Public Service Broadcasting

Debate between Lord Roberts of Llandudno and Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Monday 15th June 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have for funding public service broadcasting.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Departments for Business, Innovation and Skills and for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Neville-Rolfe) (Con)]

My Lords, Ofcom is conducting a wide-ranging review of public service broadcasting. It will be published later this year and enable the Government to consider next steps for public service broadcasting. The review will be a key input into the BBC charter review. It will be comprehensive, open and a proper consultative process, and funding will be one of the issues on the agenda.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno (LD)]

Does the Minister understand the tremendous damage that the ending of funding via the BBC licence fee would entail? Twenty-seven World Service channels would be lost, and we could lose the Welsh S4C television channel because that depends on £76 million a year of funding from the BBC licence fee. When the Government consider this issue, I hope that those points will be borne in mind. What mandate do the Government have to introduce such far-reaching proposals when they received only 24% of the votes at the last general election?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, to give a constructive reply, we are keenly aware of the importance of S4C to the Welsh language and culture and to the creative economy, with programmes such as “Hinterland” going wider than Wales. We also support the World Service. The excellence of their programmes and the creative content will be considered as part of the charter review, which is getting under way and will be subject to a wide measure of consultation, covering all aspects and bringing in all groups around the country.