Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure local libraries are protected from any reductions in spending; and what encouragement they will give to local authorities to protect such libraries.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 makes available £54.1 billion for local government in England, an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22. The majority of this funding is not ring-fenced, including funding of library services, in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities and needs.
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service which meets local needs. It is for each local authority to consider how best to deliver this statutory duty within available resources.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many insurance payouts are made annually from the cyber liability insurance scheme.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This information is not held by the government. The insurance scheme referred to is a commercial arrangement between organisations with a Cyber Essentials certificate and IASME, the operators of the scheme.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many organisations are certified under the Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus schemes.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
At the end of August 2021, 75,237 Cyber Essentials certificates had been awarded to organisations in the UK. Of these, 61,481 certificates were awarded at Cyber Essentials level and 13,756 were awarded at Cyber Essentials Plus level.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government where the money is directed if a company is fined for failing to report a data breach of personal information to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Any monetary penalty issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is paid into the HM Treasury Consolidated Fund and is not retained by the ICO.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to provide funding for, and (2) to further the work of, the Future News Pilot Fund.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government invested £2 million in the pilot Future News Fund, which sought to invest in new technological prototypes, start-ups and innovative business models to explore new ways of sustaining public interest news in a changing landscape. The pilot received 178 applications and grants were awarded to 19 projects.
The pilot fund came to an end in June 2020. We are considering options for taking forward innovation funding, building on the model set by the Future News Fund pilot and taking into account Nesta’s independent evaluation, sector feedback, and the changing landscape as a result of Covid-19.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish an online media literacy strategy.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper Consultation, published last December, confirmed our commitment to publish an Online Media Literacy Strategy. The Strategy will explore the media literacy landscape and ensure a strategic and coordinated approach to media literacy activity. The Strategy will further help support users with the skill and knowledge they need to make informed and safer choices online.The Strategy will be published later this year.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the publication of guidance that requires the Union flag to be flown all year round on UK Government buildings, what plans they have to require UK Government buildings in Wales to also fly the flag of Wales.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Currently, Union flags are only required to be flown on all UK Government buildings on designated days. The new guidance asks for the flag to be flown all year round, unless another flag is being flown – such as another national flag of the UK, or a county flag, or other flags to mark civic pride.
The UK Government would very much encourage flying the Flag of Wales alongside the Union Flag, where there are two flagpoles.
In England, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will be amending planning rules to allow for two flags to be flown from one flagpole.
We would very much encourage the Welsh Government to make a similar liberalisation to planning rules in Wales, to help champion the shared identities that unite our country.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to work with local authorities to provide additional leisure facilities, especially for young people, in areas of high unemployment following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. Swimming pools, indoor gyms and leisure centres (including sports halls) should now be able to reopen. These facilities will be able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are COVID-secure and follow Government guidance.
Sport England have announced a £195 million package of support to help community clubs through this crisis. It recently boosted its Community Emergency Fund by a further £15 million to meet the demand, taking the total up to £210 million.
The income scheme announced on Thursday 2 July by the Secretary of State for Local Government, aims to support local authorities who have incurred irrecoverable loss of income from sales, fees and charge which they had reasonably budgeted for. Further guidance will follow on the principle of the scheme.
The Government is providing local authorities with an unprecedented package of support, allocating £4.3bn of support for?spending?pressures, including £3.7bn of un-ringfenced grants and the £600m Infection Control Fund.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the alert published by the Charity Commission on 17 April Coronavirus (COVID-19): increased risk of fraud and cybercrime against charities, what discussions they have had with charities to improve the security of their IT infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) continues to work closely alongside the Charity Commission, and sector representative bodies in supporting the charity sector to enhance their cyber resilience. During this period of increased online reliance and activity, the NCSC has produced sector neutral guidance for organisations on remote working, and has briefed the Charities Against Fraud Group, hosted by the Charity Commission, on the current threat landscape and support available.
The Charity Commission updated its alert in May to include advice from the NCSC on how to report suspicious emails and how to use video conferencing safely, as well as a recorded webinar with The Fraud Advisory Panel and sector partners, including the City of London Police, to help charities spot Covid-19 related fraud. The Charity Commission has supported the Digital Code for Charities Steering Group which has developed a COVID-19 digital checklist for charity trustees and leaders to help them make the right decisions about digital during the crisis, which has been published online: https://charitydigitalcode.org/covid19/trustees-checklist-covid19/.
In conjunction with Small Charities week (15-19th June) NCSC will be hosting a series of cyber security workshops to help charities understand what steps they can take to protect their IT infrastructure.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to return any entertainment and sports centres that are currently being used for medical purposes to their normal use.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Both sport and healthcare are devolved, and each of the Devolved Authorities will have its own approach to these facilities. Changes in use of such facilities will be made on a location by location basis as a result of discussions between the local parties, depending on local need at the time.
In England, six NHS Nightingale hospitals have been opened of the seven being built across the country, as part of actions taken to ensure the NHS has sufficient hospital capacity to care for COVID-19 patients. This includes the Nightingale hospitals in London (London ExCel) and Birmingham (Birmingham National Exhibition Centre).
Surge capacity is holding up well in NHS hospitals across the country. As such, both the London ExCel and Birmingham National Exhibition Centre have now been placed on standby and will not be accepting patients. It is possible the NHS Nightingale hospitals will be needed in the months ahead, and the Government will maintain that extra capacity until there is more certainty.