Small-scale Radio Multiplex and Community Digital Radio Order 2019

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Tuesday 23rd July 2019 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Lord Ashton of Hyde) (Con)]

My Lords, the order that we are debating today will facilitate a new approach to open up broadcasting on terrestrial digital radio to more than 300 existing community stations and smaller commercial services. It will also offer an opportunity for new entrants who wish to launch new services.

There has been a marked change in listening habits over the past decade, with a significant shift towards consuming radio via various digital platforms. The latest RAJAR audience listening figures, published in May 2019, show that digital radio now accounts for 56.4% of all radio listening; 10 years ago, it was just 20.1%. This shift has significant implications for around 300 existing community stations and small commercial radio stations that are currently broadcasting to local audiences only on FM or AM. For most of these small stations, a move to digital by broadcasting on their existing local digital radio multiplex is not an option, because many local multiplexes have insufficient capacity available for carrying additional stations and the cost of carriage for an individual station is too high. Smaller stations recognise that they will increasingly be at a disadvantage in retaining their audience as digital becomes the default mode.

To address this issue, the Government supported the development of an innovative approach known as small-scale DAB. Small-scale DAB is digital radio. It uses advances in technology to provide a flexible and cheap approach to digital transmission which performs well in localised geographical areas. DCMS funded a programme of work by Ofcom to examine the feasibility of small-scale DAB technology. This included 10 successful technical trials in towns and cities across the country. However, the trials licences were issued under temporary licensing arrangements and we concluded that these arrangements would not be appropriate for the longer term.

The existing legislation is more than 20 years old and places a number of burdens on radio multiplex operators that are not necessary or appropriate for small-scale radio multiplex services. Importantly, the existing legislation does not allow Ofcom to reserve capacity for community radio stations or enforce restrictions on ownership; both are essential if smaller stations are to have a viable opportunity to broadcast on DAB. To enable the necessary legislative changes to be made, DCMS supported a Private Member’s Bill sponsored in your Lordships’ House by my noble friend Lady Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist, which received cross-party support; I extend my thanks to her.

The Broadcasting (Radio Multiplex Services) Act 2017 amended the Communications Act 2003 to provide a power to modify, through secondary legislation, the rules for radio multiplex licensing set out in Part 2 of the Broadcasting Act 1996. In 2018, the Government consulted stakeholders about detailed proposals on new arrangements for licensing new small-scale radio multiplexes, and we received 87 mainly detailed responses, including from commercial and community radio operators. Overall, there was strong support for the proposals, but there were representations, including from the Community Media Association—the CMA—on whether we had got the balance right between protecting the legitimate interests of the community radio sector and allowing the commercial sector to be involved. We have reflected all these points in drawing up the order. The order secures important protections for community radio and small commercial stations which want to use these networks while ensuring that only minimum, necessary burdens are placed on new operators.

The issue that attracted the most attention during the consultation was who could hold a small-scale radio multiplex licence and the proposed limits to the number of licences that could be held. The CMA proposed strict rules that limited licences to not-for-profit entities and to holding a single licence. However, we were not attracted to this approach as it would have excluded many of the existing operators of the successful small-scale trials.

We think it is important to have a mixed economy, and for commercial entities to be involved and apply their skills and investment to develop small-scale DAB. This will help ensure that there is interest in taking up licences—something that will actually benefit community stations that would otherwise find it difficult to run a small-scale multiplex service. None the less, we recognise that some restrictions on ownership are necessary to avoid a potential concentration of ownership, and we consulted on this basis. Since the consultation, we have listened and made a small number of changes to the original proposals to strengthen the protections for community radio.

The order ensures that capacity reserved for community stations on a small-scale multiplex is a firm reservation; in other words, it must be maintained for use by community digital radio stations—C-DSP licence holders —and not by temporary commercial services. This removes an incentive for operators to seek to overcharge community radio stations. The order requires Ofcom to ensure that small-scale radio multiplex licence holders publish information about the carriage fees charged. This will allow fees to be compared and benchmarked, which will also help to limit charges. Finally, the order requires Ofcom to consider the extent of involvement of community radio in a particular application when awarding a small-scale radio multiplex licence. In other words, an application supported by local community services, for example as consortium partners, will have a greater chance of success.

