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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps she has taken to improve regional diversity in public service broadcasting.

The Government recognises the role that both regional and local broadcasting can play in delivering types of public service content highly valued by local communities.

On a local level, the BBC, local TV providers and commercial and community radio stations all play a crucial role in disseminating accurate news and local information, strengthening pride of place, reflecting the unique interests of the audiences that they serve, connecting communities, and helping to address social issues like loneliness and mental health.

These local services are supplemented by further services delivered at a regional level by broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, STV, and commercial radio providers. Regional services continue to be highly valued by audiences, particularly in relation to their news and current affairs programming, though the Government recognises that they are unable to offer the same type and range of targeted content as genuinely local services.

Public service broadcasters (PSBs) are obliged to deliver against quotas to ensure that public service content meets the needs of a diverse range of viewers - this includes regional production quotas, requiring PSBs to produce a proportion of programmes outside the M25.

Ofcom is required to undertake regular analysis of key trends in the media sector, particularly how audiences are served across, and in different parts of, the UK. That data is used by Ofcom to inform their ongoing regulation of public service media providers, and also informs DCMS’s policy around the ongoing provision of local and regional media.

Reforms announced in the Government’s draft Media Bill will ensure that PSB obligations are delivered via on-demand services for the first time, and will seek to deliver regional prominence for certain designated online services, maximising the social benefits of PSB content to all audiences.