Historical Sexual Abuse (Football)
Debate between Karen Bradley and Ian Murray(7 years, 12 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Karen Bradley
As the hon. Gentleman will know, the Government published the new governance codes for sport on 31 October, and I hope that he welcomes the work we have done to ensure that all sport is subject to proper and appropriate governance. It is important for us to be certain that we can have confidence in our sports governing bodies.
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)
I pay tribute to the courage and bravery of those who have exposed this dreadful act. I know that we are talking about historical football abuse, but will the Secretary of State tell us what strategy she has to work with the Department for Education, the devolved Administrations and, indeed, all the governing bodies of all sports to reassure parents that their children are safe when playing sports, and also to reassure the coaches who give up their time, mainly voluntarily, to provide the sporting infrastructure that enables children to participate?
Karen Bradley
I hope the hon. Gentleman will be reassured to know that that is exactly what we are doing. We are writing to the governing bodies of all sports and working across Government to ensure that we have a co-ordinated response.
Broadcasting
Debate between Karen Bradley and Ian Murray
Karen Bradley
When the hon. Lady looks at the charter as a whole, she will see that the BBC will become more independent. It is very easy to take one line from an agreement and try to demonstrate the opposite. As a whole, the charter will make the BBC more independent.
Karen Bradley
No, I will make some progress.
A majority—nine out of 14—of the members of the new unitary board will be appointed by the BBC. That contrasts with past appointments by Governments of every member of the BBC governing board. The new director-general will be editor-in-chief and have final responsibility for individual decisions on the BBC’s editorial matters and creative output.
BBC
Debate between Karen Bradley and Ian Murray(8 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)
I thank the Secretary of State for what she said about the importance of the BBC; any organisation that can turn Ed Balls into Fred Astaire is truly remarkable. Will she emphasise that this charter renewal does not undermine the flexibility of BBC Scotland’s news programming, and underline how important it is for audiences, not politicians, to choose programming?
Karen Bradley
I agree with the hon. Gentleman: it is for the BBC and the viewing public to make that determination. They will watch the programmes they want to watch, and the BBC can take editorial decisions around that. I am not sure that the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) is that keen now to be married to Fred Astaire.