In addition to these measures, the order sets out the other elements of the new licensing framework for small-scale radio multiplex services. Taken together, these measures will help to ensure that community radio’s interests will be protected. The key elements are as follows. First, they require Ofcom to reserve capacity on small-scale multiplexes for community digital radio stations. There must be a minimum of three slots available, with a variable upper limit set by Ofcom based on an assessment of local need. Ofcom will be able to review the reservation at the point of renewal.

Secondly, they create a new C-DSP category of licence for community stations broadcasting on digital. C-DSP licensees will need to commit to the same social value requirements that apply to existing community stations. Thirdly, they restrict the total number of small-scale radio multiplex licences that can be held by one company at a given time. They also place much stricter restrictions on the number of small-scale radio multiplex licences that existing national operators can be involved with and require them to do so in consortia with other partners.

The order also contains a small but important provision relating to community radio licensing. Community radio has been a major success story, with more than 280 services on air. But the licence terms for the first stations launched in 2005 are due to expire in 2020. We want community stations to continue to focus on what they are doing well—serving their local communities—rather than being concerned about the renewal of licences during a period when stations will need to think about digital radio carriage on new, small-scale multiplexes. Therefore, the order will also allow for a further extension of analogue community radio licences for a fourth five-year term, up to a maximum of 20 years. This avoids the need for Ofcom to readvertise the first wave of community radio licences, which it would need to do later this year. This proposal has strong support from the CMA.

We believe that small-scale DAB has the potential to revolutionise radio in the UK. This order will facilitate a clear pathway to digital for over 300 existing community and small commercial radio stations, as well as providing an opening for new entrants. The extensive technical trials have demonstrated that small-scale DAB provides a low-cost, viable option for smaller stations to broadcast on a terrestrial digital platform. I beg to move.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, I will make just a short intervention. I declare my interest as someone who has been involved in commercial radio since about 1972, first with the White Paper at the time and then, with the emergence of commercial radio, as an applicant for one of the first commercial radio licences, which I did not get. Subsequently, I have been very much involved in the hospital radio movement—and am to this day.

I very much welcome the general tenor of the order, and the nature of it has been very much to do with realising the importance of the community in radio broadcasting. I think all of us agree that radio, as opposed to TV and online services, is still absolutely indispensable to vast numbers of people all over the country—in particular in localities where they can have local information that they could not otherwise get quickly and immediately to their benefit.

My concern over many years has been that the original ideas behind what was then the Independent Broadcasting Authority, which granted the original licences to commercial stations, required in the criteria a considerable level of local input. Over the years, as I think my noble friend will acknowledge, the way in which our commercial broadcasting and radio have developed in this country has been more towards monopolistic situations, combining radio stations, wherever they may be located, in a way that has taken from them the importance of that local interest. Therefore, it has to some extent been up to the new community broadcasters, of which there are many now, mostly broadcasting in analogue on AM or FM frequencies, to provide local input.

Problem Gambling

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Tuesday 2nd July 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

As I said, the Gambling Commission has just finished taking evidence on that very subject and it is something that we will look at. The Secretary of State has indicated that it is an area that concerns him. We have to work on the basis of evidence, but that evidence has been collected and I assure my noble friend that it is an area being considered at the moment.

I just do not think there is any connection between the amount that a private owner of a gambling company pays him or herself and the issue. The issue is: where is the harm to the just under 1% of problem gamblers and how are we addressing it? Today’s announcement means that it will be addressed. Combined with the increase in NHS facilities, it means we are able to do a lot more to help problem gamblers than we have before. The remainder of the gambling industry not among those five big companies will be under no illusions after today. Hitherto, we were told that a voluntary system could not work and today we have increased the amount available tenfold. We will see what the remaining 50% of companies do, but it is much better to get people to contribute the right amount voluntarily than to make regulations for the sake of it. But we will monitor that and regulation will come if it is necessary.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, following on from the presidency of the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, of the Methodist Conference, I declare my interest: I became the Minister with responsibility for gambling back in 1995. Indeed, at that time we wanted to deregulate the gambling industry in a reasonable, balanced and gentle way to bring it up to date and more into line with the circumstances we found ourselves in. However, I never thought that we would end up with the situation we have now. The Statement, as far as it goes, is helpful but does not tackle the underlying problems that all of us see day after day as we watch television or go online. We are bombarded with advertising encouraging gambling at all levels. My noble friend talks about problem gambling. It is difficult to assess at what point someone’s gambling habits become a problem. Is it a problem to them or a problem to society? All gambling must have regulation and be responsible. All those involved in producing the gambling industry must be responsible and answer to regulation that the Government must bring up to date—and bring up to date soon.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I absolutely agree, and that is why we are doing so. The industry is regulated by the Gambling Commission, which was set up to do that. One of the licence conditions is that those in the industry should behave responsibly. Having said that, we have made recent changes. It is not just a question of the amount of money spent on treatment, important though that is, but a question of preventing problem gambling in the first place. I accept my noble friend’s point, which is that while the statistics are not perfect and debatable, and the number of problem gamblers small, there is a wider problem to the extent that, even if there are fewer than 1% problem gamblers, they affect a wider number of people, including families, communities and so on. However, the figures are not particularly big in numerical terms and are not, from all the evidence we have, growing; they are under 1%. A lot of work has been done on increasing the preventive element as well, not just treatment. There has been agreement on using new technology to divert advertising away from online gambling. More people are gambling online, so using online technology is a modern response to that.

