Broadcasting

Debate between Lord Watson of Wyre Forest and Helen Grant

Tuesday 18th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Helen Grant (Maidstone and The Weald) (Con)]

Does the hon. Gentleman also agree that in the light of Ofcom’s new diversity obligations, the make-up of the UK population should be better reflected in terms of personnel and senior management?

[Mr Watson]

That is a very insightful point about something that we can work together to monitor.

I was talking about employing people from every social background. The BBC has a duty to reflect the nation it serves. That means informing and entertaining licence fee payers, as is set out in the charter, but the BBC must also do more to encourage and support British talent regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability or social background. It is well placed to do that because, almost uniquely, it has a strong and visible presence across the country. There are BBC studios in Birmingham, Bristol and Belfast. The BBC has offices in Leeds, Nottingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff and many more places too numerous to list. It has a duty to reach out to the communities on its doorstep.

The BBC has significantly expanded its apprenticeship programme. I commend director-general Tony Hall for that but, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Gloria De Piero) points out, there is far more we can do. According to research carried out in 2015 by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, over nine in 10 jobs in the creative economy are done by people in more advantaged socio-economic groups, compared with 66% of jobs in the wider economy. That has to change.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Watson of Wyre Forest and Helen Grant

Thursday 31st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Grant]

I remember reading that article in the Kent Messenger. I would emphasise to my hon. Friend that there is certainly no green light for FOBTs; we will be reviewing their existence and functioning very carefully.

[Mr Tom Watson (West Bromwich East) (Lab)]

13. The stakes taken by these machines are so great that they have become a magnet for money laundering gains. Coral, the bookmakers, has recently been exposed for taking £900,000 of laundered money. The Serious Organised Crime Agency thinks the problem so great that bookmakers should be included in money laundering directives from the EU, which are currently under review. What is the Minister’s view?

[Mrs Grant]

As I keep repeating, my view is that these machines raise serious issues, but we need to take a fair and decent approach to the issue of problem gambling, while not over-regulating bookmakers. We therefore need to do our research and look at the matter in detail so that we can come up with a balanced, sensible and fair way forward.