Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 28
Third Report - Pre-appointment hearing for Chair of the BBC Board
Published 15 Dec 2023
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Pre-appointment hearing for Chair of the BBC All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We are disappointed by the Department’s engagement with the Committee prior to the pre-appointment hearing, and especially its failure to adhere to the Government’s own guidelines requiring that committees are provided with the necessary information at least seven working days to prepare for a hearing.29 The decision to provide the Committee with only four and a half working days to prepare, without explanation or apology, was compounded by the leaking of the Government’s preferred candidate and a subsequent announcement of changes to the licence fee and a review into the funding of the BBC less than a day later. We regret the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s approach to Parliamentary scrutiny and encourage Ministers and officials to engage more constructively with the Committee’s work from this point forward. 29 Cabinet Office (January 2019), Cabinet Office Guidance: pre-appointment scrutiny by House of Commons select committees para 20 10 Pre-appointment hearing for Chair of the BBC Board
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Third Report - Pre-appointment hearing for Chair of the BBC Board (HC 383), 15 December 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 December 2023 (deadline 15 February 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Secretary of State welcomes the Committee's view that Dr Samir Shah is appointable as BBC Chair, confirms his appointment will go to the Privy Council, and says she notes the points made in the Committee's report.
- On the appointment, the government says Dr Shah's appointment "will now be put to the next meeting of the Privy Council for His Majesty The King's final approval".
- On the Committee's concerns about engagement with the department, the letter sets out the Secretary of State's view of the Committee's work and states the department is "committed to continuing to work constructively with the Committee in the New Year".
- On the delay in providing paperwork, the government says the extension was "required in order to complete the necessary steps", including notifying candidates and "working through mitigations to conflicts of interest".
- The government says it is "eager to work with the Committee to assist scrutiny of the Football Governance Bill", which will establish a new Independent Football Regulator.