§ Mr. Rowlandsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will list the representations he received relating to the Rediffusion list of subscribers on the fourth Welsh Channel; and what was the nature of each of those representations.
§ Mr. WhitelawBefore reaching the conclusion which I announced on 28 October—[Vol. 29, c.546–7]—I had 33W received 40 letters from local bodies and individuals, including four from hon. Members of this House, and four petitions signed by over 1,000 people in all. The representations made were to the effect that the result of the ballot of subscribers carried out by Rediffusion was not wholly reliable and that permission to Rediffusion to relay the United Kingdom Channel Four service should be either refused, or not decided on in advance of the launching of the Welsh Fourth Channel.
As regards the future, I confirm that Rediffusion may, if it wishes, hold a fresh ballot and that I should be ready to consider, in consultation with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales, a fresh application from it in due course when subscribers have had the opportunity to judge S4C's output for themselves; my Department will be in touch with it about how matters might be carried forward.