Peter Bottomley
Main Page: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Mr Whittingdale
I hugely appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s remarks. He has an extremely strong track record of campaigning in this area, and for him to welcome our proposals in this way is extremely encouraging. I also agree that there is a lot more work to do. It will be for the BBC to make decisions on the allocation of budgets and on how it goes about delivering on the new, explicit requirement that has been set out. I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman will continue to talk to the BBC about that, as will we.
Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)
The point about diversity, which I support, is that its target should be inclusiveness so that people can be drawn together.
On page 74 of the White Paper, my right hon. Friend mentions digital radio. If he comes down from London to Worthing, by bus or any other form of road transport, and drives along the coast in Worthing, he will find enormous gaps in the digital radio coverage. Will he please ensure that we do not exclude those who listen to the radio on the move?
I want to make three detailed points about the wording of the White Paper. On page 98, he states:
“The government is clear that the licence fee is a tax”.
At some stage, I would like to hear an explanation of why it is seen as a tax rather than a fee that is separate from taxation.
On page 102, he talks about the “popularity of subscription services”. It would be more accurate to talk about the incidence of those services rather than their popularity. Most people do not like paying, but they feel that they are forced to do so because what they want to watch is on subscription.
In the glossary, the last entry is for a WOCC. Would he like to explain what the term “window of competitive culture”, or whatever it is, actually means?
Mr Whittingdale
I would be very happy to do so. On the issue of digital audio broadcasting, I fully recognise that there is still some way to go to achieve the coverage that will be necessary before we can consider switching off analogue. The ability to listen to DAB on the move in cars is one of the crucial factors that will influence our decision, and there is still more work to be done. However, we expect the BBC to continue to take a leading role in this regard. My hon. Friend asked some specific questions. It has long been recognised that the licence fee is essentially a tax, because it is a compulsory fee imposed by the Government and enforced by criminal sanction. It is recognised as a tax by the Office for Budget Responsibility and others on that basis.
I turn now to my hon. Friend’s specific question about what is known colloquially as the WOCC. The window of creative competition was put in place by the BBC. Under the existing arrangements, the independent production quota is 25% and then the WOCC accounts for another 25% chunk of content, which can be competed for by the independent production sector. The remaining 50% is reserved for the BBC’s in-house production. It is that 50% that we are removing, so, in essence, our proposal is to increase the WOCC to 75%.