“Location, location, location: where will Channel 4 go?” (Business, last week, page 44) said: “The lifetime cost of the BBC’s move to Salford… is estimated at almost £1bn.” That figure represents the BBC’s operating costs in the north until 2030, not the cost of the move, which totalled £180m. The BBC says that five years after the move it is now more than halfway through recouping this cost.
“Motherhood, the great leveller? Not quite, Kate” (Opinion, 2 April, page 15) quoted a TUC report that placed Britain third from bottom in a European league table for maternity benefits, just above Slovakia and Ireland. The TUC now admits that the sata for Slovakia was out of date: Slovakian mothers are entitled to 34 weeks of leave, with a 70% wage replacement rate, placing Slovakia near the top of the league.
We misattributed the quote, “We want [Channel 4] to have a media presence outside London... to build an economy that works for everyone and not just the privileged few”, to Ofcom chief executive, Sharon White, (“Ofcom means more BBC bureaucracy, not less”, Media, last week, page 46). They were the words of the culture secretary, Karen Bradley. Apologies.
Write to Stephen Pritchard, Readers’ Editor, the Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, email observer.readers@observer.co.uk tel 020 3353 4656
