Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information) Bill

moved Amendment No. 9: 9: Clause 106, page 58, line 26, after ““6”” insert ““of that Schedule”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall also speak to Amendment No. 10. Amendment No. 9 would place a duty on the BBC to provide the National Audit Office with accounts in order for the NAO to scrutinise them and publish an annual report onthe expenditure incurred in the course of disclosing information under the Act. The amendment has been redrafted, taking into account the fact that it would be undesirable to place a statutory duty on the NAO to report on a specific item. The new Amendment No. 10 would enable the National Audit Office to investigate the BBC’s expenditure under the disclosure of information in the scheme. Importantly, the amendment gives the NAO the power to insist on being given the relevant information. It would have been preferable to be able to require a report on the cost of the scheme itself; however, as the Bill is drafted, that is not possible. Paragraph 5(c) of Schedule 2B of the help scheme goes some way towards that, though I note that there is no requirement or encouragement for the NAO to make available a report. Will that provision stay in the scheme if the scheme is revised? My noble friend Lord Astor has highlighted on a previous occasion the inconsistency of exempting the BBC in general from scrutiny by the National Audit Office, as that might compromise editorial independence, and the compulsory scrutiny by the NAO of the BBC World Service. Spending £600 million to help the disadvantaged has nothing to do with editorial independence, and not a lot to do with broadcasting. As has been said today and on several previous occasions, it is a social service dressed up as part of the licence fee to avoid being classed as taxation. As such, it should be monitored. While on the subject of the £600 million, will the Minister confirm that, just as any surplus to the £600 million already set aside will be met by the taxpayer, so any of the £600 million not spent will be returned to the taxpayer? It would be quite wrong for the taxpayer to take the obligation and not have the corresponding benefit if costs are below expectation. I beg to move.