Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current state of negotiations regarding Convention 108 of the Council of Europe and when they anticipate agreement to this Convention from all countries of the Council of Europe.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Convention 108 is currently undergoing modernisation to address the growth and challenges of new information and communication technology, and to be brought in line with the new EU Data Protection regime. The UK Government supports this aim and will continue to work with all parties towards agreeing and concluding the modernised text.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their position on the redrafting of Convention 108 of the Council of Europe.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Convention 108 is currently undergoing modernisation to address the growth and challenges of new information and communication technology, and to be brought in line with the new EU Data Protection regime. The UK Government supports this aim and will continue to work with all parties towards agreeing and concluding the modernised text.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to give financial or other support to Imagination Technologies Group plc in order to protect jobs, following the announcement by Apple Inc that it intends to stop using Imagination’s technology; if so, what form that support will take; and what assessment they have made of the impact of that announcement on the UK’s digital technology sector.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
It would not be appropriate to comment on this specific announcement which remains a commercial matter for the Imagination Technologies Group and Apple.
More widely, through our recently published Digital Strategy, we have set out our commitment to create the best possible environment for our digital firms to thrive and to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business. The digital sector is already worth £118bn a year to the UK economy, accounting for over 7 per cent of UK GVA, and employing 1.6 million people.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for Digital and Culture on 29 November 2016 (53857) that they are "considering the implications of the dissemination of fake news on social media sites", what assessment they have made of whether fake news stories generated online through social media are more widely believed than fake news stories in the mainstream media; and, if they are not more widely believed, why they are taking steps to counteract fake news on social media.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
There are existing mechanisms in place to address inaccurate news in the mainstream media including requirements in the Broadcasting Code for television and radio programmes and requirements in the Editors' Code of Practice for publishers who are members of a self-regulator.
The Minister for Digital and Culture will shortly be sending invitations to select organisations to attend a discussion on fake news.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will investigate the propagation of fake news in the mainstream media.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
There are existing mechanisms in place to address inaccurate news in the mainstream media including requirements in the Broadcasting Code for television and radio programmes and requirements in the Editors' Code of Practice for publishers who are members of a self-regulator.
The Minister for Digital and Culture will shortly be sending invitations to select organisations to attend a discussion on fake news.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of reports that the Minister for Digital and Culture is holding talks with UK newspaper industry representatives on accuracy in journalism and the rise of fake news, whether, as part of those discussions, he intends to raise the issue of fake news stories in mainstream tabloid newspapers.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
There are existing mechanisms in place to address inaccurate news in the mainstream media including requirements in the Broadcasting Code for television and radio programmes and requirements in the Editors' Code of Practice for publishers who are members of a self-regulator.
The Minister for Digital and Culture will shortly be sending invitations to select organisations to attend a discussion on fake news.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have published statistics on creative industries exports for Europe and not the EU specifically, and whether they will make a change to their collection and publication methods before the next statistics are published.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
DCMS have published the attached DCMS Sector Economic Estimates report which contains the relevant information on Table 4.2 - “Exports of services by continent”, and Table 4.3 - “Creative Industries export of services to the EU”.
We intend to continue to publish this breakdown in future releases of this publication.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which countries are categorised as being within Europe in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport 2016 spreadsheet <i>Creative Industries: Focus on Exports of Services</i>.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The following countries were categorised as being within Europe in the 2016 DCMS Creative Industries: Focus on Exports of Services publication:
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Irish Republic
Isle of Man
Italy
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
The Channel Islands
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will research and publish the figures for UK creative industry exports to every European country, including those outside the EU.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Following the release of the DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates publication in August 2016, we issued a consultation which included a question on the countries for which users would like us to publish exports of services figures. The DCMS response to this consultation will be published in February 2017, and will provide details on any additional breakdowns we will publish in future. As these estimates are based on survey data, the extent to which we can publish results for individual countries may be constrained by sample sizes.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the invention by Agri-Broadband which has enabled broadband speed to be increased from 1 Mbps to 45 Mbps; and whether such an invention could contribute to equipping rural areas with superfast broadband.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government welcomes the work of companies such as Agri-Broadband who are providing superfast broadband services to rural communities.
We recognise that a range of solutions will be required to reach those in the hardest to reach areas. That is why the Government has invested up to £8 million to support seven pilot projects to explore ways to extend superfast broadband beyond 95% of UK premises, with technologies such as satellite and wireless and using alternative financing models.