Speeches by Foxcroft.

“Quite often people say that these things come down to funding, but they don’t always. Sometimes it is really about pushing the will. On the importance of representation, what more could the BBC be doing to ensure that it has a more diverse workforce and particularly more deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people?”

“Why is this important to you?”

“Do you think people will value the BBC more when they see that increase, particularly from their local communities?”

“Fantastic. I know you said that we can imagine how a bootcamp works, but I think there are different kinds, so can you expand on that a little bit?”

“Why is this important to you?”

“How long does the bootcamp last?”

“Brilliant. Do you think that making sure that we get more diverse workforces—and in particular, for me, people from working-class backgrounds—is important and can lead people to have more trust, and place more value, in the BBC?”

“Brilliant. Do you think that making sure that we get more diverse workforces—and in particular, for me, people from working-class backgrounds—is important and can lead people to have more trust, and place more value, in the BBC?”

“This is not the question that I am supposed to ask, but I will just push one more time.”

“Put on loads.”

“I will start by declaring an interest. I worked for a trade union for more than a decade before I was an MP. I am coming back to the point about workers on boards, which James said is very difficult to achieve, but I think there could be a lot of value added to the BBC if it made sure it did this. There have been diffe…”

“No, but you know what I’m saying. The ability to consume that on TV, at a cost you can afford, or go to the pub and so on and watch it—that is the reason why I was linking the two.”

“Sports are quite often—football in particular is traditionally quite a working-class sport to engage with.”

“I have found this really interesting. You have touched on quite a few things in terms of improving the BBC, but there are two things that I want to talk about, which both relate to working-class people. One is the BBC providing less sport. I would think that paying for Sky Sports is dramatically more expensive than pay…”

“In terms of changing the culture and getting more working-class people into the organisation, I think the mistake is to narrow things down to one issue that needs resolving, rather than seeing that there can be a whole benefit in the round from doing it.”

“I will just make a final point. My experience has been that, when you do have those workers on boards—it might be that there is not just one and that there needs to be multiple people—[Interruption.] I can see that I am pushing the Chair’s kindness and patience, so I will ask the question that I am supposed to ask, whi…”

“I will just make a final point. My experience has been that, when you do have those workers on boards—it might be that there is not just one and that there needs to be multiple people—[Interruption.] I can see that I am pushing the Chair’s kindness and patience, so I will ask the question that I am supposed to ask, whi…”

“Sometimes you can kind of do that by fixing the systems, in terms of how you manage to do that. If you are talking about trying to get more across the organisation, there could be a way of using trade unions and so forth to do it.”

“In terms of changing the culture and getting more working-class people into the organisation, I think the mistake is to narrow things down to one issue that needs resolving, rather than seeing that there can be a whole benefit in the round from doing it.”

“This is not the question that I am supposed to ask, but I will just push one more time.”