06 January 2016

  S4C has warmly welcomed the Prime Minister's response during Prime Minister's Questions today, Wednesday 6 January 2016, to an oral question posed by Simon Hart MP about the Government's commitment to the channel's funding.

This followed the Adjournment Debate raised by Mr Hart in the early hours of this morning, when S4C's future funding was debated.

Mr Hart, Conservative MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembroke, posed the following question to the Prime Minister: "The PM has always been a staunch supporter of the Welsh TV channel S4C, set up under the Thatcher Government, so could he use this opportunity to reinforce his support for the channel and the commitment we've made to safeguarding its funding."

In reply, the Prime Minister said; "I’m very happy to do that. S4C is a very important part of our broadcasting structure, it’s very popular and well liked in Wales and I want to ensure that we meet both the wording and spirit of the manifesto promise to make sure this continues to be a very strong channel."

In response to these comments, S4C Authority Chairman, Huw Jones, says;

"Following the energetic and firm expressions of support for S4C by Welsh MPs of all parties in the House of Commons earlier today, I was greatly encouraged by the nature of the Prime Minister's response today during Prime Minister's Questions. We hope that his commitment to honour the wording and the spirit of his party's manifesto undertaking to protect S4C funding means that the door is open to further discussions to give expression to that support."

Ends