Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of public support for the television licence fee.

The licence fee funding model was last considered as part of Charter Review 2015-16. The BBC Charter Review consultation received over 192,000 responses and found the majority of respondents did not want to see a change in the way that the BBC is funded: 60% thought the current licence fee model did not need to be changed.

As a result, the government has committed to maintain the current licence fee funding model for the duration of this eleven year Charter period, until 2027.

However, as the Secretary of State has said, due to the changing landscape of the broadcasting sector and viewing trends, it is time to begin asking serious questions about the long-term funding model of the BBC. The Government will therefore undertake a review of the overall licence fee model and those discussions will begin shortly.