Speeches by Whittingdale.

“When you talked about the British Council’s programme, you referred specifically to the EU and the Baltic nations. I visited the British Council office in Latvia, and people there talked about their programme of supporting, I think, 40 projects. To give you an example from the website, that includes work to “develop so…”

“They are now considering it.”

“You referred to the fact that the reference to material uncertainty over the future of the British Council is because of the loan, and each year you have to go to the Foreign Office and get agreement, which you get at only the last minute. That cannot be a satisfactory situation. Would it not be much better for the For…”

“I think the British Council probably should be funded in part by the Government, because you bring benefits. On the matter of the loan, if you get to a position where you are, in your definition, self-sustaining, you still have this £200 million sitting there. Is there any immediate prospect of your being able to repay…”

“Some would think self-sustaining means that you are capable of standing on your two feet without any subsidy. Do you not see that as any realistic possibility?”

“Your definition of self-sustaining is that the British Council will continue to receive perhaps around 15% of its budget from a grant from the Foreign Office?”

“When we had the permanent secretary of the Foreign Office before us, he told us that it was the Foreign Office’s intention that the British Council should be self-sustaining. How close are you to that? Let us put the loan to one side—we can come to how and when it might be repaid. Let us say you succeed in rolling it o…”

“This morning the Prime Minister spoke about the Government’s wish to develop a clear and trusted copyright regime, which is, I believe, what many in the creative industries thought we already had. When the Secretary of State comes to consider Matt Clifford’s recommendation for reform of the text and data mining regime,…”

“Does the Minister agree that transparency is crucial if creators are to understand where their works are being used by AI developers? Can he therefore assure me that the Government will legislate on transparency whatever the outcome of the consultation on copyright reform?”

“I entirely sympathise with my right hon. Friend’s point. The winter fuel decision was a very direct breach of an undertaking given, but even with VAT on schools, which he correctly says was in the Labour party manifesto, it was said that the money it raised—if it does raise any money, which a number of us doubt—would b…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I, too, thank the Chair of the Petitions Committee, the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone), for introducing the debate, and, through him, Mr Michael Westwood, who has given us an opportunity to debate these matters. I am pro…”

“I want to give the hon. Gentleman a little more time. He is very keen to quote from the Labour manifesto. Will he comment on the third paragraph of the page introducing that manifesto, which states: “It contains a tax lock for working people—a pledge not to raise rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT.”?”

“I welcome the Minister’s confirmation of the Government’s support for Ukraine’s eventual membership of NATO. As a step along that road, will he look at the UK taking a lead in further integrating Ukraine into the joint expeditionary force?”

“3. What assessment he has made of the impact of the autumn Budget 2024 on family farms.”

“The Minister will be aware of reports that up to £160 million is held in assets in the UK under the Syrian sanctions regime. Will she look at ways in which that money can be used in due course for the benefit of the people of Syria?”

“Has the right hon. Gentleman seen the latest research, which shows that 75% of commercial farms will exceed the £1 million threshold and therefore will become liable for inheritance tax? Just to give him one example, a family in West Hanningfield in my constituency who have farmed for five generations say that they fac…”

“I have sympathy with the hon. Gentleman. It is the case that the BBC provides more of the core public service content than the other PSBs—the others do, but not to the same extent. National and regional coverage of the type he has described is absolutely a core part of that. I think that needs to continue, and if the l…”

“I do not disagree with a lot of what the hon. Lady has said about the value of the BBC, but the problem is that more and more people are unwilling to pay the licence fee, and that has to be addressed. She wants to see a strongly financed and funded BBC, but she is going to have to come up with an answer to the fact tha…”

“My hon. Friend is completely right. She and I both had the pleasure of serving as Minister; I was delighted to stand in for her while she was on maternity leave, so we have both looked at the issue for some time. We have to look at the overall television landscape. If we allow advertising, or encourage the BBC to compe…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the future funding of the BBC It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell, and to debate a subject that I seem to have spent a large part of my parliamentary career discussing, but which has become extremely appropriate to examine once again today. Th…”