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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the BBC Trust on increasing coverage of life in Northern Ireland across the BBC national television and radio network.

No such discussions have recently taken place. Under the terms of the BBC's Charter and Agreement, the BBC is operationally and editorially independent of Government and there is no provision for the Government to intervene in the Corporation's day-to-day operations, including programme content.