Concessionary Television Licences
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Lord Birt
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, the point the noble Lord makes will be under discussion over the 18 months of the charter renewal. The Government have said that they are committed to a thorough and open process where all aspects of the BBC will be up for discussion. As I said before, the debate with the public and the BBC will continue as planned and an announcement on how the charter review will be run will be made in due course.
Lord Birt (CB)
My Lords, this is a truly shocking announcement. The BBC has been in existence for nearly a century. It is unique in the world for a number of reasons, one of which is that, very early on in its history, Winston Churchill tried to take it over at the time of the General Strike but the then director-general, John Reith, resisted that and essentially established its independence in a way that no other public service broadcaster around the world has managed. That independence was breached in the previous Parliament by the deal that has already been mentioned today, when, overnight, with no debate of any kind, 16% was taken outside the BBC’s budget and the Government—not the BBC—decided to use the licence fee to fund the World Service, S4C and, amazingly, BBC Monitoring, which is a very specialist service not much to do with broadcasting. This has happened again. This is taking a huge slice out of the BBC’s budget. Again, it has happened with no public discussion of any kind. This Government and the previous Government have set a very dangerous precedent.
The Earl of Courtown
I am afraid I cannot say a great deal more than what I have already said on this matter, except that all these matters will be up for discussion in the charter renewal.