £300 million a year to the BBC through the licence fee - that is more than the arts and culture budget of the Scottish government.

The BBC is required to spend at least 8% of its resources in Scotland, nurturing the creative and media industry here. That should be a bare minimum. There is no reason why it should not be more. London does not have to soak up so much of the money and talent - it would not do so if Scotland were independent.

Scotland’s media sector is much smaller than that of a similar-sized independent country. Ireland’s annual media revenue is above 4 billion euros. Scotland’s media sector is worth about a third of that. Most of the media and culture we receive is owned, controlled and produced in England. Denmark does even better than Ireland with a 6 billion euro sector.

The BBC’s obligatory spending is vital to the Scottish creative sector and to the wider economy - it is by far the biggest player that we have, bigger even than the Scottish Government, and it is funded directly by the Scottish people. Yet the BBC appears to wriggle to avoid having to make even its obligatory minimum.

The amount the BBC receives in licence fees from Scotland - £297 million is almost identical to the amount it says it spends in Scotland - £296 million. But the spending is described as both direct and ‘indirect’ - what does that mean? (see graphic below)