Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 3rd March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

One treasure that I hope will not be liquidated is the hon. Gentleman. I hope he will not be liquidated by the Momentum campaign in Stoke and that he will be reselected. We are all praying for him on this side of the House. In answer to his question, it is obviously up to individual local authorities, but they must adhere to the code of ethics of the Museums Association. I take a very dim view of local authorities getting rid of their heritage assets, particularly those that have been left to them by prominent members of the community.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

There have been numerous resignations from the board of London 2017. Has the Secretary of State had the chance to discuss the reasons for that with London 2017, and does he have any concerns about its working relationship with UK Athletics?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 21st January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

We had a very successful broadband voucher scheme, which brought superfast broadband to something like 55,000 businesses. That scheme has come to an end, but we always review what specific help we can give to businesses. The roll-out in Northern Ireland is now picking up pace, which will help both homeowners and businesses alike.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

3. What recent steps his Department has taken to increase support for grassroots sport in areas of deprivation.

Football Governance Bill

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Friday 7th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Your use of the name “Eddie” indicates how long we have known each other. I have gone from being Edward at school, Eddie at university, to Ed today, as Hansard will record. [Interruption.] As the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) says, it is no doubt only a matter of time before I move on to Teddy.

This has been an important and lively debate on an important subject, and I register my interest as the president of Didcot Town football club, the winners of the FA Vase in 2005, and now flying high in their league following an astounding 7-0 victory against one of their opponents the other day. As many in the House have already done, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Damian Collins) who has done such an amazing job over the past three years to bring this issue to the attention of the House. As he knows, I take a keen interest in all his constituency work. I will not repeat the joke I normally trot out about his appearance in Folkestone with Prince Harry. I was tempted to repeat it simply to prove that almost anything said in this House never gets noticed, and it would be treated as a new joke, but I will not do that. I will, however, commend him for his ability to tweet about the Folkestone job fair he hosted and attended yesterday while also speaking in the Chamber on the matter of football governance. If anyone underestimates the talent and ability of my hon. Friend, that is proof of his phenomenal ability to be present in the digital and physical worlds at the same time.

My hon. Friend will also know that the other reason I take a keen interest in his constituency is my passion for culture and the work of Roger De Haan on the Folkestone Triennial, which sadly I missed this year. Given that it only comes around every three years, that is a pretty poor show by me. I had not quite got the dates in my head. Funnily enough, I was planning to visit last Monday only to find that it had closed on the Sunday. Such is life.

[Damian Collins]

Does the Minister agree that it is a matter of great regret that the Banksy artwork was removed from Folkestone, instead of being on public display?

[Mr Vaizey]

Yes, I do agree. Sometimes it makes one wonder about the motivation of one’s fellow man that, when Banksy is prepared to be public spirited enough to create community artwork in public spaces for the benefit of the local population who take it to their hearts, somebody should seek to use that windfall because it happens to be on their private property. I very much hope it will be returned and donated to the community in Folkestone and Hythe, showing the same public-spirited approach that Roger De Haan has shown in supporting and regenerating Folkestone.

My hon. Friend has made football governance, which is so close to his heart, such an important subject that I sometimes wonder whether, if he wanders into a football stadium, the fans start chanting, “There’s only one hon. Member for Folkestone and Hythe, there’s only one hon. Member for Folkestone and Hythe.” That may not happen because, of course, he is a Manchester United fan. We know that Manchester United fans do not sing, because very few of them actually come from Manchester. The point is well made by my hon. Friend, who grew up in Hereford and represents a constituency on the south coast, yet claims to support Manchester United. Leaving that aberration to one side, there will be a lot of sympathy for the motivation behind the Bill. The examples of Leeds and Coventry have been mentioned. Transparency in our national game is of huge importance for the health of the sport, the fans and those participating at the grass roots.

The Under-Secretary of State, who has responsibility for sport and tourism, meets the Football Association regularly to talk about a whole range of issues, including governance. Recently, she heard updates on the steps taken to ensure clarity on ownership of football clubs at all levels. She has been updated on the cumulative progress in the handling of the thankfully increasingly rare number of clubs going into administration, the adoption of the financial fair play rules and improving the financial monitoring of clubs, particularly in the lower leagues where clubs are often operating in the most challenging financial circumstances. She also asked for further consideration of the owners and directors test, the current mechanism by which potential owners are approved by the football authorities.

