Philip Hollobone
Main Page: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)(12 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Maria Miller
I am sure that that will always be an issue to be raised in the Chamber, and we obviously consider it when the time comes for the charter to be reviewed.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Licence fee payers in Kettering and, indeed, throughout the country face a criminal sanction if they fail to buy their television licences. Is it not clear that the BBC is being far too liberal with licence fee payers’ money, whether it is spent on low-tax contracts for overpaid presenters or the awarding of twice the amount of severance pay that should be awarded? Given that Lord Patten, as chairman of the Trust, has presided over the appointment of a clearly unsuitable person and then presided over his departure with twice the severance pay that he should have received, is it not time for the chairman himself to go?
Maria Miller
My hon. Friend is right to suggest that it should be possible to hold every public organisation to account for the way in which it uses money. I remind him that the National Audit Office is empowered to examine value-for-money issues of that kind. However, I think that at this point it should be possible for there to be a period of calm within the BBC, so that it can establish the facts and the problems that it faces and introduce meaningful reforms.