S4C funding complaints rejected by culture minister
S4C is "extremely generously funded", UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has said, rejecting opposition complaints about its financial arrangements.
Labour MP Susan Elan Jones said it had been an "unmitigated disaster" to change the "financial governance" of S4C, now mostly licence fee funded. She asked for assurances to protect its funding under BBC charter renewal. Mr Vaizey agreed, but insisted S4C was going from "strength to strength" with programmes like crime drama Hinterland. During culture questions in the House of Commons on Thursday, Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts asked when the Department of Culture, Media and Sport would be announcing its financial intentions for the Welsh language channel. She said the department had cut S4C's funding by 93% since 2010 to just under £7m a year. Mr Vaizey replied by saying the majority of funding - £74m a year - now came from the BBC licence fee, claiming that unlike many media outlets, S4C had "secure funding going forward" and had been protected from cuts. Ms Jones complained that the UK government had failed to listen to the views of Welsh MPs, language campaigners or the channel itself when announcing changes to the way S4C was funded in 2010. In response, the minister gave assurances that there would be measures to protect S4C's funding when the BBC's charter was renewed. He also praised the channel's success in producing "international hits" such as the crime drama Hinterland, which he himself had "enjoyed hugely".