I thank the hon. Gentleman for sharing his experience as a former BBC employee.

My hon. Friend raises questions about the future of the licence fee.

The notion that the Government have instructed the BBC to reduce its news content is pretty wide of the mark.

I think I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question, but I am not entirely sure what his point was.

The process, from a DCMS perspective, was fully transparent.

It is incredibly important that the BBC is left to conduct its social media review in a way that allows it to bring clarity, particularly on

Without knowing the full details of the statement—[Interruption.] I am afraid that I do not know the statement to which the hon.

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point.

I simply repeat that, as the hon.

I agree that the BBC should be given space to carry out the review and to set out clear guidelines.