Peter Heaton-Jones
Main Page: Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative - North Devon)
Mr Whittingdale
The quotas are of course a minimum requirement, and it is for the BBC to do its best to exceed them. In answer to the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (John Nicolson), I referred to the letter that the director-general sent today to the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe & External Affairs in the Scottish Government, in which he commits the BBC to continuing to do its best to increase the proportion of BBC network production expenditure in each of the nations of the UK. He said
“we recognise that this spend needs to work harder”
and that he will be doing his best to ensure that Scotland receives funding that at least is proportional to its population. I am sure that the hon. Lady and her colleagues can pursue that further with the director-general.
Peter Heaton-Jones (North Devon) (Con)
As a former employee of the BBC, I share in the great affection for the corporation and, as such, congratulate the Secretary of State on this White Paper, which I broadly welcome. However, does he agree that, with the BBC’s income from the public now guaranteed to be fast approaching £4 billion a year, not only is it right that the corporation be more transparent and accountable, but there is no reason for it to make cuts to front-line services, particularly not BBC local radio? I worked in it for many years, and local radio, particularly BBC Radio Devon in my constituency, is a hugely valued part of the community.
Mr Whittingdale
I agree with my hon. Friend. The BBC now has certainty about its funding over the course of the next licence fee period, and I hope that it will continue to recognise the importance of local radio. The matter was raised by several hon. Members in our discussion yesterday, and I made it clear then that I regard local radio as something that best exemplifies the BBC’s public service remit. I hope that the National Audit Office’s work will bear out that there is scope for achieving efficiencies, so that even more of the licence fee payers’ money can be devoted to front-line services such as local radio.