Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to privatise Channel 4.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of its ongoing strategic review of the UK’s system of public service broadcasting, the Government launched a public consultation on the future of Channel 4, including its ownership model and remit, on 6 July 2021 .
The broadcasting landscape has changed beyond recognition since Channel 4’s creation almost 40 years ago, and it continues to change apace. Increased global competition, changing audience habits, the decline of linear advertising revenue, and a wave of consolidation in the sector all pose challenges.
The Government’s consultation seeks views and evidence on whether stakeholders agree that a new ownership model would give Channel 4 the broadest range of tools to continue to thrive as a public service broadcaster in the face of these new challenges.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect all UK citizens from online harms and misinformation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 12 May 2021, we published the draft Online Safety Bill, which sets out new expectations on companies to keep their users safe online. Companies will have to enforce their promises to users, remove criminal content from their sites, and protect children from harmful content including misinformation. The biggest companies will have duties on legal content that may cause significant physical or psychological harm to adults, including mis/disinformation such as anti-vaccination content and falsehoods about COVID-19.
The Bill will strengthen Ofcom’s existing duty to promote media literacy to build audience resilience to mis/disinformation and support users’ critical thinking skills. Ofcom will also be required to set up an advisory committee to build understanding and technical knowledge on how to tackle mis/disinformation.
The government is currently tackling mis/disinformation through the Cross-Whitehall Counter-Disinformation Unit, which develops a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and the reach of mis/disinformation, and works with social media platforms to ensure appropriate action is taken in line with their terms of service.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support charities help rebuild civil society after COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has provided a multi-billion-pound package of support for Britain's charities to continue their vital work, and mitigate the risks created by the pandemic.
Charities continue to benefit from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and many will have benefited from government grants where they have been required to close non-essential retail. This support is in addition to the £750 million targeted support package that was made available to support charities and social enterprises to maintain and reshape vital services.
Guidance has been made available on a range of activities that will be relevant to charities and social enterprises, including organised events and grassroots sport and sports facilities. We have also worked with the Institute of Fundraising and Fundraising Regulator to support the development of guidance on the safe return to fundraising activities.
We continue to monitor sector health closely. The government is working with charity sector representatives to support a strong and resilient charity sector.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had about children's participation in sport and physical activity; and with whom those discussions took place.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people have the best opportunities to engage in sport and physical activity. We work closely with Sport England to review and increase children’s participation in sport and physical activity. We also regularly engage with a wide range of sport sector organisations on this issue.
The Government hosted school sport roundtable meetings in March and June of this year. Both meetings were attended by Sport England and a number of sport sector organisations, including national governing bodies. These discussions focused on getting our children and young people active again as we recover from the pandemic, as well as developing a long term strategy for school sport and physical activity.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to increase digital inclusivity, and (2) to address the digital divide.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government’s 10 Tech Priorities include building a tech savvy nation where everyone has a base level of cyber and digital skills.
Training is available for adults wishing to acquire digital skills. The Government has introduced a digital entitlement for adults with no or low digital skills to undertake specified digital qualifications, up to level 1, free of charge.
The Government is tackling the digital divide for adults with learning disabilities through our £2.5m Digital Lifeline fund. This fund is providing tablets, data and free digital support to over 5,000 people with learning disabilities, enabling them to connect with friends and family, and access services and support groups, promoting overall well being.
The pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital connectivity. It has been an important component in allowing children to learn remotely. Over 1.3 million laptops and tablets have been distributed to schools, trusts, local authorities and further education providers for disadvantaged children and young people as part of a £400 million government investment to support access to remote education and online social care services.
Government has worked closely with industry throughout the pandemic and agreed a set of commitments with the UK’s major broadband and mobile operators to support consumers during the Covid-19 period. Providers have committed to working with customers who are finding it difficult to pay their bill as a result of Covid-19 to ensure that they are treated fairly and appropriately supported. There are also social tariffs in place that provide low cost landline and broadband services for those on means tested benefits.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage growth in the creative industries.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The creative industries contributed approximately £116bn to the UK economy in 2019. The Government has recognised the sector as one of the key sectors to drive growth across the country in the Chancellor’s Plan for Growth.
We are actively supporting the creative industries through a range of initiatives such as:
£4m towards the Creative Scale-Up programme which seeks to help creative businesses expand their operations.
£39m towards the Creative Clusters programme through UKRI which connects businesses and academia to take advantage of the most recent research and innovations so they can grow.
£33m towards the Audience of the Future which encouraged creative businesses to use innovative new technologies to reach new audiences.
£20m towards the first round of the Cultural Development Fund to support business growth and productivity through investment in cultural and creative infrastructure via five projects in places like Wakefield and Worcester, in addition to a further £18.5m for a second round as part of the landmark Cultural Investment Fund, launched in May 2021.
