Scotland Bill
Debate between Ian Murray and Thérèse Coffey(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Ian Murray
I did not want the moment to pass without congratulating the hon. Lady on her first time at the Dispatch Box and saying that we are delighted to see her.
Dr Coffey
Well, that is very sweet. The hon. Gentleman and I, in our very first summer here together as Members of Parliament, had the joy of going to the United States of America to participate in the British-American parliamentary group. We have been firm friends since. [Hon. Members: “Ooh!”] Exactly—what goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Clause 10 implements paragraph 27 of the Smith commission agreement, which identified that it is important to have an adequate check on certain types of Scottish Parliament electoral legislation. The Smith commission recommended that UK legislation should provide that such legislation is passed by a two-thirds majority of the Scottish Parliament. The Government agree that this provides an important safeguard. It is possible, of course, that there may be discussions on whether a particular Bill is in fact this type of legislation.
Clause 10 also allows the Advocate General, the Lord Advocate or the Attorney General to refer to the Supreme Court the question of whether a certain piece of legislation requires a two-thirds majority of the Scottish Parliament. The Supreme Court already provides a similar role on whether a particular matter is within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, so I will move that clause 10 stand part of the Bill.
Amendments 67 to 88 concern clause 11, which delivers on the Smith commission recommendation to give the Scottish Parliament greater powers in relation to the arrangements and operation of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government. It does this by enabling the Scottish Parliament to modify relevant sections of the Scotland Act 1998. I am sure that the Secretary of State will wish to reflect on this to ensure that the agreed powers work correctly, but the Government are clear that the substantial new powers devolved under clause 11 are the right ones.
A number of the amendments to clause 11 would allow further modification of the 1998 Act beyond the scope of the transfer of powers envisaged by the Smith commission. The Bill already transfers substantial powers to modify the Act, consistent with the commission, and the Government do not believe it is right to go beyond that.
The hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh South West referred in particular to amendment 67. Indeed, the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland said that this matter should be consistent across the UK, reinforcing that this is a reserved for the UK Parliament and not a devolved matter. The hon. and learned Lady said that the UK Government had not been clear on some aspects of this matter. I believe that the Prime Minister has been clear at this Dispatch Box. Amendment 67 would amend the Bill such that paragraph 1 of schedule 4 to the 1998 Act would be modified to remove the Human Rights Act 1998 from the list of legislation the Scottish Parliament cannot modify, otherwise known as the “protected enactments”.
The Committee will be aware that the Government outlined their proposal to reform and modernise our human rights framework by replacing the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights. That was reinforced today by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister at the celebration of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Of course, we are aware of the possible devolution implications of reform and we can engage with the devolved Administrations as we develop the proposals. As the Secretary of State said, the Sewel convention, as intended by Lord Sewel, has been placed in the Bill, but this Parliament remains sovereign. The Government are certainly committed to human rights and, as I indicated earlier, we will consider the devolution implications.
BBC Funding (CSR)
Debate between Ian Murray and Thérèse Coffey
Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)
Mr Deputy Speaker, all day long colleagues have been tempting me to say, “Nice to see you, to see you—”
Ian Murray
I thank the hon. Lady for that sedentary intervention.
Ever since the BBC’s inception in 1922, it has played a major role in this country. The public not only admire the BBC; they trust the corporation to deliver real value and quality while they watch and listen to its channels or, more recently, surf its online content. Indeed, the quality of the BBC output could only be improved by you, Mr Deputy Speaker, appearing as the guest presenter on “Have I Got News For You” or by light-footed former Conservative Members appearing on “Strictly Come Dancing.”
We must, however, protect what the BBC provides and how it is paid for. The licence fee enables our national public-sector broadcaster to provide 10 TV channels, 10 UK-wide network radio stations, 46 national and local radio services, regional options, interactive services on BBC iPlayer, and high definition television, as well as the ever-popular BBC websites which attract 22 million unique users in the UK every week. On top of all that output, the BBC is the engine room of the country’s hugely important creative industries.
Let us consider the value of the licence fee. It costs about 40p per day, which is less than half the cost of many daily newspapers and about the same as the price of a pint of milk or a first-class stamp. It costs less than the price of half a loaf of bread, 20 times less than the average cinema ticket, and a 25th of the cost of joining the Liberal Democrats. The licence fee also enables the BBC to invest in the UK as a whole, with a commitment to 50% of network production coming from outside London by 2016 as well as a commitment to the BBC regions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Most importantly, the BBC delivers a significant contribution to the creative industries and the UK economy. Britain’s creative sector, which accounts for about 6% of the UK’s GDP, can make a significant contribution to economic growth and employment. Having grown at a faster rate than the general economy in recent years, the creative industries are now expected to grow by 4% on average in the next five years. The beneficial impact of the BBC to that is some £7.6 billion a year, including more than £150 million through BBC Worldwide.
Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) on securing the debate. Let me declare an interest: I worked for the BBC before coming to Parliament and I am still engaged in a financial transaction with it. That aside, I want to pay tribute to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for the role he has played in working with the BBC, as well as to the Minister answering the debate, the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the for Wantage (Mr Vaizey).
I am a passionate defender of the BBC and I value what it brings to our country and our worldwide reputation. I have heard the points in favour of the World Service and similar services, and I want to give some assurances. I appreciate that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but I believe that the BBC can perfectly well survive on the comprehensive spending review settlement of a frozen licence fee for the next few years. It has made a good start with the executive board deciding to slim down. That is good news and will help the BBC to continue to be a dynamic organisation. It has tackled the difficult pension dispute, although I must admit that if I still worked there, I would have bridled at the original pension deal. It has now come up with a sensible solution and I hope that the NUJ will eventually recognise that.
The BBC still has a lot to offer our country, not only through programmes such as “Strictly Come Dancing”, with a former Member of the House doing rather well, but by continuing to provide excellent programmes of which we can be genuinely proud and that are sold around the world through BBC Worldwide. The BBC now recognises that its role is not to go off and buy things like the “Lonely Planet” guide—it will not do anything like that again—but to make use of the licence fee to subsidise programmes going forward.
Ian Murray
The hon. Lady has mentioned examples of the BBC slimming down, to use her words. The BBC was already undertaking such a programme, and the comprehensive spending review settlement may have taken its eye off the ball. Will she comment on that?
Dr Coffey
I do not work there any more, so I cannot give a personal comment on that, but the settlement concentrates the mind. I know that when I was there and we were talking in staff meetings, scenario planning was going on—for example, if there was a 20% cut, or a freeze—and there was genuine debate about what that would mean for the BBC in future. The settlement will force the board to think through what it is trying to achieve, what makes the BBC special, what it has to do and what it is nice to do. I welcome that journey because we also have to do in government—let us be honest about it—when we are trying to ensure that we live within our means.