We want to increase the availability of online messaging to review the tone and content of gambling companies’ marketing. We have launched a modern, up-to-date online system, GamStop, which is not perfect but is making a significant difference. It is a real-time self-exclusion scheme and the results so far have been good. That is in addition to the changes in advertising. The Government have not sat still and done nothing. We understand that changes have been made and that we must monitor the evidence to make sure that we are up to date. As I say, this is not cast in stone and, together with our advisers, the Gambling Commission, we will monitor the situation to make sure that we keep up to date.

Radio: Local Commercial Stations

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Thursday 25th April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

The basic issue is that commercial analogue radio faces an enormous challenge from digital services, both online and terrestrial. The changes that have been made by Ofcom to localness were in accordance with listeners’ views. For example, only 17% of respondents to the survey and the consultation thought that locally based presenters were a factor which helped make their station feel local. Ofcom has a requirement to have content made in approved areas, which are local ITV areas, and local news must be produced either hourly or twice a day. If stations have local news only twice a day, they have to produce more locally made content. The greatest factor in whether people listen to local radio is—shock, horror—that it plays the music the listeners like; 72% of respondents said so.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, I had the privilege, as a very young man, of contributing to the White Paper that brought about commercial radio in this country, and I later applied, unsuccessfully, as it happened, for a franchise. My concern at that time, quite rightly, was that the White Paper and the Government’s legislation made it clear that a local component was very important in establishing these stations, as had previously been the case with ITV and television stations. In both cases, we seem to have lost that, and we now end up with repeat transmitters everywhere and a lot of jobs lost. Does my noble friend agree that the pattern which is still being sustained in BBC local radio stations is enormously important and should be reflected more in future in commercial broadcasting?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

The legislation to which my noble friend refers gave the definition of localness to Ofcom, which is the independent regulator. After 10 years, it has updated it to take account of modern listeners’ views and the increase in commercial radio in the digital space. However, stations still have to produce local news at regular intervals throughout the day and should broadcast at least three hours of locally made programming each weekday. If they do not provide local news hourly, they have to broadcast at least six hours of locally made programming each weekday.

Festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2022

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Monday 18th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

It is not a sporting festival. I completely agree with the noble Lord’s previous point about diversity. Arts Council England is paying particular attention to that. He will have seen that the annual report mentioned diversity in the arts and culture sector. Equality, Diversity and the Creative Case was published in February this year.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, why is the title of this proposed festival as it is? In 1951 we had a Festival of Britain. We are now talking about a festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Surely it would be more appropriate to have a festival of the United Kingdom.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I do not know why that title was selected but it seems to explain exactly what the festival is all about.

Theatre Tickets: London

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Thursday 28th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, the noble Earl has highlighted an issue at the very top of the range. Some of those ticket prices have gone up and I think the average top ticket now costs more than £100. However, there are many examples of theatres making a big effort to offer cheap prices. For example, the Donmar Warehouse offers free tickets to those aged under 25 each month via a ballot, while the Royal Court Theatre has discounted nights. There are many examples of where theatre seats can be obtained for much less than the top prices.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, will my noble friend bear in mind that some of us wonder what this has to do with the Government? In saying that, if people do not go to the theatre in London, surely he should be promoting the wonderful provincial opportunities that we have in this country, be they in Manchester, Leeds, York or Newcastle—and indeed, in view of the Question asked by the noble Earl, in Glasgow as well.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, I completely agree with my noble friend. That is why the Arts Council spends so much money—an increasing proportion in fact—outside London. We are trying to promote the arts in general outside London and the Arts Council is taking very proactive steps to do that.

