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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 9 January (HL Deb, cols 130–34) stating that “the Government absolutely support urgent action” on unfair pay at the BBC and that “the Government expect the BBC to act in accordance with what we have expected it to do as regards the gender pay gap”, what steps they are taking to encourage urgent action to address the gender pay gap at the BBC.

The government is clear the BBC must lead the way on equality in the workplace. We welcome the Director General's commitment to close the gender pay gap by 2020 and expect to see swift progress in this area.