BBC
Debate between Baroness Benjamin and Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government are committed to S4C and to maintaining minority language broadcasting. As I made clear in my Statement, we want to strengthen and sustain S4C and we have committed to a review in 2017, covering remit, funding and governance once the charter is settled for the BBC as a whole. If the noble Lord looks at page 59 of the document that we have put in the Printed Paper Office today, I hope that he will feel reassured.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, it was absolutely wonderful to discover that a BBC children’s budget will be maintained so that it can continue to deliver excellence. As it is intended to have funds for more children’s productions to address competition, where will the funds come from? Who will administer the funds and the cost of doing so and, most importantly, how many funds will there be to produce high-quality PSB children’s productions?
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
This is our first day of discussion of the charter. I have made it clear that the BBC will have editorial independence, which of course will allow it to continue to make the children’s programmes that we all love. I explained that we were introducing a £20 million contestable fund and suggested that that could be used for children’s programming. The precise details are yet to be settled. The important point is that the Government will be consulting on the scale of the fund and how it will operate. I look forward to the noble Baroness giving us her assistance.
BBC Charter White Paper
Debate between Baroness Benjamin and Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
I am not sure that I understand the subtleties of my noble friend’s question—I know how expert he is. I look forward to talking to him about this point and answering tomorrow, but I can assure him that independence is extremely important and so is the BBC.
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, what consideration have the Government given to contestable funding for UK children’s commercial programming? Will it be done by top-slicing BBC budgets or will new money be found for UK productions?
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
My Lords, children’s programming is extremely important and the BBC, as the noble Baroness knows, has been fantastic in this respect. I look forward to returning to the detail of all these points tomorrow.
Public Service Broadcasting
Debate between Baroness Benjamin and Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, investment in children’s public service content is dwindling. A crisis is looming because the main broadcasters are now showing just two hours of new children’s programmes, down from 12 hours, and most of that is shown on the BBC. Given the threat to the BBC’s budget and licence fee, will the Minister encourage Ofcom to report on this issue in its next PSB review and encourage commercial broadcasters to improve investment in children’s public service content before it is too late? I declare an interest as a children’s television practitioner.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
My Lords, I share the noble Baroness’s passion for children’s TV, including that on the BBC—“Teletubbies” was a totemic part of my life. I assure her that we will be looking at these issues both during the Ofcom review and during the review of the BBC charter.