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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what consultation the Government undertook with the Welsh Government before deciding not to appoint a representative for Wales on the BBC Board.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport wrote to the Welsh Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language in October 2016 to invite Welsh Government representation on the selection panel for the BBC Board member for Wales, and inviting comments on the draft role specification.

The Welsh Government’s representative sat on both sift and interview panels for the role and agreed on the list of appointable candidates.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport wrote to the Welsh Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language on 27th February 2017 seeking agreement with the Secretary of State’s preferred candidate, in accordance with Clause 23 (9) of the BBC Charter.

On 28th February 2017, the Welsh Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language wrote to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport stating that the Welsh Government was unable to endorse the preferred candidate, despite the Welsh Government representatives having deemed the candidate as appointable at interview. This is very unfortunate, and no good reason has been given.