Andrew Smith
Main Page: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)(13 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Andrew Smith (Oxford East) (Lab)
In the Minister’s own interests, as well as mine, will he also mention Radio Oxford, where there is also a lot of concern?
Mr Vaizey
The right hon. Gentleman invites me to kick at an open goal.
I praise the BBC. It has put a lot of thought and hard work into delivering quality first. I will come to the licence fee payment in a moment, but no channels are closing. It has made some important strategic decisions and is looking to save about 11% of its budget in productivity and about 6% in terms of scope. It has also decided to go further on reductions in spending in order to have room to reinvest in programming and front-line services. I also welcome the extra investment in children’s channels. I personally welcome the support for the Proms, and we can all have a view about Radio 4.