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STV

I do not deny that there were consultation submissions in favour—that is absolutely correct. What I am trying to illustrate is the strong tide of opinion against the proposal. Clearly, the Secretary of State had to take all sides of the argument into account. It is because the hon. Gentleman and his two colleagues strongly put the case in favour of the proposal that I am trying to ensure that we have a balance in the debate. It is important to remember that there are two valid sides to the argument—the decision was a difficult one that required a degree of care on the part of the Secretary of State—and I hope that I have managed to illustrate that, given that the hon. Gentleman made the other side of the case so strongly in his speech. PACT in particular raised some further interesting points. It considers that STV is already well placed to take advantage of the predicted growth in the Scottish production sector—the hon. Gentleman mentioned that—even without qualifying as an independent. Furthermore, PACT noted that STV Productions and STV's wholly owned subsidiary Ginger Productions are already winning commissions from the full range of network commissioning broadcasters, including all public service broadcasters. It was also pointed out by respondents that the benefits accruing to STV, which STV itself provided to the Department for the purposes of the consultation, were minimal. As was noted in the published impact assessment, STV estimated that if its production arms were reclassified as independent under the proposal, it would experience an increase in production revenues of £400,000, to £1 million per annum. That represents an increase of just 15 hours of production and, STV estimated, would create five full-time jobs. Those were not the only viewpoints. Other contributors to the consultation were in favour of the proposal, as the hon. Gentleman mentioned and as I acknowledged in our last exchange. STV was, of course, strongly supportive of the proposal. The Government carefully considered the arguments put forward by STV for the benefits that would accrue both to STV and to the industry. STV believes that there would be a benefit to the Scottish economy arising from a greater dispersion of production throughout the UK. In particular, we noted STV's view that it was currently prevented from competing on a level playing field due to its minority role within the ITV network. STV told us it has no influence over commissioning decisions, is disadvantaged by its regulatory status and cannot compete for the independent quota. Ofcom, as the hon. Gentleman said, provided a valuable contribution and set out its reasons for broadly supporting the proposal. It did so on the basis that reclassification would encourage greater access to network commissioning by external producers, with potential associated benefits for the development of the production sector in the nations. We also noted Ofcom's reference to the conclusion of its advisory committee for Scotland, which suggested that the benefit to existing Scottish independents, in the form of a larger number of commissioned co-productions between STV and other producers, is unproven. I hope that I have provided a useful and, in the light of my last couple of points, at least reasonably balanced summary of some of the contributions to the consultation. I encourage hon. Members to read the full responses on my Department's website, although I think it is clear that the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues have conducted a fairly extensive trawl of the submissions and are already possessed of a high degree of familiarity with them. For the record, however, and for anyone else who is interested, I just wanted to point out that the responses are there for anybody who wishes to see them. Some hon. Members may be aware of the recent evidence provided by STV in the Biggar report, which indicates a rather larger financial benefit than was originally projected in the impact assessment. We have seen that report, but it was received six weeks after the decision had been announced and 10 months after the consultation closed. The point remains that the voice of the existing independent sector is loud and clear: it does not want this to happen. As I have mentioned, in making his decision the Secretary of State also concluded that it is inappropriate to consider the matter in isolation. He announced in January that we are embarking on a major review of the communications sector. It will be a wide and comprehensive review leading to a new communications Act before the end of this Parliament. I should make it clear that we do not intend to review again the specific issue of the potential re-classification of production companies owned by Channel 3 licence holders, but the review will include an assessment of public service broadcasting and regulation, and the broader issues of independent production are almost certain to be part of that. Question put and agreed to.