On 16 July 2026, I answered an Oral Question on BBC Royal Charter: Gaelic Broadcasting in the House of Lords Chamber. I said: “MG ALBA’s total budget stands at an estimated £420 per Gaelic speaker, including both BBC and Scottish Government spend. This compares to an equivalent of £260 per Welsh speaker for S4C”.
It has come to my attention that the statistics were based on outdated census data for the number of Scottish Gaelic speakers and overestimated the level of BBC investment in S4C. A more accurate statistic using updated population figures and budget settlements is: “MG ALBA's total budget stands at an estimated £358.68 per Gaelic speaker, including both BBC and Scottish Government spend. This compares to an equivalent of £222.92 per Welsh speaker for S4C”. While these updated figures are lower they support the same argument that MG ALBA receives a higher allocation of direct and in-direct public funding per speaker than S4C. I apologise for this oversight.
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