Individual clubs must play their part in the ongoing stewardship of their heritage. I note what the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth said about the interesting developments in the heritage of the great football team of Cardiff. I think all of us were interested to see that the colour of the football shirt was changed at the behest of the new owner. Certainly as a supporter of Chelsea football club, another great team that plays in blue, I would be surprised and perturbed should an owner decide to change the strip to red, but I digress.

It is critical that football authorities continue to play their part in protecting our long-standing clubs from undesirable owners. Most recently, the Government launched an expert working group to consider the barriers to supporter ownership and engagement. The group was developed in partnership with Supporters Direct, whose mission is to increase the influence of supporters through ownership and involvement in their clubs and with the support of football authorities, and relevant experts and stakeholders will be called on to contribute to the discussion of the group’s agreed priorities—I hope that the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) will take part in that discussion and bring to it the benefit of his considerable expertise, gained over many years.

The sport and tourism Minister will continue to press football authorities for reform, and she will support their ongoing efforts, but she stands ready to legislate should they fail to deliver progress. It is important to make that point—that we would be prepared to legislate—and that is why the Bill is well made in principle. I echo the hon. Gentleman’s comments that we stand ready to intervene, but in the first instance we want the football authorities to get their own house in order. We believe they need more time before legislation is considered appropriate.

Use of the football creditors rule is in decline, because all the relevant football authorities encourage a more responsible framework of financial operations. We have considered a thorough exploration of the barriers to supporter ownership and continue to discuss wider governance reform with the football authorities. These measures show significant progress and we are confident at this stage that we should continue to work with the football community, rather than bring in legislation.

[Damian Collins]

On the scope of the Bill, this version was intended to apply to England only. I was advised by the Public Bill Office that these were devolved matters, and I would not seek to interfere with the devolved Administrations in Wales and Scotland. However, I believe that the provisions could easily apply across the whole of the UK, and I would certainly welcome the views of the House on that.

I am grateful for the support of the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) and to the Minister for saying that the Government supported the principle of the Bill but wanted more time to work with the football authorities. I hope they will continue this active dialogue, but I think it would be helpful for the authorities to see the collective view of the House. It was the opinion of my right hon. Friend the Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Sir Hugh Robertson) that a football Bill need not be a Government Bill, but could be a private Member’s Bill with cross-party support, and it would now be helpful to see how the Bill takes shape in Committee so that the football authorities can see the will of the House and understand its desire to see action taken and to legislate if the authorities do not deliver that reform. I will be the first to applaud them if they act without Parliament’s needing to intervene, but so far they have seemed reluctant to do so. Therefore, I ask the House to give the Bill a Second Reading.

Question put, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 16th October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

10. What assessment he has made of the role of the arts and the creative industries in supporting economic regeneration in coastal communities.

[The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

I am delighted to move on to talk about the role of the arts and creative industries in supporting economic regeneration, particularly in the Folkestone and Hythe constituency, where a combination of Government support and the extraordinary work of the philanthropist Roger de Haan has seen more than 200 creative businesses flourish in a town that hosts the amazing Folkestone triennial.

[Damian Collins]

I thank the Minister for his answer. I would like to extend an invitation to both him and the Secretary of State to visit the Folkestone triennial arts festival to see the creative-led regeneration of the old town of Folkestone, which, as he said, is creating hundreds of jobs and leading to hundreds of new businesses every year.

[Mr Vaizey]

I certainly intend to do that. I was in my hon. Friend’s constituency in August and, as I walked with him down the promenade, literally thousands and thousands of his constituents were lining the streets cheering him. I thought that that was one of the most impressive receptions for an MP that I had ever seen, and Prince Harry, who was standing next to me, felt the same thing.

Supporting the Creative Economy

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 13th February 2014 Westminster Hall

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

It always seems when we debate the creative economy that it falls at a good time, because something interesting, exciting or dynamic is always happening. That is particularly true now, as we have the BAFTA film awards, where we anticipate British success, London fashion week, which has gone from strength to strength as one of the major international fashion weeks, and the BRIT awards, where British creativity and excellence is being celebrated. In the nearly four years of this Parliament, we have had many debates on the creative economy and industries. Warnings and concerns have often been raised, some of which have been legitimate and some less so, but we always have these debates in the context of increasing strength, popularity and ingenuity in the creative industries nationally, regionally and locally.

