Let us be in no doubt that the BBC is held in high regard by the Welsh public. In its final annual review of BBC Wales’s output, Audience Council Wales—the ACW—stated that three in five people, which is 62 per cent, in Wales,

‘feel the TV licence fee offers value for money, while more than four in five people in Wales would miss the BBC if it was not there’.

That is 83 per cent. So, today I rise to speak in this debate, as I know my colleagues have, out of a shared desire to see the BBC achieve its full potential in twenty-first century, post-industrial devolution in Wales.

Today, if you stand on the Members’ balcony, as I did earlier, of the Assembly, your eyes will take in the sweep of the magnificent BBC Wales studios at Porth Teigr. It is a true Welsh creative dream factory that is home to the much-loved ‘Casualty’, ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Pobol y Cwm’ television shows that are iconic and are beamed across the UK, and, indeed, the world.

In the centre of Cardiff, in the shadow of Cardiff Central station and the Principality Stadium, slowly arising is the new headquarters for BBC Wales. These are truly wonderful assets of which we in Wales and the BBC are justifiably proud. But we cannot let that blind us to the obvious and worrying deficiencies that are indeed striking and obvious, as has been outlined.

As the devolution settlement in Wales matures and advances with the Wales Bill—the latest stage in that long journey—we see here in this institution the effects of UK cutbacks to funding in the BBC in Wales. The presentation, for instance, of the ‘am.pm’ programme, covering proceedings here in this Chamber, has to be shot in the Llandaf studios, where once they filmed on the fourth floor of Tŷ Hywel. To me, this is symbolic evidence that, whilst Assembly Members have urged for better representation of Wales by the BBC, financial considerations have meant actual retreat in reality.

I was once a member of the British Broadcasting Council of Wales, so I will be unashamedly saying that the BBC is in my blood as well. A well-resourced and well-equipped BBC Wales is imperative and vital for our nation in the years ahead. I will also be one of its greatest advocates, but, equally, this does not mean that I will be afraid to be a critical friend.

Elan Closs Stephens, BBC national trustee for Wales and Audience Council of Wales chairwoman, said in her preface to the report that the message from the Welsh audiences was very clear in that they want the BBC to do more to reflect modern Wales and the lives of its people. She said:

‘As we come to the end of the current Charter, and look ahead to the BBC of the next decade, that is a challenge the BBC must meet.’

The report also said that there was a—and I’ll repeat a phrase that my colleague Lee Waters has already used—

‘Paucity of portrayal of Wales in Network TV and Radio output’.

I’ll also mention a particular friend of mine, Max Boyce, one of the creative geniuses of our land, and it was good to see that ‘Max’s World Cup Warm-Up’, starring the Welsh entertainer himself, was the most popular English language TV series on BBC Wales, attracting 322,000 viewers. But, Max Boyce’s first experience of exposure was on the BBC’s ‘Opportunity Knocks’ in the early 1970s. Forty-five years later, what opportunities are knocking for our Welsh men and women? What stage is the BBC offering them to depict the modern Wales of now?

One of my favourite and iconic Max Boyce’s songs is entitled ‘Rhondda Grey’ and I’m sure many will know it speaks of an industrial past; a coal-mining community past of a grey valley home; a boy who came home to play with paints and coloured pencils and his homework for the day, ‘We’ve got to paint the valley, mam, for Mrs Davies Art. What colour is the valley, mam, and will you help me start?’ So, today, there is a paucity of portrayal in Wales. What canvass is the BBC giving all of our communities to paint the colour of modern post-industrial devolution in Wales?

My predecessor and good friend, former Assembly Member for Islwyn, Gwyn Price was proud to serve on the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee, and I’m also delighted that I now sit on that committee. Our Chair, John Griffiths will be pleased to know that I’ve also been reading up. The committee’s inquiry into the BBC charter review is required reading and it concluded in March of this year and made a series of recommendations that have already been referred to, so I will refer directly to recommendation 6, where the committee supported the consistent call from Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales, that the BBC must address a funding gap in Wales. He said:

‘We support the Welsh Government’s call for the BBC to invest an additional £30 million into the services it provides for Wales. We believe that this investment is crucial for high-quality content for Wales’.

He also stated in his letter to the BBC director general, Tony Hall last year:

‘This would allow Welsh audiences to have a credible national television station that could provide quality content in English, including drama, comedy and also potentially network contributions’.

So, for an urban valley constituency, such as mine in Islwyn, it is imperative that the English-speaking Welsh community have their lives reflected onscreen for themselves and, potentially, for an entire UK audience. We have the skills to do this. We take great pride in this place that we reflect the bilingual nature of Wales, then it is also beholden on us to ensure that our television and radio output also reflects the equal importance of the two main mother tongues of Wales. The time for warm words, as has been said, has long passed. As this committee also recommended, it is now time for the BBC to develop specific and measurable targets for the portrayal of Wales in its network programming. Now is the time to decentralise commissioning, as has been stated, to ensure that network commissioners for the nations are based in those very nations. And now is the time that the BBC reports annually to this Assembly on its output and operations that are relevant to Wales.

Finally, the BBC Wales website proudly proclaims that the BBC has provided a mirror held up to society in Wales on radio, television and on a variety of digital platforms. So, let us collectively make sure that this mirror provides a true reflection, that it is sparkling and available to all of our communities, which make up the wonderful tapestry of Welsh life. So, therefore, I do support this motion. Diolch.