HMG committed over £2m to the Creative Careers Programme which aims to address aspirational and informational barriers to entry amongst young people and their carers. To date over 115,000 young people have engaged with the programme at over 1500 schools in England and Wales.
Continuing to work with industry through the Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board to increase exports in the creative industries.
The Government supports trade promotion in the CIs through DIT’s export hubs, the Internationalisation Fund, the Export Academy. All this support will feature in the Creative Industries Export Campaign which will encourage both new exporters and companies wanting to look at new export markets to take advantage of the fantastic opportunities available to the UK as an independent trading nation.
The Government is also looking carefully at options for an Export Office.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to progress the Destination Management Organisation review.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government launched the independent review of Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) in England, led by Nick de Bois, in March. The review will examine how best to structure and support DMOs at a local and regional level in order to deliver the Government’s tourism policy priorities and support economic growth.
The first phase of the review included a public consultation, stakeholder conversations, and a survey of DMOs. The review's second phase was formed of regional roundtables, taking place across England in June.
Nick de Bois will evaluate his findings and submit a written report, including recommendations, to the DCMS Secretary of State in Summer 2021.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to develop the technology sector.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The digital sector contributed £151bn to the UK economy in 2019 and accounts for 7.6% of UK GVA. It supports 1.6 million jobs and around 232,000 businesses of which almost all are SMEs. The Government is taking great strides to support this growth, championing the digital sector across Whitehall and supporting it through EU Exit and the pandemic.
As many companies struggled due to the pandemic, HMG introduced unprecedented support for the sector, including the Future Fund, Bounce Back Loans and Coronavirus Business Loans. The Future Fund alone has disbursed £1,066m in convertible loans to 1,055 innovative companies facing difficulties, including digital businesses.
Throughout the EU Exit process, HMG engaged regularly with the sector to understand their concerns, providing bespoke guidance for the sector throughout the Transition Period.
Last year DCMS introduced the UK Gigabit Programme and the Shared Rural Network programme to develop the country’s broadband infrastructure; introduced a Digital Markets Taskforce, an Online Harms White Paper response and a Digital Identity Call for Evidence to ensure people remain safe online. We ran an entirely digital London Tech Week to show our support for the sector. This event was a resounding success, with initial figures suggesting 2,500 unique viewers attended each day, with 24,000 registering for the entire event. DCMS also delivers support through Tech Nation and our Digital Trade Network.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of visa arrangements with the EU for UK musicians.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The UK and EU have unilaterally decided not to impose visas on short-stay visitors. For short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, UK nationals will not need a visa when travelling to and within the Schengen Area to undertake a limited range of activities, such as tourism, or attending business meetings, or cultural and sports events. However, Member States can require a visa for what they regard as “paid activity”.
Therefore, UK cultural professionals, including musicians, seeking to tour within the EU will be required to check domestic immigration and visitor rules for each Member State in which they intend to tour. Although some Member States may allow touring without a visa or work permit, others will require musicians and other creative professionals to obtain a visa or work permit, in the same way that they are required for other international artists.
We recognise that this means there will be some additional processes for those in cultural and creative industries working across the EU. However this does not mean our sectors will not be able to work in the EU nor that our position has changed on being as welcoming as ever to talented EU artists and musicians wishing to perform in the UK.
We are delivering an extensive programme of engagement with the industry to assess impacts and support these sectors in understanding new requirements. The Secretary of State had a very productive discussion with representatives from across the creative and cultural sectors on the issue on Wednesday 20th January. We have also published guidance online, signposting to official information provided by EU countries about their business travel routes, which is regularly updated.
We will also look at whether we can work with our partners in EU Member States to find ways to make life easier for those working in the creative industries in our respective countries.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they estimate that stage 5 of their plan to re-open live performance venues will begin.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
From Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 2 December, new national restrictions will be in force in England to control the spread of coronavirus. During this period, performing arts venues can continue to operate under Stages 1 and 2 of the performing arts roadmap. This means performing arts professionals may continue to rehearse and train, and perform for broadcast or recording purposes. Other than for this purpose, theatres, concert halls and entertainment venues must close.
We have consistently stated that further reopening would be dependent on the public health context at the time. We will continue to work with the sector and have convened a Venues Steering Group which includes representatives from leading sector organisations as well as Public Health England and other experts to develop an action plan for maximising activity under Stages 3 and 4 when it is permitted and for how we safely proceed to stage 5.
DCMS will continue to work with the sector to establish an appropriate pilot process for testing the return to stage 5 activity when appropriate. We are committed to exploring new technologies to minimise these risks, which is why in parallel the government is exploring innovative ways to keep these sectors open.