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Community Radio (Amendment) Order 2010

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his introduction to the order. As he said—and we agree—community radio forms a vital part of the broadcasting landscape. Indeed, as both he and the noble Lord, Lord Luke, said, its growth since 2004 has been a great success story, with now more than 200 community stations. We on these Benches share the motives and agree with most of the actions of the Government and with their intent in the order. The lead-up to the order has not been for want of documentation: there is the Ofcom review of 2007; the interim Digital Britain review; the Myers independent review of the rules governing local content on commercial radio; the final report of Digital Britain; the consultation on amendments to the community radio licensing regime in June; the summary of responses to the consultation and the Government's response of October; and the impact assessment and Explanatory Memorandum to the order. The Government have made their position and their motives clear in the run-up to the order. We share what the Government have to say, particularly in respect of loosening the regulation on sources of funding, licensing overlap and extension of licence periods. The key thing that the Government have done is to maintain the restrictions on advertising. That is a vital safeguard. We support the general thrust of the amendments, including the retention of those advertising restrictions. At the same time, we understand the concerns of RadioCentre and others about the impact on small commercial radio stations. Although the impact assessment is welcome as such, it is very thin; it says very little about the impact on smaller radio stations. It states: ""The effect of allowing community radio stations to co-exist with the smallest commercial stations is difficult to quantify. However, it is likely that community radio stations will attract some listeners from local commercial stations. This could affect the value of an advertising slot to a local commercial station"." The request of the commercial industry for impact assessments when new licences are granted to community radio stations is a valid one that the Minister needs to answer. The general impact assessment is not adequate; the impact in a particular area, however, will be crucial. I hope that the Minister will be able to give a favourable response on that. The issue of funding for local community radio in this context is very important. I can see the Government’s motives in wanting to allow single-source funding up to a greater figure—75 per cent, I think—but one of the key sources of funding has been the community radio fund. That started off, rather disappointingly, at £500,000; since then, the spending commitments of that fund have increased massively from something like 14 stations to over 200, as we heard today. If the Government are changing regulations and wishing the community radio industry well, I hope that at the same time they will give some indication that the funding for community radio will be improved. It is all very well to wish community radio well and say what an important part of the broadcasting landscape it is but, without willing some additional resource to it, it will be difficult, particularly in the current climate, for it to sustain itself. I hope that the Minister will be able to answer those two questions, which are highly pertinent to both the future of small commercial radio stations and the community radio movement itself.