Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Whittingdale and Philip Hollobone

Thursday 3rd March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

13. If he will make an assessment of whether further steps need to be taken to investigate allegations of historical sex abuse in the public service broadcasting sector.

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr John Whittingdale)]

The report published by Dame Janet Smith last week was the result of a comprehensive and wide-ranging review. This is clearly a matter for the BBC, which commissioned the review and is responsible for responding, but I know that the chair and director-general take these issues extremely seriously, and I have already had a discussion with the director-general about them.

[Mr Hollobone]

This four-year, £6 million inquiry confirmed that Jimmy Savile molested 72 victims, that he raped a youngster as young as eight and that attacks occurred in the corridors and dressing-rooms of every BBC premises over a period of 47 years, yet no senior manager, past or present, has accepted individual responsibility for failing to stop him. Does the Secretary of State believe that this is an adequate response from Britain’s leading public service broadcaster?

[Mr Whittingdale]

I hope that my hon. Friend will read in full the statement by the director-general, which makes it clear that the BBC takes this matter very seriously. It has offered a full apology and fully accepts the recommendations of Dame Janet Smith. The important thing is that measures are put in place to ensure that this kind of thing can never happen again. A lot has been done already by the BBC, but I welcome the fact that the BBC has also accepted the recommendation that a further review be carried out to ensure that everything possible is being done to stop this kind of abuse ever happening again.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Whittingdale and Philip Hollobone

Thursday 22nd October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Whittingdale]

It was support for a proposal that was first put forward by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which I chaired and of which he was a member. He may recall our advocating this initiative that the BBC could take to help local newspapers. I understand the concern of the local newspaper industry that certain actions of the BBC are undermining it. This initiative could support local newspapers, both by making information available more generally and recognising that local newspapers provide an invaluable service in holding to account local institutions. It is still under discussion and I welcome the progress that is being made.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

The charter renewal process is a big challenge for the BBC, as is remaining impartial in its coverage of the forthcoming EU referendum. Many of us on the Government Benches are not confident that the BBC is up to that challenge. What is the Secretary of State’s view?

Concessionary Television Licences

Debate between John Whittingdale and Philip Hollobone

Monday 6th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Whittingdale]

The future of the licence fee and specifically the decriminalisation aspect, which relates to the enforcement point, have been examined in detail by David Perry. I do not want to anticipate the publication of his report, but that will feed into the charter review, as will the other aspects that my hon. Friend has raised.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Given that most people get most of their broadcast news from the BBC, in the next two years BBC News will face one of its greatest ever challenges in having to remain impartial over whether this country should decide to leave the European Union or not. How will the Secretary of State satisfy himself that the BBC is adhering to its trust principles to inform and educate without appearing to be on one side of the argument or the other?

[Mr Whittingdale]

The BBC is of course subject to a requirement to maintain impartiality and objectivity, as are all broadcasters. I agree that the importance of maintaining that principle is, if anything, even greater for the BBC. My hon. Friend will be aware that the BBC Trust currently considers complaints about impartiality and fairness, but the BBC’s governance arrangements will be one of the issues that we will look at during the charter review.

Indictment against FIFA Officials

Debate between John Whittingdale and Philip Hollobone

Thursday 28th May 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Whittingdale]

I cannot give the hon. Gentleman a precise answer about the number of companies involved, although I would be happy to obtain those figures for him. It is certainly the case that some very successful British companies are involved in the preparations for the World cup, and we strongly support and assist that involvement. If there are concerns about working conditions, I do not believe that they are in areas where British companies are involved, but we will continue to talk to them and to the Qatari Government about those issues.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his well-deserved appointment and thank him for his statement today. Football fans in Kettering will be greatly concerned about the FIFA allegations because, at the grassroots level, Kettering Town football club is struggling to find a permanent home while at the top of the game tens of millions of pounds have allegedly been paid in bribes. I am sure that football fans in Kettering would want their MP to ask the Secretary of State why this matter has been left to the United States, which is not well known as a leading soccer nation, when many European countries, with well-established football reputations, have failed to take this long-overdue legal action.

[Mr Whittingdale]

As I said earlier, I have not yet had the chance to read the full indictment from the US authorities, but it is well known that they take such allegations seriously. I welcome the fact that a proper investigation will now take place. Ideally, it should not have been left until the US authorities—or any national authority—acted, because the allegations have been made to FIFA repeatedly over the last two years. That body should have investigated the allegations rather than sweeping them under the carpet, which has been its practice until now.

Culture, Media and Sport committee

Debate between John Whittingdale and Philip Hollobone

Thursday 26th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Whittingdale]

I have some sympathy with those comments. We found it slightly odd that the BBC officials who appeared before the Committee said that they had an open mind about the governance structure and the scope and scale, but that one thing they were absolutely certain about was that the licence fee had to stay. There is resistance, and perhaps that is reflected in the comments we have already heard from the BBC. My hon. Friend draws on his experience of working at the BBC, so I thank him for his support for what we have said.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

May I commend my hon. Friend for being an exemplary Select Committee Chair and for his superb report? The report confirms the power of BBC news. It states:

“Last year 82% of UK adults consumed BBC News… across television, radio and online.”

Given the power of the BBC’s news coverage, is it not even more important that the trust, or whatever the successor body is, enforces the BBC’s own guidelines on fair news coverage, particularly in relation to the BBC’s 2005 Wilson report, which found that the BBC needed to do far more to represent accurately the range of opinions on this country’s membership of the European Union and that the BBC’s news coverage was far too pro-European?

[Mr Whittingdale]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, because he allows me to talk about another very important point made in the report. At the moment, complaints about accuracy and impartiality are dealt with by the BBC Trust, and I think that there is dissatisfaction with the fact that the BBC is judging itself. We have made it clear that we think that should change and that, with the abolition of the trust, responsibility for all content regulation, including complaints about accuracy and impartiality, should go to Ofcom. It already carried out that function for Channel 4, and we see no reason why it could not also do so for the BBC.