§ Mr. Matesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the United Kingdom's objectives for the VHF band II planning conference in 1984.
§ Mr. William WhitelawThe United Kingdom's proposals have to be submitted to the International Telecommunication Union by 1 February 1984. A good deal of planning remains to be done and our neighbours will have to be consulted, but at this stage I believe that the United Kingdom's proposals can be drawn up in a way that will achieve the following objectives: the creation of two new national VHF networks; the provision of additional frequencies for the development of BBC and independent local radio along the lines envisaged in my reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for East Grinstead on 14 July 1981—[Vol. 8, c.330–331.]—and the maintenance of the existing VHF networks and improvements to their coverage.
Depending on the outcome of the conference, frequencies for both new national networks should become available at the beginning of 1990, while frequencies for other purposes should become available by 1996. The IBA has proposed that one of the new national networks should be used to provide an independent national radio service. The Government find this proposal attractive, provided that satisfactory financing arrangements can be developed. Legislation would however be required to enable the IBA to provide such a service. I propose to allocate the other new network to the BBC so that there can be separate VHF networks for Radios 1 and 2.