Press Regulation

Baroness Hollins Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

I thank my noble friend. All I can say is that, for the sake of the victims and from the nation’s point of view, I very much hope that this is the final stage of important work to ensure that there is a change in attitude and culture. I think that what we have in place for this week is to show that progress really is intended. It always has been intended. From my discussions with the Secretary of State, I know that she is absolutely clear that we need to make progress. The real essence of why the royal charter was first put forward is to see that the freedom and the independence of the press in terms of its self-regulation ensure that there is this freedom for the press to hold us and others to proper account. As my noble friend has said, abuses should not be part of what the press is undertaking. We need to ensure that we get this up and running and that this abuse does not happen again.

[Baroness Hollins (CB)]

My Lords, I welcome the Statement made by the Secretary of State, particularly that the cross-party charter will be signed on 30 October. It is an unfortunate delay. It is time to act and the promise is there. The parliamentary version of the royal charter, which is designed to underpin the new independent self-regulator, was approved by Parliament in March. Even that charter was a substantial departure from the Leveson report, which called for statutory underpinning. It had 10 concessions to the press. Will the Minister confirm that no further concessions to the press will be made this week before the charter’s publication on Friday?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

I thank the noble Baroness for her comments and I understand what she said about an unfortunate delay. However, I hope that I have explained that it will not be put forward tomorrow because there is to be further work, which I think all three parties agree would be sensible to consider and discuss given the committee of the Privy Council’s view that there are areas that should be looked at again.

In terms of the word “concession”, the intention is to see whether there are practical ways to address these issues about the arbitration situation for local and regional newspapers and the standards code, which are intended to make this a workable proposition. I do not see them as concessions. This is not about concessions but about seeking to ensure that we have a workable solution.