Broadcasting Sector White Paper
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Lord Fowler(1 year, 9 months ago)
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Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, it remains the policy of Her Majesty’s Government to ensure that our public service broadcasters are equipped for the decades ahead. As we have discussed, although we may disagree on this issue, I hope all noble Lords agree that Channel 4 needs the investment to be able to compete with the American streaming giants. I look forward to debating this more with noble Lords.
The BBC will continue to receive around £3.7 billion in annual public funding, which allows it to deliver its mission and public purposes.
Lord Fowler (CB)
My Lords, does the present political interregnum not give the Government the opportunity to think again about their whole broadcasting policy—and not just for television? If they are pushing ahead, will the Minister say what the Government’s future policy is on supporting BBC Radio, which still has a massive audience in this country—and abroad, for that matter—and today serves us well in its reports on the Ukraine conflict?
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Lord is absolutely right about the vital role played by BBC Radio, including both national and local radio stations. I greatly enjoyed the programme last night celebrating the centenary of The Waste Land, which, like the BBC, turned 100 last year. That is the sort of distinctly British content that only the BBC can provide. I am sure that any incoming Prime Minister and Administration will see the same challenges that beset the BBC and Channel 4 in continuing to do their excellent work in an increasingly competitive field. They would want to address things such as the declining number of people paying the licence fee for the BBC and Channel 4’s reliance on live advertising to ensure that they continue to be sustainable in future.
BBC Funding
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Lord Fowler(2 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Fowler (CB)
My Lords, I apologise for being premature, but I wanted to congratulate the noble Baroness on what she said, which my noble friend repeated. I have no objection whatever to re-examining the basis of the licence fee. That is a sensible thing to do, but what concerns me is the accompanying statements made by the Secretary of State for Culture, which seem to suggest that this has been more about a political battle between the Government and the BBC than the future of the corporation. I therefore hope that the noble Lord will dissociate himself from that campaign and say that that is not the policy of Her Majesty’s Government.
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, this is not part of any political discussion, other than the politics of ensuring, in the short term, that people are assisted with the rising cost of living and, in the long term, ensuring that the BBC has a sustainable model to continue to produce the excellent output that it does, both at home and around the world. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State paid tribute to it in her Statement and we all continue to do so. It is because we want to see it thrive that we want to make sure that it has the best sustainable model for the long term.
Channel 4: Consultation
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Lord Fowler(2 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord Fowler (CB)
I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord McNally, and indeed to everyone else who has spoken so far. I gently point out that privatisation has often been to the benefit of the public and the organisations being privatised. In the first privatisations of the Thatcher years, in which I was involved, we achieved the first employee buyout of a major company and the ability of British companies, who were starved of cash, to get the resources necessary to expand. Surely the important challenge for the Government is for them to give an assurance that their priority is to develop Channel 4 rather than simply to raise money.
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
I thank the noble Lord for that important point. Channel 4 is uniquely constrained in its ability to meet the challenges facing the media landscape today; in comparison with other public service broadcasters, its access to capital is highly constrained. That is why we are looking at reform to protect Channel 4’s long-term future, so that it can continue to be a valued public service broadcaster, serving audiences with great public service content for years to come.
UK Citizenship: History
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Lord Fowler
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, I believe Standing Orders say that only two questions are allowed in Oral Questions. More pertinently, as I explained, the questions that are put are multiple choice. They are not, as the noble Baroness frames them, designed to catch people out; they are there to encourage people to engage with the story of our nation so far, before they help us to write the next chapter of it. Previous versions of the Life in the United Kingdom handbook did not examine people on the history section, which meant inevitably that lots of people skipped it. I hope she will agree that it is beneficial to check that people have engaged with the glorious past of our country before they help us to write the next chapter, as I say.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
I do not think the noble Lord, Lord Morgan, is here, so I call the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford.
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
I also studied history at Cambridge, a little after my noble friend, but I think that some of the papers were still the same when I was there. The point he makes illustrates how difficult it is for any single person to write a history that does not spark debate, and the purpose of it is to do just that. History is a process of constant inquiry, of re-evaluation and of reconsidering the past and the lessons it can teach us. The history section of the life in the UK test is a starting point for people to engage with the past before they make their valuable contribution to our nation in its future.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked and we now move to the next Question.
China: Treatment of Uighurs and Taiwanese Airspace Incursions
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Lord Fowler
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Lord refers to the work we have been doing to strengthen the overseas business risk guidance to make clearer the risks to UK business. That applies as well to the public sector: we have increased support for UK public bodies to exclude suppliers where there is evidence of human rights violations from their supply chains. He refers to the BEIS Select Committee report, which was published only yesterday in another place, and we will of course look at that with interest. The department will reply to it in the usual way.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked and we now move to the next question.
Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration: Site Visits
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Lord Fowler
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, we have been working with the Crown Premises Fire Safety Inspectorate throughout and have had further advice from the Kent Fire and Rescue Service. We are grateful to them for their proactive work and we continue to work with them both to make sure that the accommodation is safe.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
My Lords, the time allowed for the Question has elapsed and that brings Question Time to an end.
Education: Turing Scheme
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Lord Fowler
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Lord is right to point to the advantages that educational exchange provides, whatever the subject people are studying, and I am sure that is being taken account of as the new Turing scheme is being introduced.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked, and that marks the end of Question Time.
International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015
Debate between Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay and Lord Fowler(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Baroness Chalker of Wallasey (Con)
My Lords, if the newspapers are right, it is a sad day. I believe that, having supported and worked with the Liberal coalition to put the 0.7% commitment on the statute book, there is now a proposal from the Conservative Government that this might be changed. As noble Lords will know, I go back a very long way in this area. When I think of what could be done with that amount of money—particularly now, with the spreading of Covid, the continued spread of malaria and the spread of so many other diseases in Africa, which might well end up coming to Europe even if they are contained in Africa, the far east and South America at the present time—it seems to me madness; that is the only word I can use for it. I hope the noble Lord, who is quite newly facing the Front-Bench duties, will explain in words of one syllable just how bad this is, not only for the Government but for the country, which will have been seen to have let down the developing world.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
I ask noble Lords to keep questions reasonably short so that we can get in all speakers on the list.
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, I hope my noble friend understands that I cannot comment on speculation in newspapers. Tomorrow, we will have an opportunity for an informed discussion after noble Lords have heard what my right honourable friend the Chancellor has said. I certainly pay tribute to my noble friend’s work as a Minister and the work she has done since in forcefully making the case for the increase in spending. I believe that when she left her role as Minister, we were spending 0.2% of GNI or thereabouts. It is to the great credit of successive Governments and all parties that that amount has since been increased.
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
I hope that I can answer my noble friend’s question. The Government are certainly committed to ensuring the robust scrutiny of our aid. In August, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary announced the continuation of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact and plans to conduct a review, to be concluded by the end of this year. That will ensure that the ICAI’s remit, focus and methods are most effectively scrutinising the impact of UK aid and the good that it can do for the world’s poorest people.
The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)
My Lords, the time allowed for this Private Notice Question has elapsed.