Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Bone Excerpts

Monday 26th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

4. What recent discussions he has had with the BBC on the level of the television licence fee.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

6. If he will bring forward proposals to reduce the television licence fee by 25% over the next four years.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

8. What his plans are for the future level of the television licence fee; and if he will make a statement.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hunt]

I have been very clear that in its use of licence fee payers’ money, the BBC needs to be on the same planet as everyone else. We are tackling a huge deficit as a result of the economic legacy left by the last Government. As we are having to be careful about every penny of taxpayers’ money we spend, so the BBC must be careful with every penny of licence fee payers’ money that it spends.

[Mr Bone]

Government Departments are having to cut their expenditure by between 25% and 40%. Will the Secretary of State insist that the bloated nationalised state broadcasting service does exactly the same and passes on the savings to the licence fee payer?

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend will know that we are committed to a strong BBC that focuses on producing great TV and high-quality news. He is absolutely right. There has been a trickle of stories about BBC pay and expenses, particularly BBC management pay; lots of people at the BBC do not have high salaries. The BBC must look at what happened to Parliament when we lost the trust of the public because we did not handle our own expenses correctly, and it must be careful not to make the same mistakes.