Debates between Lord Wills and Lord Gordon of Strathblane during the 2015-2017 Parliament

Thu 12th May 2016

BBC

Debate between Lord Wills and Lord Gordon of Strathblane
Thursday 12th May 2016

(8 years, 6 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Wills Portrait Lord Wills (Lab)
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My Lords, I have been waiting a very long time to get in. I want to return the Minister to one of these devil details: the public service content fund. She addressed the question asked by my noble friend Lord Collins but she did not answer it. I therefore ask her again: will she give a guarantee that that will not be used to salami-slice the licence fee? That guarantee is particularly important in view of the grudging acceptance in the Statement of the licence fee and the fulsome praise she gave for that public service content fund. Does the Minister accept that the licence fee is the foundation for the excellence of the BBC as the world’s most outstanding national broadcaster?