Arts: Lottery Funding

Debate between Baroness Benjamin and Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Thursday 10th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, the Government have committed £171 million over three years to 123 music hubs across England, to ensure that every child aged five to 18 has the chance to learn a musical instrument and perform as part of ensembles and choirs. Because of those hubs, 500,000 children have been given the chance to learn a musical instrument for the first time. There is always more to be done, but a lot of effort is going into recognising and then ensuring that there is fulfilment of the musical experience for young people and children.

[Baroness Benjamin (LD)]

My Lords, we are soon to see the 50th anniversary of the Notting Hill carnival—but, sadly, we have just seen Arts Council funding cuts to the only carnival arts organisation that provides design, art and culture for children and gives them the opportunity to be exposed to creativity, and for their imagination to blossom. Can my noble friend tell the House what provision has been made to address this deficit?

Children: Online Safety

Debate between Baroness Benjamin and Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, as I said, the six major providers have agreed to filter, as a minimum, illegal child abuse imagery and content and legal pornographic adult content. That is not to say that this will remain the basic standard of filtering—indeed, some leading providers are filtering more widely. We continue to review this. I am very mindful of what my noble friend said about the mobile network, but that is where the position is with regard to public wi-fi.

[Baroness Benjamin (LD)]

My Lords, there is a wonderful world for children to discover on the internet but, sadly, evil also lurks there. Parents need to have trust and faith in wi-fi providers and suppliers and be sure that their children are protected. Can my noble friend tell the House how many sites—I believe there are a few—have asked for their porn filters to be removed? They need to be identified so that parents can be alerted to them.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, the whole purpose of the development of the logo is to ensure that parents and children know which public places are secure. The work that is going on in developing the logo is precisely to ensure the safety of children wherever they are on the internet. I am very conscious of what my noble friend said and I will look into it further.

Children: Online Safety

Debate between Baroness Benjamin and Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, Ofcom has a very important role to play. In fact, part of the reporting that we are looking to Ofcom to fulfil is how the parental awareness campaign goes this year. We want Ofcom to be part of that and to report back on how successful it has been. The internet service providers will spend £25 million on it this year. Clearly, standards are another important feature, and Ofcom has a very important role to fulfil.

[Baroness Benjamin (LD)]

My Lords, it is inevitable that some online sites will be unintentionally blocked because of filtering, but that is easily rectified. Does my noble friend agree that protecting and safeguarding children from social, physical and moral harm far overrides the argument of those who say that filtering threatens their rights and freedoms?

Broadcasting: Digital Radio

Debate between Baroness Benjamin and Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

Certainly, my Lords, in the consideration about a switchover there will be all sorts of issues involving vulnerable people, to whom the noble Lord has referred, in ensuring that community radio continues in a range of sectors and that those members of the population get a good service.

[Baroness Benjamin (LD)]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Benjamin]

Thank you, my Lords. Businesswise, it would be good to know when local radio coverage on DAB will finally be rolled out across the whole country. In the mean time, as we head into a truly digital era where any radio station in the world can be heard on a mobile phone, surely historic and prescriptive regulations—such as how much music versus speech a radio station should contain—have become outdated. Therefore, as long as local news is protected on local radio and taken into consideration in the huge investment that media companies are putting into DAB, is it not time that these outdated restrictions were reviewed and removed?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, one of the things we want to do is to ensure, through Ofcom, that any unnecessary restrictions are removed. As I say, there will be all sorts of ways in which we can enjoy radio and I am sure that new technologies will produce even more.

Publishing: Public Lending Right

Debate between Baroness Benjamin and Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Wednesday 22nd May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Benjamin]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and declare an interest.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

The Government commissioned an independent review of e-lending in public libraries in England last year and the panel, led by William Sieghart, recommended that the public lending right be extended to e-books and audiobooks. The government response to the review, published on 27 March, sets out that the Government will consider commencing the provisions of the Digital Economy Act to extend PLR to on-site loans of e-books and audiobooks.

[Baroness Benjamin]

I thank my noble friend for that Answer, but is he aware that the loan of e-books and audiobooks is increasing and that public libraries are lending them without the copyright owner’s permission—meaning that, technically, libraries are infringing copyright because those books are not yet within the PLR system? Does he agree that public lending rights should be extended without delay to cover digital, audio and e-books, so that writers can be properly compensated for the use of their work, as recommended in the Sieghart review?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, the first thing to say is that e-lending is indeed increasing. It is still about 3% of the total, but it is undoubtedly increasing. Non-print book rights holders are currently conferred lending rights by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The law requires library authorities to reach appropriate agreements with non-print rights holders and with other parties on behalf of those rights holders. Indeed, library authorities offering e-lending must do so by contracting the services of third-party aggregators, who liaise with publishers on their behalf.