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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the BBC gives equal weight to on-screen and off-screen diversity in fulfilling its public purpose to represent the diverse communities of the UK.

We believe that the BBC should be at the forefront of representing diversity both on and off screen. This is why the Government has enshrined diversity in the new Charter’s public purposes which, along with a commitment to serve all audiences enshrined in the BBC mission, will help hold the BBC to account for delivering for everyone in the UK.

Ensuring that the BBC complies with its duties under the new Royal Charter and Framework Agreement is a matter for the BBC Board in the first instance. Ofcom, as the BBC's first external regulator, will be setting measures by which the BBC’s performance in meeting its mission and public purposes can be assessed. Ofcom is currently consulting on the BBC's draft operating licence and performance framework and I would encourage all interested parties to make their views known to Ofcom before these are finalised.