Media Green Paper
Debate between Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top and Baroness Twycross(1 month ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The Government are fully behind the BBC, both at the present time and as a future source of trusted news and content. Through the charter review process, a lot of these conversations are happening and we are looking in particular at how we can ensure that the funding model is sustainable while being fair and affordable for households. We are clear that,, if we can get sustainable funding and make sure that we get the prominence regime on the internet as well as on television screens, then we should go a long way to ensuring a strong future for our press and media. I would probably draw back a little from saying Rome is burning. There is so much good practice out there that we should celebrate, but I appreciate that we need to see the warning signs of what might come down the road, which is where the paper comes from.
Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)
My Lords, the Green Paper is really welcome. If this is got right, then digital switchover will mean many more people in this country will get sufficient media and digital understanding to be able to use what they need to improve their lives, so this is much bigger than many people have been thinking. I welcome that and hope that the department will fully involve those who are really concerned about digital inclusion in the consultation so that we get it right for everyone.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The intention is to make sure we get it right for everyone. If people have not read the Green Paper, it is worth the read; I thought it was a really interesting document. A striking point made in the paper is about information being part of public infrastructure, and recognising that is critical. In terms of the switchover from digital terrestrial television to the internet provision, there is a question about whether that should be in 2034 or in the decade afterwords. It is not just critical for people and their news; it is also about how people get jobs and apply for pretty much anything. The world is now online, and we need to do what we can to make sure we listen to those people as part of this process.
Evaluation in Government Policy-making
Debate between Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top and Baroness Twycross
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The Autumn Budget announced a new public sector reform and innovation fund, which will support the development of new approaches to improving public services. This will deploy £100 million over the next three years to deliver innovative public service reforms in partnership with mayors and local leaders. The project’s primary focus is on experimentation and learning and will complement ongoing reform programmes and activities delivered by departments. Of course, evaluation—good evaluation—will continue to be key.
Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)
My Lords, is it not very clear that the Government are looking to make sure that evidence-based policy-making and evaluation become the norm? When I was last in government, I introduced numerous evidence-based programmes that were nearly all abandoned by successive Governments, including the one that the noble Lord who asked the Question was a member of. We have lost evidence-based policy-making that would have meant that today we had fewer children in care. Through supporting the evidence base for early intervention, fewer of them would have needed to go into care; that was proved through the evaluation. How are we going to get back to that sort of position?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
This Government intend to use evaluation and evidence-based policy-making as the norm. We want to get away from the position we saw under the previous Government, where political decisions—including the Rwanda scheme—were more about newspaper headlines than value for money for taxpayers.