This debate has seen considerable discussion about copyright and IP, so I do not intend to dwell on them too much. Instead, I want to discuss the economic development of the creative industries and, in particular, the role of tax incentives for investment and of clustering, which was considered by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in its report.

The bedrock of the underlying strength of the UK’s creative industries is Britain’s talent pool and unique heritage, as a recognised leading performer in music, film, drama and arts over many years. Why businesses are coming to this country and investing now has much to do with the tax regime that has been put in place. The production tax credits for film, video games and high-end television drama are bringing production to the UK, and it would not be unfair to say that those industries—in particular, film production and television production—are booming in this country. That is not only good for companies that work in that sector directly, but for the great infrastructure—the great web of businesses—that relies on that investment. The post-production, including the sound production, for a film shot at Pinewood studios would probably take place in Soho and use the talents of a great number of people in that production process, from technicians to musicians and artists, as well as actors.

[Mr Vaizey]

On that note, will my hon. Friend join me in welcoming the advent of the new Industrial Light & Magic base? ILM is the special effects house that grew out of Lucasfilm and it is setting up its UK base in Soho imminently to coincide with the imminent start of production of “Star Wars”.

[Damian Collins]

The Minister gives an excellent example of the sort of investment that the film industry and production industry are bringing to this country. Of course, as he will be aware, we anticipate success in the film awards this year for “12 Years A Slave”, which of course is a film that Britain can be proud of. It is based on a book published many years ago by Penguin. Writers involved in the film industry are an important part of the talent mix. Whether the writers of original scripts or writers who adapt books that have previously been published, they are all part of the same ecosystem.

When I worked in the adverting industry, I was always impressed that Soho could draw on the talents of such a broad base of people, which is why people from around the world come to be here. A film company seeking to make a big feature film can come to the UK and know that we have the facilities to make it and the talents to complete the job at every level. That is what makes working in the creative industry in the UK so exciting.

The development of creative centres of excellence, not only in London but around the country, is an important part of the ecology of the creative economy and its future success. We do not want our creative industries purely to be centred and located in the traditional centres of excellence in London and the south-east; we want to have a strong network of them right across the country. We can see that happening now. Particularly with the investment in Media City at Salford Quays and projects such as the Sharp Project, Manchester city council has come together with members of the business community to create a hub for creativity in that city. Such developments are helping to make Manchester the fastest growing media city, or creative city, in Europe. In Birmingham, there is an important and growing creative hub and community in Digbeth, and in Belfast, around the Titanic centre and the Titanic quarter, near the old Harland and Wolff shipyards, there is another important centre of the creative economy.

Yesterday, I attended an event focused on the creative industries in my constituency and the rest of east Kent, where we looked at the development of creative and digital clusters around the east Kent coast, particularly in Folkestone, Ramsgate and Canterbury. In my constituency of Folkestone and Hythe, we now have more than 200 businesses that can be considered as part of the creative technology economy, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s definition of that economy. It is a rapidly growing sector employing a large number of people, and that growth is only accelerating in the scope and range of the tasks that the sector is undertaking, as well as in the number of opportunities for work that exist within the sector.

One of the challenges is how we link together these different centres of excellence—these different hubs and clusters—and how we ensure that we have good links, both through broadband infrastructure and transport infrastructure, that connect the hubs in places such as east Kent to the centres of excellence in Tech City in London and elsewhere.

Sleeping Giant Media is a search engine optimisation and social media marketing campaign company based in Folkestone. A few years ago, it was started from nothing and it now employs more than 20 people. There are many reasons why such a company chooses to locate in Folkestone. The quality of life in Folkestone and the low cost of doing business there will be among them, but Folkestone is less than an hour by high-speed rail from one of the world centres of excellence in the creative economy—Tech City in London—and that is a key reason why those businesses are in Folkestone.

Businesses in Digbeth in Birmingham, working in places such as the Fazeley Studios and the Custard Factory, have a great place to do business and a great community of people to work alongside, but it is their proximity to a major global centre of excellence in London that makes it so attractive to be there.

We can have the physical infrastructure and facilities to support an expanding creative economy. The Select Committee underlines the importance of these hubs and clusters. It was right that the Committee visited silicon valley as part of its study tour, because that is a great example of a successful cluster that has given birth to a number of great companies.

