Children: Television
Debate between Lord Christopher and Lord Newby(9 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Newby
My Lords, the noble Baroness makes a strong point. Again, this is the point that the industry is making and that the Treasury will listen to and consider over the coming months.
Lord Christopher (Lab)
My Lords, nobody so far has mentioned the regulator. To assist the Minister in the matter of age, I would like to cast noble Lords’ minds back to 1981, which certainly the noble Lord, Lord Grade, will recall, when the Independent Broadcasting Authority was interviewing candidates for franchises in independent television. The chairperson, Lady Plowden, always reserved to herself the question of children’s programmes. The regulator has, of late, fallen behind in addressing a number of issues, certainly children’s programmes appearing on television. Will the Minister approach the regulator to see whether some studies should not be made about what children today would like to see?
Lord Newby
My Lords, that is an extremely interesting point and I will definitely take it back. One of the key points to make about the difference between now and the period the noble Lord was talking about is that, paradoxically, there are now a lot more children’s TV channels and routes by which children get their entertainment.
Taxation: Income Tax
Debate between Lord Christopher and Lord Newby(10 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Christopher
My Lords, perhaps I may help. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, two or three years ago the loss to the Revenue due to anticipation was £1 billion. That was the figure that the OBR gave and it has not been contradicted. When will we know what the degree of postponement is this year? If I may say so, in my opinion both of these losses could have been stopped with a two or three-line clause in the Finance Bill, which both he and I could have written.
Lord Newby
My Lords, I think that the noble Lord overestimates my drafting skills.