Consensus breaks out shock!

A question of mine yesterday seemed to provoke some consensus for a change:

BBC Wales

Q8 Leighton Andrews: When did the Minister last meet with BBC Wales? OAQ0731(OAQ)

Alun Pugh: I met with BBC Wales last June. Michael Grade and the First Minister were also present at that meeting.

Leighton Andrews: Some of us were privileged last night to attend the series launch of Dr Who in the Wales Millennium Centre. I understand that the leader of the Welsh Conservatives said that it had made his day to be recognised by a dalek! Do you agree that the quality of drama production currently coming out of BBC Wales, including Dr Who, Life on Mars and last week’s The Chatterley Affair, demonstrates that it is well worth the BBC and other broadcasters investing in facilities and talent in Wales, because we can compete on quality with the rest of the UK?

Alun Pugh: When BBC Wales gets the budget, it can not only compete with the best of the UK, but with the best anywhere. Anyone who saw the first new series of Dr Who would have been enormously impressed with the quality of the production values, and it seems that the shaky sets of Dr Who are a thing of the past.

Alun Ffred Jones: Mae’r BBC a BBC Cymru wedi ymrwymo i gomisiynu cyfran fawr o’u rhaglenni o’r sector annibynnol. A yw hi’n fwriad gennych i ddwyn pwysau ar BBC Cymru i sicrhau y daw cyfran o’r comisiynau hynny o du allan i Gaerdydd, er enghraifft, o’r cymoedd, y gorllewin a’r gogledd, er mwyn dod â budd economaidd i’r ardaloedd hynny, heb sôn am gydbwysedd i raglenni’r BBC?

Alun Pugh: We want to spread the benefit of BBC spending as far as we can. We have struggled in the past to get it out of London, but things appear to be moving in the right direction at the moment.


Glyn Davies: When you congratulate the BBC, as Leighton Andrews has asked you to do, will you associate me with those comments? There is no doubt that the programmes that the BBC is producing are putting Wales on the world map as an area where creative industry can take place. Will you also congratulate the BBC on the wonderful performances produced by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales around Wales, which are enhancing Wales’s reputation as a place for quality music making?

Alun Pugh: I will make it clear that there is all-party consensus on this issue