It is interesting that companies such as Facebook and Google have been born out of research laboratories and facilities, not only of universities such as Stanford, but out of precursor companies in that industry, such as Hewlett-Packard and Xerox, the success of which spawned further companies. We hope that in London new businesses will come out of our creative and digital economy as it develops, in turn spawning the creation of further businesses down the line and employing yet more people.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer set out his ambition that London should be the tech hub and creative hub for Europe. We are well on the way to achieving that, if it has not already been achieved. One key aspect of making that possible is attracting businesses, investment and talent. We want to see as many people as possible born in Britain taking advantage of the opportunities to work in such a centre of excellence. We also need to ensure that we can bring in the best talent from around the world. At the moment, the industry is growing apace, but we do not currently have enough people to satisfy all the demand. Therefore, having the right policy on visas that allows the most talented people to work in the UK is a crucial issue facing development.

Another element of that development is ensuring that young people have the skills that they need and the understanding to take part in this growing sector of the economy. The importance of young people’s having the opportunity to develop their creative talents at a young age, when at school, through music and the arts has been discussed in this debate. I do not believe that the Secretary of State for Education’s focus on some core academic subjects in any way undermines that. People need good skills and qualifications in those core subjects to do almost anything that they would seek to do; that is an important part of a good education. There is no reason why creativity and artistic talent and flair cannot form part of the curriculum. Schools can do that. A longer school day will give schools many more options in pursuing that.

There are also uses for such talents in other sectors in the creative industry, particularly for young people who might want to work in the video game sector. We want a nation of young people who not only play video games, which are increasingly made in this country and exported around the world, but know how to build them. That is why bringing computer science into the science curriculum, as an equal science alongside chemistry, physics and biology, is an important step. We need more young people learning computer coding at school, so they know the building blocks of computer programming and the creativity needed to build websites, computer games and animation programmes. That should be an important part of the curriculum.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 18th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

Will the Minister join me in the commending the excellent work of the Creative Foundation in Folkestone in supporting start-up creative businesses? Does he agree that its work will make Folkestone and east Kent an excellent choice for UK city of culture in 2017?

[Mr Vaizey]

I have visited Folkestone on many occasions. It not only has the adornment of my hon. Friend as its Member of Parliament, but benefits from the extraordinary philanthropic work of Roger De Haan, who has invested millions in Folkestone. He understands that investing in culture is one of the key ways of ensuring regeneration.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 22nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

The spectrum for the 4G services that are going to be auctioned only became available when we completed the digital television switchover in October. We followed the previous Government’s timetable for that, so if anyone is to blame for the delay, it is them.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

3. What plans she has to ensure a suitable commemoration of the centenary of the first world war.

BBC Local Radio

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Wednesday 26th October 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Vaizey]

If I may be so bold, I think that sparing my blushes is the last thing on the BBC’s mind. I also think that the fact that almost 50 Members have turned up to this debate shows that it has hardly spared my blushes. There are controversial cuts elsewhere, but, as I have said, I think that some deep thought has gone into this. We will all have individual views about services that could be reduced or, indeed, cut completely.

Taking into account the reinvestment in programming, the cuts to local radio will be about 10%. [Interruption.] I said after reinvestment had been taken into account. The strategic decision is to invest in breakfast, mid-morning and drive, which is when 86% of listening to BBC local radio takes place. There are plans to recruit specialist and chief reporters for every channel.

I commend the blog of Helen Boaden, the head of BBC news, on today’s debate. She says that the BBC has no intention of letting its audiences down. That is an important assurance from the head of news for BBC radio. Members may treat that comment with scepticism, but she has put it on the record.

The BBC has assured us that it remains committed to local sports coverage. Interestingly, local sports clubs charge the BBC to supply commentary. There may be some leeway on the fees charged by local sports clubs, but I would not want to see the amount of money going into them significantly reduced.

[Damian Collins]

I am one of the three Kent MPs who have spoken in this debate. We feel the cuts in Kent and are concerned about Radio Kent. This debate has been about cuts, but should the BBC not also be looking to maximise its commercial revenues through BBC Worldwide and the potential commercial exploitation of older programmes through iPlayer?

