Ms. Healy also defended her staff at the session after SNP MP John Nicholson asked why public appointments in the department were “so often a mess.”
“Obviously I don’t really agree with the premise of your question,” she said. “We make the largest number of appointments regulated by public authorities in the government. We perform 41 regulated bodies with public appointments, a total of 435 roles to take. That means we do about 90 a year. ”
Mr Nicholson emphasized the distorted demand for the new chairman of the Charity Committee and the “ongoing saga of Ofcom”, which he said ended with “an adult peer who doesn’t use social media, which seems exclusive in 2022”.
The peer, Lord Grade of Yarmouth, is a former television director and was recently appointed to the broadcasting oversight body after a long process that had to be restarted.
Ms Healy said: “Obviously there are some cases, especially some high-level meetings, that have not been as quick or effective as we would have liked in the last few years.
“But I don’t think that undermines the absolutely excellent work that my recruitment team does.”
BBC funding review branded as ‘fake’
Ms Doris also confirmed the review of the BBC’s funding model and the future of the license fee will start “well before the summer holidays”.
She added: “I anticipate that it will take about six months and I want to start as soon as possible and we will announce the terms of reference for the review very soon.”
Ms Doris said the BBC would not be expected to pay for the review. Instead, DCMS will pay for this to avoid a “conflict of interest,” and will soon begin looking for an independent chair.
The minister called the license fee a “regressive tax” that largely punishes women.
However, Conservative MP Damien Green suggested that the forthcoming review was “fake”, as the minister came to a conclusion before starting the consultation.
Philippa Childs, head of the Bectu Broadcasting Union, said that “Mrs Doris’s clear support for abolishing the license fee and instead forcing the BBC to compete directly with streaming giants is fundamentally misunderstood the role the BBC plays in the UK national life, and risks the services and benefits to the UK economy provided only by the BBC “.
In a statement, she added: “The freezing and subsequent abolition of the tax will require huge cuts – hitting jobs, regional economies and, ultimately, content that Britons know and love.
“It is imperative that the government approach the review on the basis of evidence, transparency and impartiality that it requires and deserves. It owes so much to the British public and to the future of public service broadcasting. “For going through more than 90 appointments each year, most of them without any problems.”
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