Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of holding the second stage of the Leveson Inquiry.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has clearly laid out its priorities in the manifesto and in the King’s speech, and the second part of Leveson is not among them.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has taken to facilitate accessibility to the arts for young people outside of the visual media sector.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Improving access to the arts for children and young people is a priority of this Government.
To increase children and young people’s access to enrichment opportunities in the arts and culture, alongside sports and wider youth services, the recently announced Dormant Assets Scheme Strategy has allocated £132.5 million in England towards youth. In addition, 79% of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations work with children and young people, such as theatres, opera and dance companies. For example, the Royal Opera House works with schools and community groups across the country to engage people in opera and ballet.
Arts Council England funds the National Youth Dance Company and National Youth Music Organisations which play a vital role in increasing young people's access to the arts in the UK by offering high-quality training and performance opportunities, and by conducting outreach to schools and communities with higher proportions of young people from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Department for Education has also launched an expert-led, independent Curriculum and Assessment Review covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Review seeks to deliver a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work. This includes creative subjects such as art, music and drama.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the BBC on the balance of political views in their programming.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Secretary of State was clear in her statement to Parliament that the scenes from the Bob Vylan performance at Glastonbury were utterly appalling and unacceptable. This Government will not tolerate antisemitism – it has absolutely no place in our society and we will be unrelenting in our work to root it out and it should not be given a platform.
The BBC is editorially independent, and decisions on what content to broadcast, and how they broadcast that content, are a matter for the BBC. However, it is right that the BBC has acknowledged that the livestream of the performance should have come off air and that they are reviewing their guidance. There remain very serious questions at the highest levels of the BBC about operational oversight and the way in which editorial standards are implemented.
As set out to Parliament, the Secretary of State has spoken to both the BBC Director General and Chair directly and has written to the Chair to ask for an urgent and detailed explanation about what immediate steps they intend to take. We expect answers to these questions without delay and expect lessons to be learned and rapid action to be taken.
Ofcom is also in the process of obtaining further information from the BBC as a matter of urgency, including what procedures were in place to ensure compliance with its own editorial guidelines.
Charter Review will consider editorial standards for the BBC. The Government will also build on the Media Act and Ofcom’s Public Service Media review by taking action to support public service media and the wider television ecosystem. As set out in the Creative Industries Sector Plan, the Government will update the policy and regulatory framework to respond to the changing market and promote a more level playing field, while maintaining universal access to distinctive and trusted public service content. This work will complement the BBC Charter Review.