BBC Local Radio

I, too, pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) for securing the debate. We may be holding it on the last day of term, as the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin) said, but the turnout is excellent, which tells a tale in itself. Like many other Members, I should declare an interest at the start of my remarks. I began my career in BBC local radio; I worked in news and programming at Southern Counties Radio in Guildford, which became BBC Radio Surrey, and I also produced and read news in the United States—the types of radio involved could not have been more different, and therein lies a tale for another day. I would consider myself a friend of the BBC, but like all friends worth having, one can sometimes be critical and not always say what friends want to hear. As we have heard, the BBC faces a tough licence settlement and is looking for savings. BBC staff are rightly being asked to contribute ideas about how to achieve those savings as part of what the corporation calls ““Delivering Quality First”” workstreams—““workstreams”” is a great BBC term—and recommendations will be made to the trust this summer. I suppose ““Delivering Quality First”” is an exercise in flying a few balloons, and I genuinely pay tribute to the BBC for flying them, but I doubt whether it wanted the particular balloon we are talking about to fly quite as high and as publicly as it has. That is not really important now, however, because this workstream has been picked up and will be discussed by members of the public and in this debate, which is a good thing. I have spoken to some members of BBC management, and I understand their frustration at the fact that ““Delivering Quality First”” is seemingly such a leaky progress. My advice would be that that is not all bad; there are many benefits to the fact that these issues are being discussed publicly. We should have more of that at the BBC. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal, I fully accept that the BBC faces a financial challenge. I may be critical of the nearly £100 million overspend on the redevelopment of Broadcasting house and I may wonder whether that money could have been used better—we have already heard examples of where savings could have been found—but when I say that I accept that there is a challenge, I also accept that there must be some changes. I accept that there must be changes to BBC local radio as somebody who has worked in it and seen it from the inside. Those changes might be not only necessary, but desirable. If it is done correctly, ““Delivering Quality First”” could be a big opportunity for BBC local radio. It is right to look at some shared documentary programming, which could be broadcast across regions, if the story will work on a much wider geographical area. One example from my part of the world is the future of Southampton airport, which is expanding rapidly. That is a regional story, which would be owned by BBC Radio Solent, but it would clearly be of interest more widely to listeners in Sussex, Surrey, Wiltshire and possibly elsewhere. It is right to look at some shared programming nationally and across regions. A story may demand a wider audience, and the BBC can use its network of local radio stations to further its public service role. Another example might be a documentary looking at the referendum that we will have on 5 May on a possible change to the voting system. It would be no bad thing if we used the BBC local radio network to explain in much more detail to its loyal listenership what the alternative vote means, for instance. I would very much welcome that. Members who are listening carefully, or at all, will have noticed that I said ““shared documentary programming””, and that was deliberate. There is no reason for saying that certain time slots in BBC local radio's daytime schedule—not the whole thing—cannot be earmarked for regional and/or national documentary content. It would be best if that was pre-produced documentary content. In my experience, there is not enough good radio documentary content these days, and it falls to the BBC, through the amazingly unique way in which it is funded, to correct that. If the corporation is really smart, it will use the huge talent pool in BBC local radio, which other Members have mentioned, to bring such things to air and give them a chance. I see no reason why the BBC should not use its substantial knowledge of specific BBC local TV and radio audiences to do that in the way that has the least impact.