§ Mr. WyattTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will require the BBC to distinguish between its public service broadcasting and its commercial ventures in its accounts. [44214]
§ Mr. Fisher[holding answer 8 June 1998]: The BBC's accounts, in its forthcoming Annual Report, due to be laid before Parliament on 15 July, will incorporate a number of measures to increase their transparency, including showing clearly the £90 million cash flow benefit of BBC 493W Worldwide to the licence fee payer. The financial statements will also include BBC Worldwide's statutory accounts and a segmental analysis of its activities.
We welcome these measures and in the light of them have no plans to impose further accounting requirements.