Public Service Broadcasting Online

Debate between Lord Roberts of Llandudno and Baroness Barran

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Viscount raises an important point. Our view is that this is a commercial issue between the platforms and the PSBs. We will continue to keep it under review as part of our review of the future of PSBs, but in the meantime, we hope that they will achieve a mutually beneficial arrangement.

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno (LD) [V]]

Will the Minister give an assurance that the Welsh language channel S4C will be defended? We depend on the licence fee and are supported by up to £70 million a year in that way. If there is any change, Welsh language broadcasting will be in danger.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I can reassure the noble Lord that this will be part of the review that we will be undertaking.

Covid-19: Vulnerable People

Debate between Lord Roberts of Llandudno and Baroness Barran

Tuesday 12th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran]

The Government are very aware that particular groups, including asylum seekers, are especially vulnerable. We have a voluntary and community sector emergency partnership involving organisations such as the British Red Cross, and we are getting regular intelligence, feedback and advice on how to respond to those particular needs.

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno (LD)]

I am sure that we all agree that the voluntary sector needs our immediate support, and we plead with the Government to do that, but we must avoid increasing the number of vulnerable people. One such increase is unemployment. Even last September, the Governor of the Bank of England said that a hard Brexit could mean half a million more unemployed people. However, it is worse than that: we face not a hard Brexit but an impossible Brexit, an impossible deal. We must do everything we can, including extending the transition period from the end of December, because we cannot have fruitful ongoing discussions under the threat of the virus. Will the Government look again and extend that transition period?