BBC World Service: Sustainability
Debate between Lord Grade of Yarmouth and Baroness Chapman of Darlington
Lord Grade of Yarmouth (Non-Afl)
My Lords, following up the question of the noble Lord, Lord Birt, I ask the Minister a simple question: does she think it is fair that UK licence fee payers should have to pay so much towards the World Service?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
Do I think it is fair? I guess that depends on what you think the licence fee is for. That is part of what the charter review process will tease out. I accept that what a licence fee payer may have wanted to pay for in the 1950s and 1960s may well be different now, because things have changed. The World Service is a tremendous asset to this country. There are many licence fee payers who enjoy the World Service here in the UK, as well as around the world. What we need to achieve, certainly from my perspective, is the longer-term stability and success of the World Service.
BBC World Service
Debate between Lord Grade of Yarmouth and Baroness Chapman of Darlington(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
We are reviewing development spend, as noble Lords would expect. We do not have the luxury of limitless funds to spend. We are spending a lot of our development money on housing people who arrive here in the UK for 12 months after their arrival. We need to get that spend down so that we can spend it much more wisely on preventing conflict, educating women and girls, supporting freedom of religion and belief, and all the other really positive, important work that we want to do in country. That is our aim.
Lord Grade of Yarmouth (Non-Afl)
My Lords, I draw attention to my interests, past and present, as listed in the register. The Minister referred to a long-term strategy for the World Service. Such a document exists. I chaired a group commissioned by the then Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. This report got lost in one of those infrequent reshuffles of the last few years, but it stands today as a blueprint for enhancing the BBC World Service’s influence in exercising the great soft power that exists for Britain’s foreign policy. Will she dust it down and read it?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
I am grateful to the noble Lord for bringing that to my attention. I was not aware that there was a strategy dating back to that time, but I commit to finding it and reading it.