I’m pleased to take part in this co-sponsored debate today regarding the BBC’s role in Wales as a broadcaster, which has a unique role in reflecting the lives of the people of Wales both in English and Welsh on television, radio and online. I sound a bit like a radio jingle saying that. I do very much agree with the words of Bethan Jenkins and Lee Waters today. I’m very pleased that we have a committee set up dedicated to broadcasting and I’m delighted to have seen that agreement reached. Although I’m not on the committee, I’ll take a great interest in the committee’s work.

I’d like to focus my contribution on the way in which the BBC, as Wales’s only public service broadcaster, has a role in not only bringing audiences across the UK together, but in reflecting the diversity of Wales to itself and to the rest of the country. Yesterday, the BBC Audience Council Wales published its annual review, which summed up the challenges confronting the broadcaster. On the one hand, the BBC makes a significant contribution to Wales’s network production through programmes, as Bethan’s mentioned, such as ‘Doctor Who’, ‘Casualty’, ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Sherlock’; all award-winning programmes I think we should be immensely proud of. But it’s clear that network production should not be a substitute for programming made specifically for viewers in Wales, especially in the context of increased devolution, a weak paper press, a weak commercial radio sector and generally a reduction in plurality of viewpoint.

Given the BBC’s dominance in Wales and the unsustainable—I agree with Lee Waters—the 25 per cent cut in funding for English-language programmes for Wales over the last decade, to which Lord Hall, as has been alluded, has previously referred, it has the potential to have, or is having, a disproportionate impact on Wales given the lack of plurality compared to other areas of the UK such as London, which has a large amount of media sources and news and non-news programming.

The audience council also recognised that the BBC must do more to reflect modern Wales and the lives of its people in the next charter period. It must do more to address the lack of portrayal of contemporary Wales on network tv and radio output and in non-news tv programming such as drama and, in particular, comedy as well.

It must be acknowledged that BBC journalism has improved significantly since the publication of the King report, recognising that the different nations of the UK and the way in which non-news programming has reflected all parts of the UK has been, I think, sometimes lacking. But, listening to Radio 2 news last week, when I was in the car, I could hear reporting on Wales’s football success, and it was all a very positive news story, but it was done as if Wales was a third party—it was worded in that way. The news reporter worded it in that sense. If it had been the other way around, it would have been worded very differently. Indeed, the commitment of a commissioning editor responsible for television drama in each nation, with portrayal objectives, is, I think, a positive step in ensuring that all network programming accurately reflects the cultural diversity of all the nations of the UK.

It is encouraging that the BBC has made an explicit commitment to adopt the recommendations, including a stronger voice for Wales in the new unitary board, and a national licence for Wales, which would underpin the accountability for services provided in each nation. The corporation’s recent proposals to spend proportionately more on dedicated services in each nation and to spend more on English-language programming in Wales is, of course, welcome, but I fully agree with the views of Lee Waters and Bethan Jenkins that words are not enough. There needs to be action, and there needs to be a concrete financial commitment.