THE BBC’s charter review will be subject to “full and rigorous scrutiny” by a committee of MPs.
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has announced it will hold an inquiry covering “all major aspects” of the review.
The charter, which runs out at the end of next year, sets the parameters within which the corporation operates.
The committee said it would look at issues including the size of the BBC and whether it “should become smaller” and the “possible replacement of the licence fee”.
It will also consider arguments for a possible sell-off for the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, and how the corporation is governed.
Jesse Norman MP, who chairs the committee, said: “BBC Charter Review is a topic which directly or indirectly touches us all.
“That is why it is essential that the arguments made both by the BBC and by the government be given full and rigorous scrutiny by parliament, in the public interest.”
The announcement comes after the BBC Trust said MPs should be given a vote on any future plans to change BBC funding.
The trust’s response to the government’s recent green paper on the future of BBC said the current 10-year charter could be extended by another year and argued for “a legal obligation” in the next charter to make sure there was “parliamentary approval for any change to the BBC’s funding”.
A legal challenge has been launched over the deal that gave the BBC responsibility for funding free TV licences for the over-75s.
The National Union of Journalists said the decision was in breach of public sector equality, unlawfully discriminated against persons under the age of 75, and was in breach of the BBC’s rules of governance.
Michelle Stanistreet, the union’s general secretary, said:“As well as being a bad deal done without any engagement with licence fee payers, we also believe that it is legally flawed and our legal team has written to the BBC Trust asking a series of questions and requesting it to reverse its decision to agree to pay for the licences of those aged 75 and over.”
The BBC Trust said: “We have received the letter and will respond in due course.”
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