Rupa Huq
Main Page: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Mr Whittingdale
First, let me say that I imagine that my hon. Friend’s constituency is not particularly happy today and I send my condolences on another front for which I am responsible, which is sport. I cannot give my hon. Friend a precise figure for the potential job opportunities offered by opening up competition, but we believe that allowing the independent production sector the ability to compete for 100% of the BBC’s content will mean that hundreds of millions of pounds are available for the sector should it win those commissions. Obviously, that will create jobs alongside. The creative industries, as I said, have proved to be one of our most successful sectors of the economy with the fastest rate of job creation.
Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)
Given how from “Listen with Mother” to “Rastamouse” children’s programming has been so important to the reputation of the BBC and its Reithian ideal to educate, will the Secretary of State make an absolute commitment today that he will exempt that sector of programming from any possible charges for iPlayer or on-demand services?
Mr Whittingdale
As I said earlier, none of the BBC’s existing services will be made subject to voluntary subscription through the iPlayer. The pilot that the BBC is considering will be for additional services that are not currently provided and funded by the licence fee. I hope that the BBC will consider boosting children’s programming, because I agree that it is fundamental. It is an area where access through the iPlayer is likely to be higher than that for other sections of the population. I am also keen to increase the amount of children’s programming available, which is why we see the contestable pot to which I referred as a possible vehicle for additional opportunities so that children have more choice in the programming available to them.