Speeches by Irons.

“Perhaps the argument for the BBC—and Jordan, perhaps you can say what you think about this—is that it has focused on content that it assumes younger people want to see. It will have put more into YouTube and it has the deal that it is trying to put together at the moment. Is part of the challenge not that the BBC has t…”

“We have talked about algorithms and how we are living in an age of endless content and information along with the power of algorithms to editorialise what we see and shape the collective individualism we all have with our screens. What are the practicalities? I think that the aspiration should be there for the BBC to a…”

“Just to pick up on that, Iain, you talked about the BBC being smaller and focusing on a much tighter remit of content. To tease that out a bit more, what things do you think it should be doing specifically? Should it just be current affairs, news and that sort of thing?”

“Q3. I am proud that, after decades, this Labour Government are putting passengers before profit by bringing Greater Thameslink Railway, Southern and Gatwick Express into public ownership. The previous Government shelved plans to unblock the bottleneck at East Croydon station, which not only causes delays from Bedford t…”

“Rob, do you think there are any benefits to a household levy?”

“The challenges are the delivery of it.”

“Just to wrap up, were you surprised that the Government left it out of the consultation, because it sounds that there are things here to tease out? Would it have been a good place to start the conversation about this?”

“Are we saying that the advantage is a bit of independence from Government and it applying to everybody, but the—”

“I should declare an interest: I used to work at Channel 4, and my partner currently works there. I am going to pivot a little to the household levy idea, because we have had a lot of submissions that are supportive of that model. Gill, how would a household levy work and what are the essential differences between that …”

“You are trying to fix council tax for us. That would put a lot of things in the too-difficult box. Do you think it is better to change how the licence fee currently works and make it a bit more universal and device-neutral, rather than bring in a wholesale change?”

“You were saying that the trend among young people is not to watch linear telly, as they have gone on to YouTube. Do you have analysis of how much PSB content they are watching on YouTube? There has been a shift from the PSBs to move a lot of their content on to YouTube to capture those eyeballs. Is there any analysis o…”

“Levy or fee: it is the same thing; you are still taking money. Thank you so much.”

“Is the main challenge the transition to that new system, rather than the principle being the problem?”

“It is very interesting. It sounds as if you are saying that because actually extending and changing the licence fee was not included in the consultation, adding in this sort of independent mechanism would be a very good way for us to go forward. Were you disappointed not to see the household levy in the consultation?”

“That is interesting, because we have a constant back-and-forth with our own World Service about how we do this.”

“Rob, do you think there are any benefits to a household levy?”

“This is not just about work; this is about what it means to grow up as a young person in this country and meeting the ambitions of young people like those in my community in Croydon East. The Government have already announced a number of measures to support our young people. Can the Minister outline what can be done to…”

“Has the change to the levy, bringing in the household levy, had much impact on or made a difference to the quality of public service media in Germany? Are more people engaged and watching it?”

“Levy or fee: it is the same thing; you are still taking money. Thank you so much.”

“It is very interesting. It sounds as if you are saying that because actually extending and changing the licence fee was not included in the consultation, adding in this sort of independent mechanism would be a very good way for us to go forward. Were you disappointed not to see the household levy in the consultation?”