§ 2.44 p.m.
THE EARL OF BESSBOROUGHMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government, in view of the statement in paragraph 34 of the Memorandum on the Report of the Committee on Broadcasting (Cmnd. 1770) that the Government believes that an ultimate pattern of six television programmes should be kept in sight, what plans are being made to devote at least one of these programmes wholly to educational purposes.]
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, in another part of the White Paper, the Government record their decision that educational programmes will best be provided as part of the general service programmes and that it would be a mistake to hive them off, at this stage at least, into an entirely separate programme insulated from the attractions of television in general. The Answer to my noble friend's Question is, therefore, that no plans are at present being made to devote any television programme wholly to educational purposes.
THE EARL OF BESSBOROUGHMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for his reply, may I ask whether, in view of the fact that there are wholly educational television services existing in the United States, Japan and China, and they are being planned in several other countries of the world, he does not think that in this country, if the third service goes to a general B.B.C. programme and the fourth perhaps to a competitive commercial service, at least the fifth out of the six programmes should be reserved 138 for educational purposes, including perhaps a teaching service?
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, if my noble friend refers further to the White Paper, in fact to the next paragraph to the one he quoted—that is, paragraph 33—he will see that the foreseeable need for the six programmes is something like fifteen years ahead. The Government have considered this matter very carefully and obtained advice from those well qualified to judge in the world of education, and the consensus of opinion on which the decision was based was that it was better to get the educational features across within the framework of what one might call comprehensive programmes. I do not think that on that basis the fact that other countries do it in a different way, where quite likely problems and circumstances are different, is necessarily a right reason for our adopting the same course.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, would not the noble Lord agree that there are plenty of opportunities now for television programmes if the television authorities wished to introduce them? Unfortunately, they are not commercially attractive.
§ LORD CHESHAMMy Lords, without being able to quote a great deal of chapter and verse, I understand that both the existing programmes include quite a useful element of educational features in their programmes.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLYou have not looked.