BBC Charter (Hansard, 18 April 1994)

§ 19. Mr. Clifton-Brown
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans he has to redistribute existing BBC local radio wavebands to the commercial sector.

§ Mr. Brooke
Our policy is to encourage the broadcasters to reduce the broadcasting of the same programmes on AM and FM frequencies. AM frequencies used by the BBC for local radio will be released to the Radio Authority, if they are needed for the development of independent local radio.

§ 23. Ms Eagle
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage when he next plans to meet the chairman of the BBC governors to discuss the renewal of the BBC charter.

§ Mr. Brooke
I shall be meeting the BBC chairman next month.

§ Mrs. Roche
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will place in the Library a copy of all submissions made on the renewal of the BBC charter.

§ Mr. Brooke
No. We received more than 6,000 responses to the consultation document. I encouraged organisations to publish their responses, and many did so, but some organisations asked for their replies to be kept private. Last July, I placed in the Library a report analysing the replies from the public and a list of the organisations which responded.