[Mr Vaizey]

I thank my hon. Friend for that contribution. I asked him earlier whether he was sitting behind me because he was acting as my de facto Parliamentary Private Secretary, but he replied that it was because it was the only seat left in the Chamber. He is right that the BBC’s commercial income needs to be reinvested in programming. BBC Worldwide is a great success. It ran into trouble in this place because of some of its decisions, but it is run by a supremely effective executive, John Smith. I gather that an additional £40 million from BBC Worldwide will be going into programming.

The Internet and Privacy

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 28th October 2010 Westminster Hall

[Mr Vaizey]

I think that that would be a breach of my official’s privacy.

I shall turn briefly to Facebook and the consumer’s right to privacy. As I have already talked about the personal information online code of practice, hon. Members will be aware that there was great controversy earlier in the year about Facebook, because its privacy settings were seen as unclear. Its default settings put one in the public space as opposed to the private space, so, suddenly, one had to opt out of rather than into that sphere. I am delighted to say that Facebook has been working closely with colleagues at the Department for Education and is now a member of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, as is Google and BlackBerry. As such, it follows the good practice guidance—produced to guide companies that provide internet services popular with children and young people—about what additional safeguards it can put in place to protect children online and provide a positive online experience. The guidance includes advice on companies’ obligations to ensure the privacy of their users’ information and on options and settings they can provide users to protect privacy further, and it recommends making information on safety and privacy easily accessible to users, so they understand the privacy options available. The UKCCIS continues to work with companies providing internet services used by children, including Facebook, to improve safeguards, including safeguarding their privacy.

On scraping and cookies, as I am sure hon. Members are aware, a cookie is a piece of text stored by a user’s web browser. There are many uses for cookies, including authentication, storing site preferences and shopping cart contents and as the identifier for a server-based session. Cookies are also used to speed up the user’s web browser as they help to remember the settings and options used the last time a website or page was visited. They have been a hot topic for some time. At the moment, information obtained through cookies can be used to categorise users’ internet interests to serve adverts that match broad interest categories, though the user should be able to refuse the import of cookies on to their machines. Clearly, that has commercial benefits, and, indeed, benefits to the individual—we should not be shy about saying that, and my hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire was clear about the benefits of targeted marketing to individuals. However, organisations have to ensure that users are aware that they are collecting such information and know why.

The revised e-privacy directive will give users greater control by requiring organisations to get their agreement before the information is collected.

[Damian Collins]

A campaign called Cookies for Kids raised that issue in the United States. Should there be greater restrictions on the use of cookies for information given by minors?

[Mr Vaizey]

In terms of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, I think that the issue needs to be addressed. As a matter of principle, we all accept that children deserve greater protection than adults do, whether offline or when accessing content online. We will continue to look at that.

Let us make no bones about it. As the hon. Member for Bath made clear, the key issue is not necessarily the harvesting of data on shopping habits, but the harvesting of data without consent or knowledge. There are some who say for example that Phorm, the company with which BT carried out an experiment, was providing a perfectly legitimate commercial service in allowing organisations to monetise their presence on the web by targeting adverts at certain consumers; if a consumer is particularly interested in a type of car, that advert could appear on screen while they are reading a web page. The website—for example, The Guardian or The Observer—could charge more for that advertisement and, therefore, monetise its online content. That is a legitimate argument, but huge concern was generated because there was no transparency. It was done without consumers’ knowledge and it was unknown what would happen to the data once they were collected or whether they would be transferred to third parties. At the heart of the debate is, above all, transparency over what data organisations harvest and the opportunity for the consumer to choose to opt in.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Collins and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Monday 26th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

As the hon. Lady may know, I am a passionate supporter of both music and cultural education in the round. We could do more to make such programmes more coherent, so that they work in a more joined-up fashion, but as I said, the future of Creative Partnerships and how it works is very much a matter between it and Arts Council England.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that because Arts Council England set up a separate body to deliver that programme—Creative Partnerships—and even if much of the work on the ground and delivery is excellent, we need to be careful how many tiers of management are involved? Creative partnerships are possible through local authorities and some excellent private sector organisations that do a lot of work with the community, such as the Creative Foundation in my constituency.

[Mr Vaizey]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his well-made point. As I said, I feel very strongly that we need to bring some coherence to the sector. Many very good initiatives are happening on the ground, and it is important that we join them up as much as possible to make them as effective as possible.