Written question asked by John Wilkinson (Conservative) on Tuesday, 3 April 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 6 April 2001. It was answered by Janet Anderson (Labour) on Friday, 6 April 2001 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Dept for Culture Media and Sport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on what grounds Christian broadcasting organisations are not allowed access to the air waves in the UK; and if he will review the matter.

Answer: Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what grounds Christian broadcasting organisations are not allowed access to the air waves in the UK; and if he will review the matter. [157260] Janet Anderson: The Broadcasting Act 1990 disqualifies religious organisations from holding broadcasting licences, except where the regulators are satisfied that it is appropriate for such bodies to hold licences for licensable programme services, satellite television, or local analogue, cable or satellite radio services. The White Paper, "A New Future for Communications", which was published on 12 December 2000, proposed that religious organisations should also be allowed to hold local digital radio licences. These restrictions have been considered necessary to safeguard pluralism in the media and to avoid religious discrimination: capacity constraints mean that one religious organisation may be able to hold a licence where another may not. Nevertheless, the White Paper invited comments on whether these restrictions should be relaxed, and we are currently considering the responses.

Secondary information