asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications when he expects to make a statement about the fourth channel.

Next spring.

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the Independent Broadcasting Authority is the only organisation which can provide an additional service without an extra direct charge to the viewer? Will he also confirm that some of the existing contractors have a great deal of spare studio capacity?

I bear the last point in mind. It was one of the aspects of the representations made to me by the independent television companies. If the decision were taken to assign the fourth television channel, one could only avoid making a charge on the consumers' part by having an alternative source of revenue—for example, from additional advertising.

As the Government are now about to preside over a major recession, and since the first casualty of any recession is always television programme expenditure, is not this the time to say to the ITV companies once and for all that we do not need a fourth channel and we do not need ITV2?

That is a point of view.

Before the channel comes into operation, will my right hon. Friend look at the question of censorship? Has he seen the letter in The Times from Mr. Woodrow Wyatt saying that one of his programmes was gravely censored, which is scandalous?

That is a matter for the authority and not for the Minister.

Even at this late stage, could not the right hon. Gentleman consider possibly extending the terms of reference of the Crawford Committee, so that it can look at regional possibilities for the fourth channel? That committee and its witnesses are suffering some difficulty because of the inhibitions placed upon them in that they cannot discuss the fourth channel properly.

The terms of reference have been set, as the hon. Gentleman knows. In so far as it might regard the prospect of using the fourth channel as applicable to particular regional situations, I have no doubt that the committee would find it possible to comment on that aspect.

The Government are rightly spending many millions of pounds more on the arts. Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that the fourth channel could bring the subsidised arts to a far wider audience?

That is one of the more interesting propositions submitted to me as justifying the application of the fourth channel at present. I agree with what my hon. Friend has said.