Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the compatibility of the (a) editorial line taken by the BBC’s Arabic service on matters relating to the state of Israel with (b) the Government’s foreign policy objectives.

We have made no such assessment. It is not for the government to make judgements about perceived impartiality or bias at the BBC, as the BBC is operationally and editorially independent of government. This is a matter for the BBC Board.