Nia Griffith
Main Page: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Mr Whittingdale
The potential for changing the licence fee in the long term as the mechanism for funding the BBC is a matter that we will examine during the course of charter review. Personally, I am not particularly attracted to some options, such as advertising, but others will certainly be worth considering as a longer-term option for the future.
Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)
Companies such as Tinopolis in my constituency are part of a very important Welsh-language broadcasting industry. Worryingly, the Secretary of State has told us that he would anticipate the BBC cutting its contribution to S4C funding. What guarantee can he give about direct Government funding to S4C and does he anticipate cuts to an industry that has already suffered enormous cuts and has a long lead-in time for good-quality programmes?
Mr Whittingdale
As the hon. Lady knows, the Government already fund S4C with £6.7 million of direct funding and we have already set out our intention for the next two or three years. Beyond that, it is something that we will consider at the time.