BBC should spend extra £30m in Wales

THE committee I chair in the National Assembly has just finished its first piece of major work.

The Culture, Welsh Language and Communication Committee has been looking at the broadcast media industry in Wales and how it serves audiences.

We’ve concluded that the BBC should spend an extra £30m on Englishlanguage drama and broadcasting in Wales. We also concluded that there should be a Wales opt-out for news on Radio 1 and Radio 2, to better reflect what is going on in Welsh society.

In evidence to the committee, the Director-General of the BBC, Tony Hall, agreed Wales needed a better funding package but was not in a position to say how much at the time.

He pledged to do so in early in 2017.

Our report is a snapshot of the broadcasting industry as it stands in Wales and will form the basis for more detailed inquiries in the future.

What is apparent though is that Wales is losing out on BBC funding for Englishlanguage, Wales-focused programming.

The high level of repeats on S4C is concerning and is a direct result of cuts, which is why we would like to see a freeze on any further reductions until the results of a planned review.

We will soon be conducting our own inquiry into the future of S4C, which we will feed into the UK Government’s review.

ITV Cymru Wales have had some recent success in being awarded ITV network commissions. We would like to see this continue with a more proactive approach to showcase our Welsh communities throughout the UK.

The committee makes 11 recommendations in its report, which will now be sent to the Welsh Government to consider.