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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the BBC proposals in A BBC For All to pilot audience forums such as citizens assemblies.

The government welcomes the BBC’s response to the Charter Review Green paper titled ‘A BBC for All’, and will consider its contents within Charter Review policy development.

The government launched the BBC Charter Review last year. The Green Paper set out our ambition for the BBC across a range of topics. This includes considering reforms to the BBC’s governance structures, length of its Royal Charter and obligations to share information. We are also exploring ways for the BBC to engage audiences and reflect public views. On funding, the Green Paper makes clear that we will need to strike the appropriate balance between ensuring the BBC’s independence and enabling sufficient levels of oversight of public money.

We welcome the BBC’s response to the government’s Green Paper public Consultation. We will review their response, alongside other responses from the public and stakeholders to the consultation to help ensure we consider a wide range of voices and views on the future of the BBC. These will inform policy decisions for the next BBC Royal Charter, which will be set out in a White Paper, expected to be published later this year.