BBC
Debate between John Whittingdale and Crispin Blunt
Mr Whittingdale
I understand the hon. Lady’s concern, but I think she will accept that many of these matters are for the BBC rather than for the Government to lay down, particularly in respect of how the BBC goes about serving all its different audiences that make up the UK. On board membership, there will be opportunities for non-executive directors to be chosen not just under the public appointments process as set out by the Government, but by the BBC board. I am sure that it will want to appoint the best possible people to represent every section of the community.
Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)
I welcome the restatement of financial protection for the BBC World Service, and I particularly welcome the recommendation that the new unitary board should consider the relative weakness of BBC World News on television. How fast does my right hon. Friend expect the board to come forward with proposals to address that situation?
Mr Whittingdale
My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the BBC World Service is admired across the world and does a fantastic job projecting this country’s values around the globe. BBC global news is a different beast—it is a separate commercial subsidiary of the BBC, which actually loses money—and it is perhaps not achieving the same success as the World Service. We have said that the BBC needs to look at that carefully with a view to either making it perform much better or examining different ways of achieving the objectives.