Listen and learn
Sir: We’re going to have to get used to cuts, says Kate Chisholm (Arts, 28 March), while criticising the axing of the last children’s programme on the BBC’s mainstream networks as a cut too far. Last year a meagre £1.6 million of the £460 million the BBC spent on its radio services went on programming for children. For years BBC executives have justified this neglect by saying that children don’t want radio but only TV and pop music. But do we remove fresh fruit juice and green vegetables because children prefer burgers and pop?
To talk, children must first learn to listen, and last year’s government-commissioned Bercow Report exposed serious speech, language and communication needs [SLCN] in UK children, prompting the government to invest £52 million in an SLCN Action Plan leading up to a Year of Language & Communication in 2011-12. Radio can play a role in this.
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