Mobile Roaming Charges

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Thursday 7th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I do agree with the noble Baroness on one thing: this has been a great benefit since it was introduced 18 months ago. Of course, it did not exist until then. When we decided to leave, there were inevitable consequences. What I do not understand from her question is how she thinks, within the powers available to the UK, we could do something different. If we set a retail price cap, UK operators will have to accept all the increased charges and as sure as anything, those will have to be passed on to all consumers. The difference is that she would penalise all consumers, while this measure affects only those who roam in the EU.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, I think it fair to say that over many years, British MEPs were involved in this progress for the consumer. It is one of the great benefits we got—however else people might feel about this—from our membership of the European Union and the work that was done in the European Parliament. I know there are some restrictions on what my noble friend can do. However, great powers are available to the Government in their dealings with the telecommunications companies—most of which are international, based not just in Europe but here in this country—to make it clear that we do not expect them to penalise those who have these hard-fought-for benefits, to make up for which other allowances have been made to the telecommunications companies.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I agree with my noble friend, and that is why we are retaining in UK law the requirement for them to notify their customers about the amount they spend on roaming per month at the same limit expressed in pounds sterling as is currently available, putting into law that they have to notify their customers when they reach 80% and 100% of their data usage and requiring them to take reasonable steps to prevent inadvertent roaming. We understand that they have responsibilities and that it is a consumer benefit, but that is why we are doing that. We have had constructive discussions with the telecoms industry. Partly because of the competition environment in this country, unlike in some others, consumers have a choice. At the moment, as I said, those that cover 85% have said that, despite the changes that would happen in a no-deal Brexit, they have no plans to increase. They will accept the increased costs while they can.

Gambling: Advertising Ban

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Wednesday 16th January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ban gambling advertising, particularly on television, to counter the negative effects on vulnerable and younger people, and others.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Lord Ashton of Hyde) (Con)]

My Lords, there are strict controls to prevent gambling advertisements targeting children or exploiting vulnerable people. Our review set out measures to strengthen the protections, including tougher guidance and sanctions. We welcome initiatives by the industry and broadcasters, including the ban on advertising during live sport. A major survey of evidence found that advertising’s impact on problem gambling is likely to be rather small. We will look at all new evidence as it emerges.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, when I was the Minister responsible for gambling in this country in the 1990s, after full research and consultation we turned our backs pretty well altogether on the idea of allowing television advertising of gambling. Sadly, in 2005 the Labour Government of that time totally liberalised this and we ended up with a great and continuing problem. We now have a total of £234 million of advertising revenue from gambling on television. While I welcome the Government’s position and the way in which they are taking initiatives, including its whistle-to-whistle voluntary agreement, I am still very concerned that any review has no real timescale. Will my noble friend the Minister therefore give us some indication of whether there will be a timescale to a further review? To use an imperfect analogy to the point made yesterday by the noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, there is currently a viviparous situation which needs to be rectified with a clear timescale in view.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

My Lords, I now understand what the noble Lord meant by that last bit. We take the problem of advertising gambling seriously; that is why we made several changes in the review. There was a multi-million pound responsible gambling advertising campaign. The responsible gambling message now appears throughout all TV advertisements. There are tougher sanctions for breaches of advertising codes and new guidance on protecting vulnerable people. We will consider how those significant changes have bedded in. The Committee of Advertising Practice also published strengthened guidance with significant new provisions, including restricting calls such as “Bet now” during sporting events. As I said yesterday, though, evidence is important when making policy. That is why GambleAware has commissioned substantial research on the impact of marketing advertising on children and other vulnerable people. I assure my noble friend that that will be undertaken soon.

Gaming Machines

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Tuesday 12th September 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

That is exactly why, within the review, the issues of social responsibility and advertising are covered, including online gambling. We agree that there are issues to be dealt with. That is why we have the review and why it will be published. But there must be an evidence-based approach. There will be a consultation to make sure that, for example, action cannot be subject to judicial review.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, I speak as a former Home Office Minister responsible for these matters. In this area of gambling in particular and its effects on society, does my noble friend not agree that, however well he may be performing these responsibilities in his department, it might be a good idea for the Government to transfer them back to the Home Office, where proper regulation can be applied?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I had not considered that issue, I must admit, but I do not think it is for me to comment.