§ Mr. Chopeasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the scope for reducing financial burdens on independent local radio.
§ Mr. Giles ShawI understand that the Independent Broadcasting Authority has now identified improvements in the method of apportioning expenditure between its television and radio branches which would have the effect of significantly reducing the costs which have to be recovered through independent local radio programme contractors' rental payments to the authority. I warmly welcome this outcome. The future of the regulatory arrangements for independent local radio and their costs will be considered in the Green Paper on radio which we propose to publish in the autumn.