BBC Charter

Lord Inglewood Excerpts

Wednesday 12th October 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Inglewood (Con)]

My Lords, there is much in the draft charter and agreement of the BBC that I commend and welcome. However, I wish to focus on one issue above all others, independence, which I consider to be of paramount importance—that is, independence from government, Parliament and politicians and other people who potentially wish to exert undue influence.

First, I wish to make a few introductory points. The BBC belongs to everybody, even if it is the property of nobody. It does not belong to the Government; it is not a state broadcaster. It does not even belong to the licence fee payers. It belongs to everybody equally.

Secondly, we live in a world of partisan press—I have no problems with that—where the development of social media is creating an ever bigger echo chamber in a kind of broadcast version of barroom banter. All this makes the need for public service broadcasting all the more important. Of course, the BBC is at the heart of public service broadcasting in this country.

Thirdly, the BBC is a much-loved British institution; it is popular. There is nothing wrong with that. It may be illogical and perhaps nobody would have invented it in the way that it has evolved, but it is popular. We should recognise that the British people like it. I put on record that I agree with the evolution of the governance of the BBC that we see as we move away from the trust.

How do we attack independence? It seems to me there are two main ways: the first is financial and the second is political. The saying that he who pays the piper calls the tune is an old truism but no less correct for that. It therefore seems to me that the BBC’s financial settlement must be fixed and hypothecated, and for a fixed-term duration. As has already been remarked, it is absolutely no good for the Government to raid the till, regardless of their motives for doing so. Although the licence fee can clearly be criticised, it seems the best on offer, and I support it. It must not become a cash reserve for the social security budget and should be dedicated wholly and exclusively to the BBC. I echo those who have said that they think that the previous licence fee settlement was a very disappointing exercise of clandestine politics in smoke-filled rooms. Instead, we ought to have an open process that is consultative and engenders public debate both inside and outside Parliament.

It is also important to remember that the Treasury may say that the BBC licence fee is a tax and define it as a tax. But in the English language it is not a tax; it is a licence for services and needs to be viewed as such.

Dealing with the problems posed by political influence may be a bit more difficult. For reasons which, if you think about it, are quite obvious, it is necessary to distinguish between Government and Parliament, because they are not coterminous. As has been said before, I am sure there may be better ways of appointing governors than the one contained in the draft charter and agreement. I certainly think that the approach envisaged for press regulation in the post-Leveson world, even though it has not yet been fully implemented, is probably a better model for the long run. However, the rules and processes that apply to appointment—particularly the observance of those rules and processes—is the most important part of it all. Although you can criticise the arrangements in the draft charter and agreement, whatever is finally done, the important thing is that the process is kept under review and honoured in the spirit as well as the letter, and that Nolan principles are properly and unequivocally applied. On top of this, I would make a specific request that the new arrangements include something new: that each governor, rather like a European Commissioner, should be required to take a specific oath “not to take instructions” before assuming office.

Perhaps the trickiest aspects of ensuring independence lie in the area of regulation and accountability/answerability. Of those two, regulation is possibly the easier. Ofcom as a separate regulator is the correct body to do this, subject of course to proper guarantees of its own independence and processes. Ofcom, the courts and, if relevant, the competition authorities should be the interface for confrontational complaints and regulation, be the complainant the Government, Parliament or a member of the public.

On accountability and answerability, I define the former as supplying information requested by law and the latter as answering legitimate questions from government and Parliament. It is of course axiomatic that they must not include matters that relate to journalistic independence and associated judgments. Within the parameters which are set out, this is fine so long as any subsequent pressures for change are not channelled direct but via Ofcom. It might follow from this that Select Committee reports of both Houses would have to be addressed as much to the regulator as to the Government.

One of the principal changes proposed by the new arrangements is that the National Audit Office becomes the corporation’s auditor. I must admit that I have reservations about that, and for exactly the same reasons as Sir Christopher Bland gave in his evidence to the Communications Committee of this House in 2011, which I then chaired, and which are repeated in its final report, The Governance and Regulation of the BBC. He said that,

“the House of Commons is deeply attracted to getting its hands on the BBC and I think there are dangers in using the NAO in an inappropriate way”.

From my own perspective, it would be better for the BBC to have its own auditor, because auditors are by definition independent and the House of Commons should be able to instruct the NAO to look into aspects of the BBC’s financial activities, very much as now. With a system of independent regulation, the consequences of the House of Commons/NAO’s criticisms would be capable of much better and more transparent resolution than at present. This is the right way to approach the question of inappropriate use of public money.

As we all know, the BBC is a child of the law, and as a public body it is also a child of Parliament and Government. It therefore follows, not least in a set of arrangements which contain sunset clauses, that from time to time, refreshment and/or changes are necessary. Traditionally, as has been said on a number of occasions, this has been done by the straightforward use of the royal prerogative via the mechanism of the royal charter, the argument being that it ensures that this aspect of the media is above political and parliamentary pressure. History suggests that this is not the case, not least because it is always possible to amend a charter by Act of Parliament if you want to.

Traditionally, it has been felt that establishing the BBC by charter and agreement is an important democratic safeguard, yet the more you look at it, the more it becomes all words and no substance. However, if it is wished that it continues to be established in this mode, the precedent of the relatively recent and—as I, or as the noble Lord, Lord Lester, said—not fully introduced processes for press regulation offer the possibility of Parliament overseeing the Government’s potentially damaging exercise of the royal prerogative. It is desirable that there are proper safeguards over the Government’s use of the royal prerogative. This subject is of direct relevance not only to the BBC.

I recognise that I and many others have made points to the Minister that he cannot be expected to answer instantly. I therefore request that he undertake to respond to all the points in writing, with a copy placed in the Library and posted on the web, cross-referred to this debate.

As I said in opening, I have focused my remarks on independence, because that, above everything else, must be the core attribute of the BBC. It is not a state broadcaster and must never be allowed to become one.