Contributions
1,036 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDBBCI share my hon. Friend’s view that the landscape is changing so fast and there is a much more choice now available to viewers, and that should cause the BBC to look again at what…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCOf course, one of the consequences of the lockdown was that viewing figures right across the board for both linear and online programming dramatically increased. However, I…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCI do agree with my hon. Friend. As I said earlier, with the huge increase in choice, it may well be that there are areas in which it is no longer as important that the BBC…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCIt is very difficult to judge whether something is value for money when it is a legal requirement to pay it; people do not have a choice. We generally judge whether something is…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCI do understand the feeling of my hon. Friend’s constituents. On the point he makes about decriminalisation, that is something we are seriously considering. We are currently going…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCAs the hon. Lady knows, religious broadcasting is part of the public service obligations. How the BBC goes about fulfilling those obligations is a matter for it. However, I can…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCI think my hon. Friend will be aware that the auditor was very critical of the decision about the settlement of the tax bills of those employees who operated through public…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCI would have thought the hon. Gentleman would have welcomed the fact that the BBC has now said it will write to every pensioner over 75 to say they might still be entitled to…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCMy hon. Friend raises an interesting point about BBC expenditure. One reason the NAO was given total access to the BBC’s books was to identify areas of extravagance or waste, and…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCIt was the case that licence fee was frozen for a period of time, but the licence fee settlement, which was agreed in 2015, allowed it to rise again in line with inflation. Since…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCI sympathise with the hon. Lady, particularly, of course, because commercial media have been under tremendous pressure as a result of the covid crisis and the consequent almost…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCIt was absolutely right that the BBC opened up a major production facility in Salford, because there was a perception that it was far too London-centric. There is a risk that it…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCIn a sense, I simply repeat what I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart): the BBC has a responsibility to be represented in, and to employ its own staff…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCI share a lot of the criticisms that my hon. Friend makes of the licence fee. It is highly regressive, and there is no means testing or benefit available to anybody under 75.…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCThe Government have always believed very strongly in the independence of the BBC. It is for the BBC to take decisions about its programming content, its employment practices and,…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCAs my hon. Friend is aware, there are strong feelings about the current criminal enforcement of the licence fee. The Government recognise that, which is why we are holding a…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCThere were a number of options available to the BBC, as I said, and it chose to proceed with the complete removal of the concession for over-75s. That is a matter of regret, and…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCMy hon. Friend has done a lot of work in this area through the all-party parliamentary media group, and he and I have already discussed the huge pressure on commercial media as a…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCI do remember my comments, and I never suggested that the BBC would not be faced with a very difficult decision, because the cost of maintaining the exemption is huge and would go…21 Jul 2020HANSARDBBCAs my hon. Friend knows well, the number of people going to prison has fallen to a tiny number, but it is still debatable whether that should happen at all. I hope the BBC will be…21 Jul 2020