BBC

Lord Davies of Stamford Excerpts

Thursday 12th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

We have made a number of detailed proposals about news, but I very much take the point that my noble friend has made.

[Lord Davies of Stamford (Lab)]

My Lords, I strongly object to the Government deciding at the last minute to reduce the question time from 40 minutes to 20; until the very moment they began, 40 minutes was on the screen. The Statement says that the Government are committed to the BBC thriving in future, but in practice do these proposals not actually reflect an agenda to cut back the BBC’s market share? Is that not really what this is all about? When the Government have achieved that in due time, will they not use that as an excuse in a future review of the licence fee to cut back the BBC’s income as well?

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

I empathise with the point about timing. I am not sure that I can do anything about that today but of course we will have further discussions on future occasions and, as noble Lords know, my door is always open on any subject. On the question of funding, the licence fee will rise in line with inflation over the next five years, which is highly positive. The BBC is one of the best-funded public broadcasters in the world. It is true that last year there was an agreement under which the BBC made a contribution to the public expenditure problem that the Chancellor faced, but today’s charter sets out excellent arrangements that assure the BBC a strong future, for exactly the reasons that the noble Lord, Lord Hall, set out. This is a real era of opportunity for the BBC. Where we were in previous debates is not where we are now.