Response to the independent review of S4C by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
29 March 2018
In response to the publication of the review S4C Chairman, Huw Jones, said:
“We are very glad that the Reviewer and the Government have supported fully the need to change S4C’s remit in line with current viewing practices.
“The Government’s decision to reverse the cuts which had been announced during the 2015 Spending Review is an important step which will provide funding stability for S4C over the coming years to help us face the substantial challenges which lie ahead.
“We welcome the Government’s wish to secure S4C’s funding stability for the long term. Given S4C’s longstanding and valued partnership with the BBC, the recommendation that we should receive the whole of our funding from the licence fee will inevitably be a controversial step and the challenge will be to ensure three crucial principles, namely funding stability, S4C’s independence and the provision of adequate funding.
“Throughout, the Review demonstrates how essential S4C is considered to be in the life of modern Wales and to the future of the Welsh language. What comes over very clearly is the wish on all sides for S4C to do more – more, in terms of creating digital content; more, in terms of contributing to sustaining and developing the language and the numbers of its speakers; more, in terms of being an effective partner to other bodies in related areas. The challenge, of course, is to do so without weakening the richness of the present provision.
“We are grateful to Euryn Ogwen Williams for his work on this review. Many of his recommendations run in parallel with internal work streams already in place. They all deserve our careful consideration. We will be looking at the detail of the review and of the government’s response over the coming weeks before responding more fully.
“We are also grateful to the Secretary of State for DCMS, the Digital Minister and the Secretary of State for Wales for their support. But we are very glad to be able to move forward with the changes which our services need now for the benefit of our audiences and of the Welsh language.
