Ken MacQuarrie, BBC's controller in Scotland, says that the moves away from the central belt are necessary to maximise efficiency and fund enhanced services, while offering best value to licence-payers. Although MSPs do not have powers over broadcasting, Mr MacQuarrie has given them advance notice that he has long-term plans to promote Inverness and Aberdeen as production centres in what is called an "out of Glasgow" strategy. The move mirrors the major shift of BBC production and jobs out of London, with much of it going to Manchester. In a briefing for MSPs, ahead of tomorrow's hearing, Mr MacQuarrie said: "A project group is currently assessing the feasibility of relocating senior editorial posts outside Glasgow, in particular in the north." This is in addition to a plan to increase localised news reporting for radio and television, for which audience research found demand to be strongest in east central Scotland. It also responds to criticism that BBC Scotland is too dominated by an agenda set in the central belt.

Mr MacQuarrie is also appearing before MSPs to face more serious questions about 176 job losses, or more than one in eight people employed by the BBC in Scotland. According to union claims, throughout the UK 1625 jobs are being shed. At present, BBC Scotland employs more than 1300 people in 11 centres from Selkirk to Shetland, with 1223 of them in Glasgow and 80 in Edinburgh. The corporation reckons that at the end of three years, the plan should have released an extra £10m to be spent annually on new programming.

Stephen Low, chief representative of the National Union of Journalists at the BBC in Glasgow and Edinburgh, has written to MSPs, warning: "The proposed cuts will impact directly on programme quality, both through the sacking of programme-makers and the loading of support tasks on to programme teams. The skills base of the BBC and the rest of the broadcasting industry will be adversely affected."