Speeches by Smith.

“Oli, you said earlier that all the info is there, but it is about finding it. How did you guys get your stuff out there? Is the success of Numberblocks, Oli, and Horrible Histories, Richard, because your brands are already established? Do you think that they could work without that established brand?”

“Better development funds?”

“That was development all those years ago. Oli, your colleague Nathan Wilkes has sent in some evidence that says that “there is no viable funding pathway for high-quality, educational, UK-made, YouTube-first content.” He described it as a “structural crisis”. How do we address that?”

“So what can we do?”

“You have expressed concern, Adam, about levies hitting streaming investment. Can you point us to other countries where that has happened? There are levies in France, Australia and Canada. Has that amounted to a reduction in streaming investment there?”

“Better development funds?”

“That was development all those years ago. Oli, your colleague Nathan Wilkes has sent in some evidence that says that “there is no viable funding pathway for high-quality, educational, UK-made, YouTube-first content.” He described it as a “structural crisis”. How do we address that?”

“So what can we do?”

“You have expressed concern, Adam, about levies hitting streaming investment. Can you point us to other countries where that has happened? There are levies in France, Australia and Canada. Has that amounted to a reduction in streaming investment there?”

“I have a couple of questions about your approach to the job. There is obviously a balance to strike between independence, accountability and support for the sector. What sort of principles will guide you in striking that balance?”

“Thank you. I should have referred to my interest as a trustee of a charity. To follow on from that, this is a three-year term. What do you hope to have achieved at the end of the three years, and what will you want to get out of your first six months in the job?”

“How do you do that? If a charity gets involved in a controversial debate—I am thinking particularly of charities that have been criticised for getting involved in either “woke” agendas or “anti-woke” agendas—how does the Commission respond to that without getting drawn into it and accused of bias?”

“With those charities you referred to that have aims which you do not share, how do you personally ensure your neutrality in your job?”

“We have talked about the challenges of the difficult times that we are working in. We have an increasingly polarised society, with some difficult debates. What risks does that pose for the Charity Commission, and how do you mitigate them?”

“Do you think it was impartial?”

“Michael, Dr Shah said that your memo is “a partial description of the evidence that EGSC received”. Is it fair to describe your memo as partial?”

“To be clear, the Grossman reports were the only ones that were asked for by the committee on this particular topic—there were no others?”

“Caroline, you said that the memo does not provide a comprehensive review of the Grossman report. Do you think it gives an accurate sense of the Grossman report?”

“Were you surprised?”

“Well, I think there could be an accusation that you did not represent the Grossman report fairly in your memo, and that you picked up all the points that he made that were criticisms of the BBC, without stating the context, which was, generally speaking, that he was positive about the coverage, and had put forward thes…”