Media: S4C

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara Excerpts

Wednesday 5th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, wrote to the Secretary of State on 14 September on these and similar points. As the noble Lord knows, the next Committee sitting on the Public Bodies Bill in the other place will be on 11 October, and that will cover S4C. We understand and appreciate the noble Lord’s concerns about the financial provisions of S4C and its ministerial independence. I can reassure him that following the government amendment in the other place which he mentioned, the Bill now places a duty on the Secretary of State to make certain that S4C is funded at a level sufficient to meet its statutory remit. This provision will provide security for S4C’s long-term future.

[Lord Stevenson of Balmacara]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that our understanding about the relationship between S4C and the BBC has been greatly undermined by the comments of David Heath in the other place? Does she also agree that an S4C authority with equal representation by the BBC and S4C would be unworkable, result in deadlock and could endanger the new partnership that we are all keen to see succeed?

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, I can confirm that the BBC will not have a majority on either the S4C board or the S4C executive, and the relationship between S4C and the BBC will be on the basis of a partnership and not of a BBC subsidiary. The partnership will start, as the noble Lord knows, from April 2013. I know how important this is to several noble Lords.