Oral Answers to Questions

David Mowat Excerpts

Monday 26th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. Our real concern on this side of the House is about the sexualisation of young people in particular; we take a liberal view of adults’ ability to make decisions about what they see on television. I do not want to pretend that there is an easy answer, because traditional linear viewing, which allowed the watershed, made it possible to be much more definite about what would be seen by children and what would be seen by adults. To answer the hon. Gentleman’s question directly, we have no plans to relax any of the taste and decency regulations for terrestrial broadcasts.

[David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)]

9. What progress has been made on implementation of the proposals set out in the coalition agreement to give the National Audit Office full access to the BBC’s accounts.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

I had a brief meeting with the chair of the BBC Trust last month. My officials are now working with the BBC Trust to ensure that the commitment is achieved by November 2011, as announced in the Department’s structural reform plan, in a way that preserves the BBC’s editorial independence.

[David Mowat]

The move by part of the BBC from London to Salford has been good value for the licence payer, good for the north-west and will be good for the BBC. Does the Under-Secretary agree that it would be useful for the National Audit Office to consider moving further functions of the BBC from inside the M25 to the north-west, particularly Salford?

[Mr Vaizey]

That is not a matter for the National Audit Office, which examines how the BBC spends its money, but for the BBC and the BBC Trust.