Violence on Television

HC Deb 16 October 1995 vol 264 c170W

Lady Olga Maitland

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what steps she is taking to curb violence on television. [35922]

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

Broadcasters in the UK are independent of Government but have clear responsibilities with regard to programme content. Both the BBC and ITC undertook to monitor violence on television as a result of meetings with my predecessor last year. I have now received the findings of the study, and I am pleased to note that the amount of television violence broadcast on the terrestrial channels in the UK is down. I will be meeting with the chairman of both the ITC and BBC to discuss how the findings of the study can be taken forward. However, it will remain the duty of the broadcasting regulatory bodies to continue to monitor the amount of violence broadcast on television.