Draft Community Radio Order 2025
(1 day, 15 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stephanie Peacock)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Community Radio Order 2025.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I am pleased to speak to this order, which was laid before the House in draft on 10 December 2024. For most of us, radio still plays an important part in our day-to-day lives; almost 90% of UK adults tune into the radio each week, where they find trusted news, entertainment and music. At the heart of radio’s popularity is the relationship between the station and the listener, and the role that stations can play within communities.
Radio consistently remains among the most trusted forms of media, with Ofcom reporting that radio is rated highly in terms of accuracy, trustworthiness and impartiality. Community radio has established itself as an integral part of this wider radio landscape, from Reprezent FM in Brixton to Penistone FM, not far from my Barnsley South constituency. These stations play a vital role in providing truly local services for the areas they broadcast to, while also catering for the diverse needs and interests of specific groups.
I have seen at first hand the value that these stations can offer to communities. In November, I visited the community radio station Cambridge 105, as part of Journalism Matters Week. That station produces a range of important content, from local news to women’s sports programmes, and it is run almost entirely by volunteers. Similarly, in December, I was interviewed by a young volunteer journalist, Grace, on Spark Sunderland community radio station. This highlighted how important the training opportunities that are offered by community stations really are. For many people at the beginning of their media careers, they work as a springboard to the next stage.
Like Cambridge 105 and Spark Sunderland, community radio stations up and down the country exist at the centre of wider local media ecosystems. There are now more than 300 analogue community radio services in existence—the first of which launched in 2005 under a Labour Government—as well as around 80 new DAB-only services. The work and dedication of volunteers is what makes community radio so distinct and special. Working with limited resources and often juggling multiple other commitments, these volunteers are dedicated to providing an important local service for the communities they serve.
It is those core principles that distinguish community radio from commercial radio. The core model for community radio—that community radio stations are local not-for-profit organisations providing social gain to the communities they serve—remains a sound one. The model has delivered a wider variety of services with a diversity unmatched in other media.
However, the UK’s radio landscape and listening habits have evolved considerably over the past 20 years, as new means of accessing radio and audio content develop. Nearly 75% of all radio listening is now digital, and FM accounts for less than 20% of commercial radio listening. The Government believe that although FM services need to continue until at least 2030, we cannot ignore the wider implications of those changes. We also need to support community radio stations to develop their services for future long-term sustainability. Although more and more community stations are now coming on to DAB, thanks to the availability of small-scale DAB digital radio networks, we recognise that analogue broadcasting continues to represent the majority of community radio listening. That is likely to continue to be the case over the coming years. It is therefore essential that consideration is given to the future of the licences and the best way to secure their stability for community radio stations in the medium to long term.
The previous Government sought views on whether licences should be extended again, and, if so, for how long. The consultation ran from 8 November 2023 to 31 January 2024. The vast majority of responses were in favour of continuing the policy of renewals. Most respondents were more strongly in favour of a 10-year licence renewal, as that would provide more certainty for community stations into the mid-2030s. The consultation also sought views on whether the restrictions placed on community radio’s capacity to generate revenue through advertising and sponsorship were still needed.
Having considered the representations from commercial and community radio, we believe that it is necessary to retain an increased restriction on a very small number of community stations that broadcast in areas with smaller markets where there is an independent local commercial station. We are conscious, however, that the restriction has not been reviewed since 2015. The draft order would therefore increase the revenue-raising restriction from £15,000 to £30,000.
The draft order includes provisions enabling Ofcom to extend community radio licences by 10-year periods. This will allow them to remove the advertising and sponsorship restrictions for the majority of stations, helping to simplify regulations and hopefully grow the sector. We have also consolidated the Community Radio Order, enabling the repeal of three amendment orders from 2011, 2015 and 2019. That will help to simplify the regulations for stations and Ofcom.
The draft order has been considered by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. Neither Committee raised any concerns about the legislation.
The Government firmly believe in the value of community radio, and believe the changes will help to support the sector’s long-term health and sustainability. The measures will ensure that these ecosystems thrive, remaining trusted sources of local information within communities, while also providing a balanced level of regulatory oversight to maintain stability in the sector.
However, these changes are only the starting point of our ongoing efforts to support and enhance the role of community stations and small independent commercial radio stations within communities. I met the Community Media Association and UK Community Radio Network last month to hear their views on how else the Government might support community radio. We also recently announced plans to develop a local media strategy in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. As part of that, we are looking at the scope to enhance and support the community radio sector, including by considering its request to review the budget for the community radio fund. I am pleased to be able to allocate an extra £50,000 this year to the community radio fund, taking the budget for 2024-25 to £450,000. I want to do more in future years but that is dependent on decisions that the Government will take in the spending review.
