Speeches by Peacock.

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I echo the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti), in wishing a merry Christmas to everyone present, and congratulate the right hon. Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale) on securing this important debate. He and I…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. Of course, we spoke about this issue in the debate last night. There is the complaints procedure through BBC First, and complaints can be escalated to the executive complaints unit and then to Ofcom. But I appreciate that some people have simply decided not to b…”

“I will happily ask the Secretary of State to write to the hon. Lady. However, in talking about mutualisation, which the Secretary of State made some comments about some years ago, I think it is about having a greater role for the public in BBC accountability and the public feeling more ownership of it. But we will happ…”

“I completely echo that. As we have said right from the beginning of this session, it is a huge asset to the country, not just in terms of power but the huge contribution that it makes. We have talked about all of that this afternoon—humanitarian, education, the accuracy of information, and the huge contribution that it…”

“That would be a conversation that we would have between the Foreign Office and the Treasury. Of course, we do have the second spending review coming up.”

“Baroness Chapman has articulated it very well and is absolutely right. We need to be respectful. We need to respect the independence and we want to see it thrive into the future.”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Local Digital Television Programme Services (Amendment) Order 2024. It is a pleasure to open the debate under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I am pleased to speak to the order, which was laid before the House in draft on 5 November. In just over 10 years since th…”

“It is a pleasure to conclude the debate. I am grateful for the contributions that all Members have made. It is clear that both sides of the House want to see the local TV sector thrive long into the future, and continue to provide valuable news and current affairs content that meets the needs and interests of those liv…”

“It absolutely is a huge part of our soft power across the world, and I am sure that Baroness Chapman can speak to some of the specifics on that. Certainly, from my Department’s perspective, the World Service has a huge part to play in broadcasting, across the world to 58 countries and in 42 languages[1], the voice of G…”

“I am pleased to respond to this debate, and I congratulate the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) on securing it. The debate is a good opportunity to discuss the upcoming charter review, which we intend to launch next year. He has raised a number of important areas related to the BBC, which I will respond t…”

“Yes, I do accept that, and it is something we can look at as part of the charter review. Of course, Ofcom, as the BBC’s independent regulator, holds the BBC to account on its performance and its commissioning practices, and on the market impact of those. The hon. Gentleman mentioned BBC pay, which I appreciate is a mat…”

“Baroness Chapman has articulated it very well and is absolutely right. We need to be respectful. We need to respect the independence and we want to see it thrive into the future.”

“I completely echo that. As we have said right from the beginning of this session, it is a huge asset to the country, not just in terms of power but the huge contribution that it makes. We have talked about all of that this afternoon—humanitarian, education, the accuracy of information, and the huge contribution that it…”

“That is a very good question and one that I will ask the BBC and write to the Committee about.”

“I can come in on that. It speaks to feedback, but, in terms of complaints, there is of course the BBC First service. If you complain to the BBC, you can then escalate it to the executive complaints unit. The detail was run through in your previous session with the BBC, so audiences who are not happy can certainly feed …”

“Yes. It is hard to tell. If I was to ask my constituents in Barnsley if they listen to the World Service, I would suspect that they would say not. However, if I was to talk to them about some of the motivators and reasons behind the World Service that this Committee has been exploring, and the huge contribution that it…”

“I am Stephanie Peacock I am the media Minister and the Member of Parliament for Barnsley South.”

“It absolutely is a huge part of our soft power across the world, and I am sure that Baroness Chapman can speak to some of the specifics on that. Certainly, from my Department’s perspective, the World Service has a huge part to play in broadcasting, across the world to 58 countries and in 42 languages[1], the voice of G…”

“It will be jointly chaired between the two Departments. The Foreign Secretary said in front of your Committee that it is about getting greater bang for our buck. We have a huge amount of soft power, and a lot of that does fall into our Department with the creative sectors, the sports sectors and so on. It is about grea…”

“The shorter-term settlement, as Baroness Chapman has outlined, was a negotiation between the Foreign Office and the Treasury. We work closely with the Treasury and the Foreign Office, and we meet regularly with the BBC as a whole. In terms of the short to medium term, we will have the second spending review. The longer…”