§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the current powers of the chairman-designate of the Broadcasting Standards Authority; and what is his current pay in that capacity, and from what date.
§ Mr. MellorThe Broadcasting Bill, if approved by Parliament, will establish the Broadcasting Standards Council as a statutory body and confirm its existing functions as statutory powers. It will have the power to draw up a code of practice on the portrayal of violence and sex and on matters of taste and decency, the general effect of which the broadcasters will be obliged to reflect in their own programme codes; it will have the power to undertake and commission research; to consider and examine complaints and require broadcasters to publish its findings on the complaints in whatever form it considers appropriate; and to monitor programmes which originate within the United Kingdom and those broadcast to the United Kingdom from abroad. These powers are invested in the Council as a whole, rather than the chairman as an individual. The salary of the council's chairman, Lord Rees-Mogg, is £31,500 per annum with effect from 1 April 1989.