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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 73 of his Department's White Paper, A BBC for the future, published in May 2016, what steps he is taking to ensure that the BBC archive is made accessible to as wide a range of institutions and organisations as possible; and what funding his Department plans to provide to support that aim.

The BBC receives over £3.7 billion of public money each year through the licence fee. As set out in the Government's White Paper, A BBC for the future: a Broadcaster of Distinction, the government encourages the BBC to do more to open up its archive and ensure that it can be used by the public and as wide a range of institutions and organisations as possible. ​How the BBC uses the public money it receives to achieve this is matter for the BBC.