§ Lord Lucasasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they support the BBC's current and proposed activities on the web. [HL3152]
§ The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Blackstone)The Government made it clear in the licence fee settlement announcement in February 2000 that the BBC should help to drive the take-up of new digital and online services.
It gave approval to the BBC to launch BBC Online on a permanent footing as a core public service in 1998. There will be an independent review of the service against the original approval as part of a rolling programme of BBC new services reviews. The first of these is underway and the BBC Online review will follow.