Let me conclude by recalling that it was a Labour Government under Tessa Jowell that first licensed community radio. We now want to do what we can to enable the sector to grow and thrive in the years to come. I commend the draft order to the Committee.
Mr Louie French (Old Bexley and Sidcup) (Con)
It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. Community radio serves a vital purpose in society, and especially for local communities, by providing services for the good of members of the public or particular communities. They have a specific role and community radio stations’ focus as not-for-profit is to provide social gain, not serve commercial interests.
We have some concerns, however, that the draft order, although well intentioned, risks restricting competition and weakening the very principles of community radio. For example, the extension of licences for community radio stations could come at the expense of new entrants. For new entrants, the order is a barrier to entry and cements the status of current operators.
When the media landscape is evolving, with urban and rural communities wanting culturally relevant radio, does the Minister agree that the order potentially limits growth in the sector? Not only does it restrict new entrants, but it fails to offer any review process on the service that community radio stations currently provide. Has the Minister therefore considered the benefits of a relicensing process, as well as a review of existing licences, to ensure that community radio stations are fulfilling their purpose to deliver social value and serve their communities? If the Minister does not intend to conduct a relicensing process or to review existing licences, what action will she take to ensure that community radio stations are delivering social benefits and providing community-focused broadcasting?
I am aware of issues relating to coverage, with many community radio stations reporting DAB coverage issues. This means that stations are being prevented from serving their communities and fulfilling their purpose as community radio stations. What assessment have the Minister or her officials made of coverage as a result of phasing out analogue radio in favour of small-scale DAB?
I will end how I started: by highlighting the good work that community radio stations do. I hope that the Minister can see that for this sector to grow and thrive, competition should not be restricted, and effective checks should be in place to ensure that community radio stations are fulfilling their purpose to benefit society.
Julia Buckley (Shrewsbury) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for her comprehensive speech setting out the benefits of the order. I am particularly pleased to hear of the ongoing dialogue with the sector and the emerging strategy. Will she reassure Members that the changes will not leave behind some of the smaller, perhaps rural, stations, if, for example, they are unable to attract commercial support? They often represent the smaller, vulnerable and under-represented parts of society.
Stephanie Peacock
It is a pleasure to conclude the debate, and I am grateful for the contributions of Members from across the Committee. It is clear from today’s discussion that on both sides of the House, we want to secure support for the community radio sector and ensure that it thrives long into the future. These stations are often at the heart of the communities in which they broadcast, and we want to ensure that they can continue to deliver local content to listeners.
Let me respond specifically to a couple of the points that were made. I say to the shadow Minister that the consensus view from the community radio sector was that the system of renewals needed to be retained and that an additional 10-year licence term would have benefits in giving stations the long-term stability to invest. We see the argument that that could limit the scope for new entrants, but we would point to other opportunities that groups have, including small-scale DAB and online, to establish a local radio service. On the points from the shadow Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury in terms of coverage, that is a matter for Ofcom, and I am happy to write to Ofcom and raise that in one of my regular meetings with it.
The value of community radio cannot be overstated. These services not only provide local news and information, but deliver improved social outcomes through increasing the scope, quality and capability of community radio, including for under-represented groups. The order will ensure that the invaluable work of these stations is protected and enabled to thrive. We want to foster communities that are home to diverse local media ecosystems. The measures in the order ensure that community radio can be part of these ecosystems long into the future, contributing to a plurality of choice and to training the next generation of radio broadcasters and producers. I am very grateful to Members for their contributions and the interest that they have shown in the continued provision of community radio across the UK.
Question put and agreed to.
Draft Procurement Act 2023 (Consequential and Other Amendments) Regulations 2025
(1 day, 15 hours ago)
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The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Georgia Gould)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Procurement Act 2023 (Consequential and Other Amendments) Regulations 2025.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell, for what is my first Delegated Legislation Committee.
This statutory instrument represents the final legislative step in implementing the Procurement Act 2023, which introduces a new public procurement regime responsible for over £385 billion in public contracts annually. The new regime, set to come into force on 24 February 2025, aligns with our mission-driven approach and supports the Prime Minister’s commitment to economic growth by establishing a simpler and more transparent system.
