Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to visit Northern Ireland to meet with representatives of the creative industries.
Answered by Margot James
The Secretary of State has no current plans to visit Northern Ireland. However he is constantly reviewing his regional visits programme.
Creative industries policy is a devolved matter. Members of the Devolved Administrations attend meetings of the Creative Industries Council, which the Secretary of State co-Chairs.
We work closely with Northern Ireland on creative industries policy through DCMS’s participation in the British-Irish Council creative industries workstream.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on the number of overseas visitors to England and Wales that visited Northern Ireland as part of their stay in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Although precise data is not available, VisitBritain estimate that international visits to Northern Ireland which also include a visit to England, Scotland or Wales was 14% in 2016, 10% in 2015, 15% in 2014, 10% in 2013 and 19% in 2012.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government has taken steps to deter the display or sale of Nazi memorabilia on social media marketplace platforms; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Margot James
As set out in the Internet Safety Strategy, behaviour which is unacceptable offline is unacceptable online. Therefore, where the sale of memorabilia supports harmful views or could encourage hate crime, we expect social media companies to have robust processes in place to remove this content.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussion he has had with his counterparts in other EU member states on cyber security risks relating to 5G mobile networks.
Answered by Margot James
5G will introduce technologies which operate and communicate in innovative ways that have not been deployed at scale before, but which are anticipated to become commonplace in the next decade. Security is an important aspect of any new technology, not least digital connectivity.
The Government’s National Cyber Security Strategy (2016-2021) sets out ambitious policies to protect the UK in cyberspace, backed with £1.9 billion investment. The UK remains fully engaged with our EU counterparts, and we have been discussing the security aspects of the European Electronic Communications Code with member states. The DCMS 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme will also include £10 million to create capabilities where the security of 5G Networks can be tested and proven, working with the National Cyber Security Centre.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland authorities on the roll-out of superfast and ultrafast broadband in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Margot James
Superfast broadband is now available to over 86% of homes and businesses in Northern Ireland. The current publicly-funded superfast broadband roll-out project in Northern Ireland is due to complete this month and will have provided coverage to 41,000 premises. The UK government funding for this project was £7.054 million. Given the scale of the challenge in delivering broadband coverage in Northern Ireland, the UK government allocated a further £150 million for ultrafast broadband in Northern Ireland in the June 2017 funding agreement for Northern Ireland.
The government has regular discussions with the Northern Ireland authorities on both the delivery of the current project and proposals for taking forward new funding.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the contribution of the growth in the creative industries in Northern Ireland to UK-wide tourism.
Answered by Michael Ellis
According to VisitBritain, over a third of visitors to the UK are drawn to locations which have been used in films and TV series.
In Northern Ireland, the television series Game of Thrones has been a great draw, encouraging visitors to locations such as Giant’s Causeway and the Dark Hedge.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish guidelines to encourage improvements in access to digital services for people with sensory loss.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Government recognises the importance of Digital Inclusion. The Government Digital Service launched the Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy in April 2014. The Strategy sets out 10 actions that Government and partners from the public, private and voluntary sector will take to reduce digital exclusion.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the quality of access to on demand television content for people with sensory loss.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government is committed to ensure the quality of the access continues to improve. We have been monitoring progress of the provision of access services for Video on Demand (VoD) content since 2013 through engagement with the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD), platform operators and content providers. As part of our continuing assessment of access to such services for VoD content, we will use information from a variety of sources and engagement with relevant parties to develop a target that we would expect to see reached by mid-2016.
Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has held with television broadcasters on improving services for people with sensory loss.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The UK is a world leader in the extent and the quality of TV access services, which include subtitles, audio description and signing. UK broadcasters and content providers are committed to meeting the needs of disabled people and want to ensure that this remains the case in the future.
Sections 303 to 305 of the Communications Act 2003 require Ofcom to draw up a Code which provides guidance as to the extent to which television services should provide access services. Ofcom monitors the provision of access services and publishes reports reflecting licensees’ performance against the target. Ofcom has the power to take action against broadcasters who fail to meet their target.