Broadcasting Standards Council (Hansard, 21 March 1995)

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of National Heritage (Viscount Astor)
Yes, my Lords. The Broadcasting Standards Council carries out excellent work in helping maintain and improve standards of what is broadcast on television and radio.

§ Lord Palmer
My Lords, I thank the noble Viscount for that reply. Would he not agree though that, the BSC having consumed some £6.5 million over the past five years, the money could have been rather better spent?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, no. I do not agree with the noble Lord. The council has been particularly active in highlighting and articulating public concern about the portrayal of violence, sexual conduct, and matters of taste and decency on television. We support its work fully in that regard.

§ Lord Renton
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the BSC has power to require that independent television companies shall mend their ways when they have been reported upon adversely, but that it has no power even to ask the BBC to do so? That puts the BBC above the law. Would not therefore the work of the BSC be much more valuable if it had the same power over the BBC?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, the Broadcasting Act 1990 requires broadcasters to reflect the council's code in their programme guidelines. With regard to the BBC, I should point out that the BSC is the only independent complaints body on standards to which the BBC must have regard.

§ Lord Barnett
My Lords, as a recent deputy chairman of the BBC, is the Minister aware that I accept that from time to time all broadcasting institutions will get it wrong? But is he also aware, and does he agree, that from time to time the BSC gets it wrong? The danger of that is that many excellent, challenging programmes may just not be made. In those circumstances, does he believe that there is at least the need for a review of the BSC's role?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, the Government believe that the approach adopted in this country of self-regulation by broadcasters, within the framework of guidelines and a code of practice, is right, and represents the best way to balance the right of freedom of expression with considerations of taste, decency, privacy and fair representation. The BSC's code of practice must be taken into account by programme makers.

§ Lord Chalfont
My Lords, does the Minister agree that at the moment broadcasting may be a little over-regulated? Will he confirm that involved in the regulation of broadcasting at the moment we have the BBC Board of Governors, the Independent Television Commission, the Radio Authority, the Broadcasting Complaints Commission and the Broadcasting Standards Council? That is when the Office of Fair Trading and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission are not interfering in the business of broadcasting companies. Does he think that with some profit we might reduce the number of regulatory authorities in broadcasting?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Chalfont, makes an important point. That is why the merger of the Broadcasting Standards Council with the 1125 Broadcasting Complaints Commission was proposed in the Government's White Paper last July. We intend to go ahead with that merger in the future.

§ The Earl of Lauderdale
My Lords, is my noble friend satisfied that the Broadcasting Standards Council has been effective in the monitoring, let alone curbing, of what is known as "adult entertainment" on Channel 4 in programmes that are advertised reasonably as being devoted to erotica, the sex industry, pornography and adult entertainment? What about public service broadcasting and standards of decency?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, in 1993–94, the Broadcasting Standards Council received 2,390 complaints, of which 1,711 were within its remit. Of those complaints, 78 were upheld. It acts on the complaints made to it and we believe that it does a good job.

The Viscount of Falkland
My Lords, has the Minister watched breakfast television? If so, has he noticed the irritating and puerile sexual innuendo which seems to form part of almost every interview or chat between the presenters? Is that not more pernicious than the straightforward portrayal of sex and violence?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, I understand that the Broadcasting Standards Council's survey shows that public attitudes are becoming more tolerant of the portrayal of sexual conduct on television. That is reflected in the council's findings in respect of particular complaints. However, the council is mindful of the offence that such a portrayal can give to some individuals. It is the council's experience that, in general, violence and bad language in broadcasting are matters of much greater concern to the general public.

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, what does the Broadcasting Standards Council do that cannot be done by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, the governors of the BBC, the members of the ITC and the directors of independent television companies?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, it does a very different job. The Broadcasting Complaints Commission deals with individual complaints relating to a particular person as regards what has been broadcast about them; the Broadcasting Standards Council oversees standards on television.

§ Viscount Tenby
My Lords, bearing in mind the views of some that the BSC is a worthy but toothless tiger, and also bearing in mind that the voluntarily agreed television watershed of 9 p.m. is one of the few curbs against the excesses of publicity-seeking programme makers, will the Minister explain why a similar voluntary undertaking is not in place in respect of radio broadcasting, as evidenced by the many complaints received on "Feedback", a radio programme on Saturdays?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, we are concerned about violence shown on television but radio is a slightly different matter. However, the Secretary of State at the Department of National Heritage will meet the chairman of the regulators to discuss action on levels of violence 1126 shown on television, including satellite channels. I shall draw to his attention the noble Viscount's remarks about radio.

§ Baroness Rawlings
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the broadcasting media have great influence? Therefore, should not the relatively toothless Broadcasting Standards Council have more power on the lines of the Press Council?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, I do not believe that the Broadcasting Standards Council is toothless. After all, under the 1990 Act broadcasters must take account of its views.

§ Earl Russell
My Lords, does the Minister agree that, in a society where standards and tastes are diverging rapidly, it is increasingly difficult for the broadcasting authorities to transmit material which does not offend anyone? Does he further agree that, if the wicket-keeper of the Broadcasting Standards Council should be ineffective, there remains a longstop in the power to switch off?

Viscount Astor
My Lords, the noble Earl makes an important point. The Broadcasting Standards Council has carried out a number of consultative exercises in the regions. Those have enabled the council to learn more about the expectations and concerns of ordinary viewers of terrestrial television and satellite services.