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BBC: Chairmanship (Communications Committee Report)

My Lords, this has been a good debate. It gave some evidence of the quality of the Communications Committee. I thank everyone who has taken part. The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, rightly underlined the curious position of the chairman of the BBC Trust and the complex position at the top of the BBC. The noble Baroness, Lady Howe, pointed to the unsatisfactory position of Michael Grade’s departure from the BBC and the whole appointments process. The noble Lord, Lord Maxton, with his substantial experience, set out his view of what the new trust should be doing and the standards that the BBC should be observing, particularly in news programmes. The noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, asked, among other questions, who was the champion of the BBC—a question that I do not think has been answered. She, like all other Members—and this is an important point—spoke from a supportive position the BBC and its importance in our national life. From the Front Benches, my noble friend Lord Luke pointed out some of the serious errors that the BBC has made recently, but he also stressed its independence. The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, rightly criticised the fact that Ministers and officials were closely involved in the selection process and he supported greater parliamentary involvement in the oversight of the BBC, including pre-appointment hearings. He described the Government’s response to our report as negative and stonewalling. Then we came to the great old stonewaller himself, the noble Lord, Lord Davies. He predicted that I would disagree with him, and I certainly do. It is frankly a little fanciful to give an illustration of the difficulties of filling public appointments by trying to compare the nuclear appointment with appointment to the chairmanship of the BBC. There is a long queue around Portland Place of people who would like to do the latter job. I, and I think the committee, profoundly disagree with the noble Lord’s well rehearsed point about the role of Parliament. No one is arguing, as the response says, for parliamentary control. However, we are arguing for parliamentary scrutiny. We are talking about £3 billion of licence fee money, which has been provided by the public. As the noble Lord, Lord Maxton, rightly said, the only legitimate representatives of the public in this respect are Members of Parliament—to a lesser extent those in this House, but Parliament generally. Decisions on the charter and the licence fee taken by the department and the BBC are open to all kinds of objections. The idea of public support of the Government—not just this Government—being a determinant factor here is slightly ludicrous. I do not really think that it can be seriously argued that, whatever else, the BBC Trust is the answer to the democratic deficit. I do not see how that can even be put forward as an argument. It is not a democratic body; no one elects it. That comes back to the point that the noble Lord, Lord Maxton, and others have made on its democratic legitimacy. The BBC Trust is and can be a regulator, but I do not see how it can be asked to fill the democratic deficit that undoubtedly exists. We have had our debate. I am grateful to the Minister. It will come as no surprise to him that we will want to come back to these issues and we will be debating and investigating new issues over the coming months. On Question, Motion agreed to.