Speeches by Whittingdale.

“We were led to believe that you would be able to come and tell us the details at this session. The British Council is perhaps the most urgent, in that the potential failure to resolve this could lead to the most drastic outcome. Can you give us some indication of when you will come back to the Committee, perhaps with t…”

“And the World Service?”

“But you have two organisations that are staring at some very unpleasant choices, and the longer this drags on, the worse it is. First, the British Council, which is perhaps the most serious, is talking about having to go into insolvency unless it can be given confidence that its funding will be sufficient to meet its c…”

“At the end of the day, they are funding decisions that need to be made. We are being told by the British Council that potentially 40 offices will close across the world. We are also being told by the BBC World Service that unless they get an uplift, which they are still in discussion with you about, they will be unable…”

“Surely, the case for maintaining offices is not whether or not they are commercially sustainable; it is about ensuring that there is British influence and presence in some of the most challenging places in the world.”

“They sent you a letter on 7 November.”

“But if you have been meeting them fortnightly throughout the process and they are very clear, why have they sent you a letter saying they are now formally in dispute with the FDCO?”

“Abtisam explored with you the consultation that had taken place with the unions. You have said that HR were in very regular contact with them, but they believe very strongly that the procedures have not been followed under the civil service redundancy principles, nor has the redundancy mitigation process been followed,…”

“I want to ask you one other question, which is very narrow but is of great importance to some of your staff, and that is about the Student Loans Company’s attitude to the provision of student loans to those undertaking overseas postings. You will be aware that they appear to have now stated that those people’s children…”

“Sir Olly, you have told us in the past when we have asked you about the funding position of the British Council and of the World Service that you would be in a position to provide more details in the autumn. Are you now in a position to provide more details?”

“10. What discussions she has had with the BBC on renewal of the charter.”

“The Secretary of State will be aware that, as the Public Accounts Committee has pointed out, last year the BBC lost more than £1 billion as a result of evasion and households declaring that they no longer need a licence. That figure is going to grow over the course of the next charter, so will she look at finding other…”

“T3. Yesterday I had a roundtable meeting with a number of UK-based AI firms that have reached licensing agreements with owners of rights in the creative industries and publishing industries. Rather than just talking to big tech, will she and the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology meet those UK-ba…”

“Does the Prime Minister agree that, if Ukraine has agreed to a proposal that has been brokered by the United States, it must be made acceptable to Russia and that we need to exert every possible pressure on Russia through increased military support, sanctions and the use of frozen assets to make Russia accept a ceasefi…”

“I think we were all agreed that the 28-point plan as it was first put forward was wholly unacceptable, for the reasons that Ivanna and Oleksandr have set out very well. However, it now appears, according to media reports, that there may have been the outline of some agreement between America and Russia. We are still ge…”

“Perhaps I might bring in our three colleagues from Czechia, Finland and Poland. When I put a question to the Prime Minister earlier this afternoon, I said that if Russia is unwilling to accept something that Ukraine is able to accept, surely we must step up the pressure dramatically on Russia to do so, and use all avai…”

“The BBC has said that the editing of the “Panorama” programme gave the impression of a “direct call for violent action”— something it then described as an “error of judgement”, which seems an extraordinary understatement. Does the Secretary of State share my concern that although this was considered by the editorial gu…”

“I would only ask a more general question. On the back of Abtisam raising the US withdrawal, what do you hope will realistically come out of COP by the end of it? What are the achievable goals that you feel we should really aim to obtain?”

“Is it your experience that all the Departments of State are fully committed to contributing to this, and is proper work going on right across Whitehall?”

“That is a very helpful summary of all the challenges that this COP faces. On the UK’s specific contribution, I think that before previous COP meetings the Government made a statement setting out their view of the UK’s priorities. Would you expect the UK to make a similar statement this time? What work is going on to br…”