Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to invite representatives from the cruise industry to sit on the Tourism Industry Council when it is re-established.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The department is in the process of setting up the new Visitor Economy Council and will share details of the membership as soon as possible when it is confirmed.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to have discussions with the Welsh Government on the BBC Funding Model Review.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The Terms of Reference for the BBC Funding Model Review set out that the review would undertake close engagement with the devolved administrations, including the Welsh Government, as appropriate. As part of the review’s evidence gathering exercise, evidence requests have already been sent to the Welsh Government, alongside the other Devolved Administrations. The Government intends to continue engaging the Welsh Government, and relevant broadcasting stakeholders in Wales, as the review progresses.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department’s research on charity lottery sales and prize limits will assess the case for removing sales limits.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
As set out in the response to WPQ 203179, the annual sales limits for charity lotteries were reviewed 12 months after the reforms were implemented in 2020. The review concluded it was too soon to reach any firm view on the impact of the reforms, and that more data on the growth of the sector was needed before considering any further changes.
The department will continue to look closely at this, and work closely with the Gambling Commission to keep the sector and research regarding charity lottery sales and prize limits under review.
I have committed to commissioning independent research, and we are currently considering a range of options in discussion with the Gambling Commission.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made on the potential role of open banking technology in helping to tackle problem online gambling.
Answered by Paul Scully
The government is exploring how technology and data can be harnessed in a number of areas to better prevent harmful gambling online. We are reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 and will publish our white paper in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the levels of digital connectivity in rural areas of Wales.
Answered by Julia Lopez
At present, 96.7% of premises in Wales can access a superfast (>=30Mbps) broadband connection, with 57.4% able to access a gigabit-capable connection.
As part of the UK Government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit, a Public Review was conducted last year to establish broadband suppliers build plans across Wales, and the results were published in November. We are working closely with the Welsh Government and plan to launch procurements in Wales in the coming months.
In addition to our procurements, nearly 2,800 vouchers have been issued under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to help communities in rural and hard-to-reach areas of Wales.
In December 2022, DCMS also launched a series of Alpha trials to test the use of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to improve broadband connectivity in very hard to reach locations. Up to 15 sites will be selected to trial the technology across the UK and to date four sites have been announced, including two in Snowdonia National Park.
The £1 billion Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme is already delivering 4G coverage uplifts in Wales and across the whole of the UK. Currently, 4G coverage in Wales stands at 62% from all four operators and will rise to a minimum of 80% through the SRN. Coverage from at least one operator currently stands at 90% and will increase to 95% in Wales once the programme completes. For further details on the SRN and how it will enable rural businesses and communities to thrive please visit https://srn.org.uk/forecast-coverage-improvements/.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals for the Media Bill, as announced in the Queen's Speech 2022; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ensuring Welsh language free-to-air coverage of national sporting events.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Government will introduce the Media Bill when Parliamentary time allows.
The listed events regime is designed to ensure that the nation’s favourite sporting events – like Wimbledon and the Olympics – are available to be shown on free to air television and can be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible.
In its Broadcasting White Paper, the government announced its intention to make qualification for the listed events regime a Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) specific benefit. This will more clearly enshrine the important role our PSBs, including S4C the Welsh language public service broadcaster, play in distributing important and valuable content to UK audiences.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many projects have been submitted for Gigabit Voucher Scheme funding in Ceredigion constituency as part of the Broadband Upgrade Fund.
Answered by Julia Lopez
A total of 11 projects were submitted in the Ceredigion constituency as part of the Broadband Upgrade Fund.
The final stage of the Broadband Upgrade Fund concluded in January 2021.
Since the closure of the Broadband Upgrade Fund, the government has launched a £210m Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) to support rural communities with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections. The scheme provides a micro-grant of up to £1,500 for residents and up to £3,500 for businesses towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband.
Seven premises in the Ceredigion constituency have claimed and received payment for a voucher through the scheme, with a further 338 premises awaiting completion, for a combined value of over £490,000.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many projects have been submitted to the Gigabit Voucher Scheme in the Broadband Upgrade Fund pilot areas since that scheme began.
Answered by Julia Lopez
A total of 37 projects were submitted to the Broadband Upgrade Fund across the pilot areas of Cornwall, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Cumbria and Northumberland.
The final stage of the Broadband Upgrade Fund concluded in January 2021.
Since the closure of the Broadband Upgrade Fund, the government has launched a £210m Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) to support rural communities with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections. The scheme provides a micro-grant of up to £1,500 for residents and up to £3,500 for businesses towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions his Department has held with charity lottery operators on the positive impacts of the charity lottery reforms which came into effect in July 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government legislated to increase society lottery sales and prize limits in March 2020, and these reforms came into effect in July 2020. The changes were:
to increase the individual per draw sales limit from £4 million to £5 million;
to increase the individual per draw prize limit from £400,000 to £500,000 (retaining the rule that the maximum prize is the greater of £25,000 or 10% of proceeds);
to increase the annual sales limit from £10 million to £50 million.
The aim of these changes was to allow both society lotteries and the National Lottery to thrive, by enabling society lotteries to continue to grow, whilst ensuring the unique position of the National Lottery is maintained.
We are currently reviewing the impact of these changes, and have engaged with a range of stakeholders, including society lotteries, to gain an understanding of how they have benefited from the new limits.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the impact of the freeze in the licence fee on the funding allocated to S4C through partnership agreements with the BBC.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The UK Government has a strong record of demonstrating its commitment to minority language broadcasting to ensure that our broadcasting sector services all audiences of the UK nations and regions. This has been reflected in the strong settlement for S4C, providing £88.8 million per annum for the first two years, then rising in line with inflation thereafter, which includes a new commitment of £7.5 million per annum to support S4C’s digital development, ensuring S4C’s offering remains sustainable in the digital age.
The licence fee settlement will also provide the BBC with billions in annual public funding, allowing it to deliver its mission and public purposes and to continue doing what it does best.
As the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government, how the BBC uses their funding is therefore a question for them, including any partnerships with minority language broadcasters. However, the Secretary of State has been clear she wants to see the BBC deliver the best quality services and output possible with the public funding they receive.
The BBC’s Royal Charter also contains a general duty to "support the regional and minority languages of the United Kingdom through its output and services and through partnerships with other organisations".