BBC Royal Charter
Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Maxton
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
My Lords, to help us to get the right answer we appointed the Clementi review, which reported, as the noble Lord will know, on 1 March. It has made a number of recommendations on how appointments should be made in future and we will be coming forward with our plans in May when we plan to publish the White Paper.
Lord Maxton (Lab)
My Lords, is it not the case that the only people who represent the licence-fee payers are in fact elected to the other House along the corridor? Should they not therefore have the right to decide what is in the royal charter for the BBC and the power to amend it if they think fit to do so?
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
My Lords, I am sure these points will again be discussed on Thursday. We believe that a royal charter system, which lasts for a good period of time and allows an independent and impartial BBC to move forward, seems to be the right approach. We will come back to all these issues in our debates.
Superfast Broadband
Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Lord Maxton
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
My Lords, one reason this will take us until 2020 is that we must get it right. We must look at exactly this sort of issue. Obviously, we will have to legislate and find the right way of implementing the USO to deal with the complexities and get ahead. This is now a utility and it makes sense to have a stronger commitment.
Lord Maxton (Lab)
My Lords, what exactly does BT charge to put in a telephone line, which is essential before you have superfast broadband? You must have some form of glass fibre link into the house. What is its charge in remote areas?
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
My Lords, I do not know the answer to that. There are a number of different providers and charges vary because it is a competitive market.