Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the BBC proposals in, A BBC For All, that all future Non-Executive Director (NED) appointments to the Board should follow a defined, transparent and consistent process.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government welcomes the BBC’s response to the Charter Review Green paper titled ‘A BBC for All’, and will consider its contents within Charter Review policy development.
The government launched the BBC Charter Review last year. The Green Paper set out our ambition for the BBC across a range of topics. This includes considering reforms to the BBC’s governance structures, length of its Royal Charter and obligations to share information. We are also exploring ways for the BBC to engage audiences and reflect public views. On funding, the Green Paper makes clear that we will need to strike the appropriate balance between ensuring the BBC’s independence and enabling sufficient levels of oversight of public money.
We welcome the BBC’s response to the government’s Green Paper public Consultation. We will review their response, alongside other responses from the public and stakeholders to the consultation to help ensure we consider a wide range of voices and views on the future of the BBC. These will inform policy decisions for the next BBC Royal Charter, which will be set out in a White Paper, expected to be published later this year.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the BBC proposals in A BBC For All to pilot audience forums such as citizens assemblies.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government welcomes the BBC’s response to the Charter Review Green paper titled ‘A BBC for All’, and will consider its contents within Charter Review policy development.
The government launched the BBC Charter Review last year. The Green Paper set out our ambition for the BBC across a range of topics. This includes considering reforms to the BBC’s governance structures, length of its Royal Charter and obligations to share information. We are also exploring ways for the BBC to engage audiences and reflect public views. On funding, the Green Paper makes clear that we will need to strike the appropriate balance between ensuring the BBC’s independence and enabling sufficient levels of oversight of public money.
We welcome the BBC’s response to the government’s Green Paper public Consultation. We will review their response, alongside other responses from the public and stakeholders to the consultation to help ensure we consider a wide range of voices and views on the future of the BBC. These will inform policy decisions for the next BBC Royal Charter, which will be set out in a White Paper, expected to be published later this year.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the BBC proposals, A BBC For All, to ensure the BBC’s funding level is subject to effective and transparent scrutiny.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government welcomes the BBC’s response to the Charter Review Green paper titled ‘A BBC for All’, and will consider its contents within Charter Review policy development.
The government launched the BBC Charter Review last year. The Green Paper set out our ambition for the BBC across a range of topics. This includes considering reforms to the BBC’s governance structures, length of its Royal Charter and obligations to share information. We are also exploring ways for the BBC to engage audiences and reflect public views. On funding, the Green Paper makes clear that we will need to strike the appropriate balance between ensuring the BBC’s independence and enabling sufficient levels of oversight of public money.
We welcome the BBC’s response to the government’s Green Paper public Consultation. We will review their response, alongside other responses from the public and stakeholders to the consultation to help ensure we consider a wide range of voices and views on the future of the BBC. These will inform policy decisions for the next BBC Royal Charter, which will be set out in a White Paper, expected to be published later this year.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the BBC's document entitled a A BBC For All to remove a fixed expiry date on the BBC’s Royal Charter.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government welcomes the BBC’s response to the Charter Review Green paper titled ‘A BBC for All’, and will consider its contents within Charter Review policy development.
The government launched the BBC Charter Review last year. The Green Paper set out our ambition for the BBC across a range of topics. This includes considering reforms to the BBC’s governance structures, length of its Royal Charter and obligations to share information. We are also exploring ways for the BBC to engage audiences and reflect public views. On funding, the Green Paper makes clear that we will need to strike the appropriate balance between ensuring the BBC’s independence and enabling sufficient levels of oversight of public money.
We welcome the BBC’s response to the government’s Green Paper public Consultation. We will review their response, alongside other responses from the public and stakeholders to the consultation to help ensure we consider a wide range of voices and views on the future of the BBC. These will inform policy decisions for the next BBC Royal Charter, which will be set out in a White Paper, expected to be published later this year.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of alternate infrastructure to replace copper wire ADSL systems.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
ADSL relies on the copper based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The PSTN is increasingly unreliable and prone to failure. In 2024/25 there were over 2,600 major incidents on the PSTN, each affecting 500 or more customers. This is why industry have taken the decision to upgrade to fibre-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
VoIP technology is more resilient, more secure, enables better quality phone calls, and can be used to block scam calls. Fibre cables are less prone to damage during severe weather events, have a 50% lower fault rate than copper, and are more energy efficient. Fibre based digital infrastructure offers customers significantly faster speeds than copper-based ADSL.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if his Department will adopt negotiating objectives for addressing international legal barriers, particularly those arising from investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), during the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels.
Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to driving the global transition away from fossil fuels and will be represented at senior level at the Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels.
The Government is aware of the interest in ISDS, and in line with HMG’s Trade Strategy, the UK will continue to work with trading partners multilaterally, such as the OECD and the UN, to pursue opportunities to improve ISDS practice.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether a representative of his Department will attend the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, hosted by the Colombian and Dutch governments.
Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to driving the global transition away from fossil fuels and will be represented at senior level at the Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels.
The Government is aware of the interest in ISDS, and in line with HMG’s Trade Strategy, the UK will continue to work with trading partners multilaterally, such as the OECD and the UN, to pursue opportunities to improve ISDS practice.