In order to fully implement the Procurement Act, we must first ensure that procurement references in other pieces of legislation are updated to align with the new regime. The draft regulations make the consequential amendments that are a routine aspect of implementing primary legislation. They also make necessary updates to the schedules to the Procurement Act to ensure compliance with our international obligations. They amend schedule 9 to the Procurement Act to update the list of specified international agreements that identify treaty state suppliers for the purposes of the Act. The amendments will update the UK’s market access coverage in our trade agreements with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Albania, removing access to contracts for healthcare services and enabling the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023, introduced in January last year, to work as intended.
Further technical amendments include updating the list of central Government authorities in the Procurement Act. In addition to those technical adjustments, the draft instrument enhances transparency in public procurement. It also updates how key performance indicators are handled in contract details and performance notices. Finally, it outlines how to calculate whether the sale of excess electricity, gas or water, produced as a by-product of another non-utility activity, falls under the Act where the operator wants to sell it to a network.
In summary, the draft regulations are essential to ensure that the existing legislative framework functions as intended, while facilitating a transparent, efficient and effective public procurement regime. The final legislative step in implementing the 2023 Act will strengthen the system for public procurement across the UK, benefiting businesses, taxpayers and the public sector. I hope that all hon. Members will join me in supporting and approving the regulations today.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Mundell. It is also a delight to be with the Minister who is losing her DL plates today—[Hon. Members: “Oh!”] I thought that was pretty good with two minutes’ notice.
We will not be opposing the draft instrument. The core Procurement Act was introduced under the Conservative Government to consolidate and simplify existing procurement legislation, improve efficiencies throughout the process and improve transparency throughout the procurement pipeline. There remain a number of big challenges with public procurement, which represents hundreds of billions of pounds of public body expenditure every year. I hope that the legislation coming into force in February will help to tackle those challenges.
Of course, I regret the fact that the Government have delayed the implementation of the measures contained within the Procurement Act, and I hope that their new national procurement policy statement will not interfere with its core efficiency and cost improvement measures. I want to ask the Minister when exactly we can expect the updated NPPS. I also want to briefly raise a couple of concerns about the measures that the Government have previously indicated will be in the updated statement.
The Labour party’s make work pay plan, which sets out the most exact information we have as to the content of the updated NPPS, suggests that the new principle of procurement will be based on learning from the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023. As the TUC has pointed out, that Act means that public bodies must consult and work with unions and:
“Attempts to shirk this duty, or lock unions out from decision-making can no longer be done without consequence”
securing the
“place of trade unions as essential partners in public policymaking.”
Is it the Government’s view that the NPPS, implemented through the Procurement Act, will ensure that trade unions cannot be locked out of decision making without consequence?
We also know that the Government have set out their intention for a social value council, as in Wales. I would appreciate some further clarity on the expected make-up of the council.
As the Minister will know, public procurement involves not just large businesses that have the capacity to maintain a stringent Government social value and trade union requirement but lots of small businesses that can offer fitting and cost-effective services and products but that might not have the broader capabilities to uphold some of those tight requirements. Previously, the Minister appeared to confirm to me that small enterprises would be exempt from those requirements and I would appreciate her confirmation of that, as well as her understanding of how exactly that will fit in to the cost-saving and efficiency measures set out by the Act, in which small and medium-sized businesses can play a central role. Anything in that regard would be appreciated.
We can all appreciate the need for public procurement reform and the fact that the Government are taking forward this work, which was initially set out by the previous Conservative Government. However, the Government should offer a little more certainty and clarity about the extent of trade union involvement in the public procurement pipeline and the extent to which they will preserve the potential for small and medium-sized businesses to have a fair go at the bidding process and involvement in that pipeline. If the Minister will write to me on those points, I will be happy not to oppose the regulations.
Georgia Gould
I am delighted to engage in my first such debate with the hon. Gentleman. We are absolutely clear that the Procurement Act and the new national procurement policy statement have to support economic growth, small and medium-sized businesses and innovation. I have been engaging heavily with SMEs and the message they have given is that they can find Government procurement as it is slow and burdensome, and they often do not feel that they have a place at the table. I believe that the changes we have made to the NPPS strengthen the commitment to small businesses that is absolutely at the heart of our agenda.
The hon. Gentleman referenced the Employment Rights Bill. Obviously, that is a completely different piece of legislation and is not relevant to today’s regulations, but decent jobs are really important in supporting economic growth. The Procurement Act is very much focused on growth and supporting SMEs, and that is what we will take forward. I am happy to have further discussions on the other points he raised.
Question put and agreed to.