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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the level of the funding gap between the BBC, ALBA and S4C; and whether she plans to take steps to address disparities in long-term funding security between Gaelic and Welsh language broadcasting.

The Government recognises the valuable contribution that providers of minority language broadcasting have in our society and the preservation of our national heritage.

The Media Act 2024 makes clear in legislation the importance of programmes broadcast in the UK’s indigenous and minority languages - including Scottish Gaelic - by including it in the modernised public service remit for television in the UK.

The Public Service Broadcasters, as well as MG ALBA, are operationally and editorially independent from Government, and specific decisions regarding content are a matter for them. MG ALBA committed in its 2024/25 annual plan to explicitly consider international reach and opportunities.

The Government launched the BBC Charter Review last year, which will consider how the BBC can best support minority language broadcasting, including Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. The Green paper also sets out that we are considering what further obligations the BBC should have to ensure a broad range of public service content is promoted within the BBC’s own platforms.

On funding, we will consider options for providing MG ALBA with more certainty over its partnership arrangements with the BBC and its funding as part of the Charter Review.