Dog with bone

Double-breasted Bill Cash, Chair of the European Scrutiny Select Committee, is not not done with Lord Patten. As we reported, our Chris has refused three invitations to give oral evidence to this group of MPs.

Here's the nuts of Cash's case...

260. We reject the assertion in Lord Patten's letter that our invitation to him to give oral evidence was "inappropriate". We fully respect the editorial independence of the BBC. But that does not mean that the BBC Trust is above Parliament, and should pick and choose its interlocutors here.

 261. The role of the BBC Trust, under the Charter, as it applied to this inquiry, was to be our focus in this session. We have already set out points on which we were seeking further evidence from the BBC Trust, particularly in the light of the Prebble Review (which was commissioned by the Trust). Supplementary written evidence from the BBC quoted Lord Patten as stating, with regard to the particular subjects to be covered by the Prebble review—religion, Europe and immigration—that "we've been criticised in those areas and we think it's very important to listen to that criticism, not necessarily because it's right but because it reflects real and interesting concerns."

 262. We publish our exchanges of letters with Lord Patten alongside this Report. We do not see why it is "inappropriate" to question—in public—a publicly-funded organisation on a review it has conducted, and what it will be doing to follow up that review. The BBC Trust's defensiveness on this point is deeply disappointing and the broad-brush nature of the refusal will be of interest to all Select Committees. We invite, as part of the follow-up to this inquiry, the BBC (including the Chairman of the BBC Trust), to give oral evidence in the spring of 2014, to set out what follow-up actions have been taken in the light of the Prebble Review, and to take forward the points raised in correspondence and in our supplementary questions, on such key matters as broadcasting decisions, complexity and explanation, the Prebble Review and Charter Obligations.