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Written Question
ARM
Tuesday 13th October 2020

Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to assess if the proposed acquisition by NVIDIA of Arm would be contrary to the national interest; and if so, how.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Government monitors acquisitions and mergers closely. When a takeover may have a significant impact on the UK we will not hesitate to investigate further and take appropriate action. We are examining this deal carefully to understand its impact on the UK.


Written Question
Huawei: 5G
Wednesday 17th June 2020

Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will conduct a review into the role being played by Huawei in the extension of 5G coverage in the UK.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The final conclusions of the Government’s Telecoms Supply Chain Review in relation to high risk vendors were announced on 28 January. The Government has been clear, however, that as risks, threats and technology changes we need to keep the position under review. On the 15th May the US Department of Commerce announced that they were taking further action against Huawei. The National Cyber Security Centre is considering what the impact of the US sanctions might be.


Written Question
Disinformation: Coronavirus
Monday 4th May 2020

Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to counter the effects of fake news about the causes of COVID-19.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

DCMS stood up the Cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit on 5 March 2020, bringing together cross-government monitoring and analysis capabilities. Its primary function is to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and impact of disinformation and misinformation on the response to Covid-19. Where misinformation and disinformation is identified, the Unit works with partners to ensure appropriate action is taken on this, including direct rebuttal on social media. We are working closely with social media platforms to help them identify and remove incorrect claims about the virus, in line with their terms and conditions, as well as promote authoritative sources of information. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport held a roundtable with major platforms earlier this month to explore how they can further limit the spread of misinformation.

Government is also running a counter disinformation campaign, “Don’t feed the Beast” which aims to increase audience resilience by educating and empowering those who see, inadvertently share and are affected by false and misleading information. The campaign promotes the SHARE checklist, providing the public with five easy steps to identify false content, encouraging users to stop and think before they share content online.


Written Question
Sky: 21st Century Fox
Monday 23rd October 2017

Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they anticipate announcing the result of the current application regarding the merger of Sky with 21st Century Fox.

Answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport formally referred the merger of Sky with 21st Century Fox to the Competition and Markets' Authority (CMA) for a Phase 2 investigation on 20 September. From the point of referral the CMA has 24 weeks in which to report to the Secretary of State; the statutory deadline for this report is 6 March 2018. Following receipt of the CMA's report the Secretary of State has 30 days in which to come to a final decision on the merger.


Written Question
BBC: Finance
Monday 17th October 2016

Asked by: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to reinstate direct funding of the BBC monitoring service and the BBC World Service.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

The World Service is one of BBC's most distinctive services and it is a vital part of UK's soft power influence around the world. The government has protected licence fee funding for the​ World Service at £254m a year for the next five years, with additional Exchequer funding of £34m in 2016/17 and £85m per year for the following three years.

​BBC Monitoring provides a valuable service to the Government in monitoring and recording media output around the world. It is important that BBC has full editorial and managerial independence and integrity in the provision of BBC Monitoring, and this includes funding decisions. However, BBC Monitoring must be provided in accordance with the Monitoring Agreement agreed between BBC and the Cabinet Office.