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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much from the public purse her Department spent on its proposals to privatise Channel 4.

As set out in the Department’s answer of 14 November 2022 to Question 80659, in the 2021-22 financial year DCMS’s costs for policy development related to Channel 4, including staff activity, external research and advice, public consultation and stakeholder engagement, were approximately £600,000. For the 2022-2023 financial year to November, these activities are estimated to have costs of £1.4 million.

This work has supported the development of the sustainability package recently announced by DCMS which will help address the challenges that Channel 4 is facing to its long-term success and sustainability.

It is right that when planning for the sale of an asset the government pursued appropriate specialist advice. Now that the decision has been taken not to proceed with a sale, all contracts with specialist external advisors have been terminated.