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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with the Director General of the BBC on the value for money of challenging freedom of information requests on Martin Bashir.

The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government and the Government cannot intervene in the BBC’s day-to-day operations or decision making.

The Charter sets out that the BBC must exercise rigorous stewardship of public money. The BBC Board is responsible for securing the effective and efficient management of the finances of the BBC.

As part of the most recent Charter Review the Government put in place arrangements for the National Audit Office to become the BBC’s independent auditor. The NAO is responsible for auditing the BBC accounts and ensuring value for money in the way the BBC uses its funds. This ensures that there is appropriate scrutiny of how the BBC spends its public funding.