Children: Television
Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Baroness Howe of Idlicote
Baroness Rawlings
The noble Baroness makes an important point. I am sorry if I did not stress that Ofcom is an independent body that decides these things, and the communications review will be looking at this. The prominence of a children's programme is decided by Digital Multiplex Operators Ltd, DMOL, and other operators.
Baroness Howe of Idlicote
My Lords, the BBC is renowned for its children's broadcasts—there is little doubt about that—but as far as concerns radio programmes for children, it has not been as effective as it could have been. Will the Minister do her best to persuade all the Ministers in the department to keep up the pressure on the BBC about this and also to encourage the BBC to do a much better job in that respect than it has done up to now?
Baroness Rawlings
The noble Baroness is very expert on these matters and has gone to the core of the matter regarding radio programmes. It is up to the BBC to follow up on its children's programmes. The assessment of whether radio and television broadcasters are meeting their obligations towards children is a matter for Ofcom.
News Corporation/BSkyB Merger
Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Baroness Howe of Idlicote
Baroness Rawlings
Under the law, a minimum of seven days’ further consultation is required. The Secretary of State will be receiving suggestions or ideas for changes that people feel necessary to present to him; then he will take the decision. He is in a quasi-judicial situation, and he will take the decision wisely, I am sure.
Baroness Howe of Idlicote
My Lords, has the Secretary of State already taken into account the fact that, as we have already heard, 64 per cent of the population is opposed to the proposals? Has he already taken that into account and rejected it? That is what it looks like, which does not seem to be paying much attention to public opinion.
Baroness Rawlings
I am sure that he has taken the 64 per cent into account, the details of which I have not got in my brief, but I will write to the noble Baroness with the results of the poll—there are many different polls and I am not sure whether they all come out at 64 per cent.
Broadcasting: Product Placement
Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Baroness Howe of Idlicote
Baroness Rawlings
My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely right. We believe that it is right to be cautious initially so as not to alienate viewers, and special safeguards have been put in place on what may be promoted in this way. Some, such as restrictions on product placement of alcohol and prescription medicines, are set out in European law, and some in the UK regulations—such as the restrictions on foods high in fat, salt and sugar, which largely match the current advertising restrictions.
Baroness Howe of Idlicote
My Lords, following the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Benjamin, and given that we already have product placement, can we also encourage the feeding in of some of these resources to the production of quality radio for children? Surely this should be a particularly important area, not least because the BBC seems to be reneging somewhat on its commitment to quality radio programmes for children.
Baroness Rawlings
The noble Baroness has a good point. Although it is up to Ofcom to assess whether broadcasters are meeting their obligations on children’s television, which includes the wireless, we also look to the broadcasters to consider allocating perhaps a percentage of their product-placement income to areas such as the Open University and libraries, to encourage more reading.
EU: Electronic Communications Framework
Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Baroness Howe of Idlicote
Baroness Rawlings
My Lords, I am aware of the use of VRS in the United States but, as I said earlier, the matter comes under the Ofcom legislation. However, the Minister, Ed Vaizey, is doing all that he can to support this.
Baroness Howe of Idlicote
My Lords, given that Ofcom has had oversight of this problem since 2004, is there anything further that the Government can do to encourage rather faster action? As we have heard, there is a tremendous number of people who are disadvantaged in a way that should have been made parallel, shall we say, in about two or three days’ time. It would be helpful, knowing that this number of people is likely to grow over the years, if rather faster action could be taken by Ofcom.
Baroness Rawlings
The noble Baroness, Lady Howe, is right: more and more people will use this system. The implementation of the framework will mean that the regulator, Ofcom, and the Information Commissioner will have the tools that they need and will be able to take effective action to deal with this growing number.
Video Recordings Act 2010
Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Baroness Howe of Idlicote
Baroness Rawlings
The noble Lord is absolutely right that it has taken quite a long time, and it has done so because DCMS officials started work on the paper with no proper evidence base. For any videos and DVDs that might be affected by any change in the current set-up, an assessment is vital for proper and proportionate consideration of options. The noble Lord will be pleased to know that we have been working with a number of industry sources and looking into other sources of information and research to try to obtain the evidence as soon as possible.
Baroness Howe of Idlicote
My Lords, although we are all obviously sorry that there has been a delay, does the Minister welcome the best practice that is already being followed by those companies which are using the BBFC’s online classification services to protect children and empower parents? Those companies include not only organisations such as Paramount, Universal and Tesco, which perhaps we would expect, but also companies that we have heard rather less of such as Harmony and Darker Enterprises.
Baroness Rawlings
The noble Baroness, Lady Howe, has been involved with this matter for quite a long time and participated in the Digital Economy Act. It is important to note that any video that benefits from an exemption, whether it is music, sport, religious or a documentary, loses the exemption if it contains material that is sexual, grossly violent or criminal.
News Corporation/BSkyB Merger
Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Baroness Howe of Idlicote
Baroness Rawlings
The noble Lord, Lord Borrie, makes very valid points. He knows about independence and Ofcom from having been chairman of the OFT. We either have to believe in this country that we have independent appointments or we do not. The way in which this country is run means that many bodies have independent board members and independent chairmen; it is not government and the Murdoch family. Paragraph 3.3 of the paper states that the new chairman will be independent.
The noble Lord, Lord Borrie, mentioned 10 years. The Office of Fair Trading stated that the Sky News company, which was not part of News Corporation, will be viable for at least 10 years. That is a long time in this market, and I remind the noble Lord that it is difficult to predict with certainty what the media world and plurality will be like in that time.
Baroness Howe of Idlicote
My Lords, alas, I fear that there is quite a lot of scepticism on the part of a number of your Lordships and concern about plurality. I accept that an independent chairman will be an improvement, but, by way of helping to reassure myself, I ask about the guarantee for 10 years that this sum—I believe it is 65 per cent—will be provided for the needs of this independent organisation. Will it be available every year or will it be a lump sum? If it is provided on a yearly basis, my concern is whether any condition might be attached—perhaps a delay in paying the sum. Might there be a way in which that could happen?
Baroness Rawlings
Understandably, there is a certain amount of scepticism about some of the details. As I say, this is not a final decision; we are still consulting. The point about plurality came clearly from Ofcom. Its conclusion was that,
“we consider that the revised proposed undertakings would address the plurality concerns identified in our report of 31 December 2010”.
At the moment, I cannot give the noble Baroness the details of how the money will be given.
British Film Institute: Children’s Film Funding
Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Baroness Howe of Idlicote
Baroness Rawlings
The noble Lord, Lord Harrison, makes an important point, but within the framework of the BBC charter and agreement, the provision for TV drama created specifically for children is a matter for the BBC; there is no provision for the Government to intervene.
Baroness Howe of Idlicote
My Lords, does the Minister agree that as well as film and radio for children, which are hugely important, the making of cartoon films—I am here thinking especially of S4C—has been a major contribution and one that can be exported around the world? I hope that nothing will happen to prevent S4C continuing its excellent work.
Baroness Rawlings
Concerning that, the Government also support FILMCLUB, which is a free service helping state schools to set up film clubs for children and young people, to do exactly that.