European Football Championships: Travel

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Monday 21st June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I stress again that no final decisions have been taken. Our approach is to restrict any extension to the smallest possible group of people who are deemed critical for staging the tournament successfully. I am not aware that we will publish the vaccination status, but we will ensure that any visit is a safe one.

[Lord Loomba (CB) [V]]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that allowing 250 VIPs to come into the country without quarantine sends the wrong message to the general public: that quarantine is not important, and that there is one rule for them and one rule for people seen as more important?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Lord cites a figure that I do not recognise. The principle is that we are not exempting any VIPs or accredited guests from our restrictions. If it is agreed that they should enter the UK, they would be allowed to leave isolation only for official events and would be subject to a very strict code of conduct.

Streaming Platforms: Age Ratings

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Tuesday 8th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I think my noble friend is aware that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State has made his views about the latest series of “The Crown” extremely clear. Perhaps one positive outcome of this is that Netflix has now made a statement in the public domain that acknowledges that this is indeed a fictionalised account. We are hopeful that Netflix will reflect on this for future programmes to make sure that it serves its viewers to best effect.

[Lord Loomba (CB) [V]]

My Lords, we have the 9 pm watershed, which provides parents and guardians with a good marker of the content and age-appropriateness of programmes. Now that more and more traditional broadcasters are offering on-demand services similar to those offered by the streaming platforms, can the Minister say what the Government are doing to ensure age-appropriate content in this growing area of broad- casting?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The noble Lord raises some wide-ranging points. In addition to what I have already mentioned regarding our approach, we are taking forward a media literacy strategy and developing a one-stop shop which will give companies guidance on how to keep children safe online.

Audiovisual Media Services (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Friday 27th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Loomba (CB) [V]]

My Lords, these regulations do not cover audio-visual media providers in certain circumstances and raise issues of jurisdiction, including a lack of jurisdiction for infringement resolution. One area of grave concern is that the regulations should protect minors from harm, such as child sexual exploitation, but until the online harms Bill is published there will be a regulatory gap.

Another key point is the problems surrounding case law, precedent and appeal cases, as discussed this week during the passage of the retained EU case law Regulations. As the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, pointed out during that debate, there is a deficiency in the withdrawal Act with regard to methods

“in place for reaching from, for example, the magistrates’ court in England to the Court of Appeal.”—[Official Report, 25/11/20; col. GC 28.]

Can the Minister say how the courts will reconcile issues of jurisdiction if matters are to be determined by a regulator in another EU country, or if there is no regulatory jurisdiction due to an audio-visual media provider being without a base in an EU country or the UK but the harm is occurring in the UK and being dealt with by the criminal courts in this country? Can she also tell us how our courts will deal with case law if they are not expected to follow EU case law but the regulator covering the harm involved is based in an EU country and bound by EU law, particularly EU case law?

Charitable and Voluntary Sector

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Thursday 30th April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Astor of Hever (Con)]

My Lords, this pandemic has shone—

[Lord Loomba (CB)]

Hello? I am here.

[The Deputy Speaker]

Lord Loomba, please wait as the noble Lord, Lord Astor of Hever, has started, and we will come to you afterwards.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Loomba]

I declare my interest as vice-president of Barnardo’s, the UK’s leading charity for children. It relies heavily on donations from the generous general public, with much of that coming through large gatherings and large and small fundraising events the length and breadth of the country, which are now prohibited. In addition, more than 700 of its retail outlets, producing around a third of the charity’s income, are shut for well over a month, and we have no idea when they will be functional again. On the other hand, it has reported an increase in overheads due to moving to remote working for staff and the provision of some front-line services to directly reach children in need of help.

Can the Minister say what further support might be offered to charitable organisations facing financial hardship such as Barnardo’s, for which it is likely to be a long time before it is back to business as usual?