Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with terrestrial TV stations to raise the issue of their inability to deliver free to air, live broadcasts of international football matches involving each of the four constituent nations of the UK.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department has discussions regularly with broadcasters on a range of matters including those related to the broadcasting of Sport.
The Listed Events regime is designed to ensure that sporting events of national significance are accessible to as wide an audience as possible by ensuring that coverage of certain sports are offered to free-to-air broadcasters. Currently, international football matches for the FIFA World Cup Finals Tournament and the European Football Championships Finals Tournament are designated on the listed events regime under Group A - where full live coverage must be offered for free-to-air broadcast. This includes the matches of the home countries that have qualified for the event.
We believe that the current Listed Events regime works well and strikes an appropriate balance between retaining free-to-air sports events for the public while allowing rights holders to negotiate agreements in the best interests of their sport.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if the Government will bring forward legislative proposals to prevent the use of automated bots to bulk purchase new releases of gaming consoles and computer components and to prevent their resale at inflated prices.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Officials are discussing this issue with the trade association for the video games industry, Ukie. We know that bulk purchasing through automated bots is a concern for some of their members who we understand are currently looking at any further actions they can take to prevent these behaviours, and are working with their retailers to improve experiences for customers.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prevent the (a) use of automated bots to bulk purchase new releases of gaming consoles and computer components and (b) resale of such products at inflated prices.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Officials are discussing this issue with the trade association for the video games industry, Ukie. We know that bulk purchasing through automated bots is a concern for some of their members who we understand are currently looking at any further actions they can take to prevent these behaviours, and are working with their retailers to improve experiences for customers.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department has provided to community radio stations during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Community Radio Fund was set up in 2005 and has an annual budget of £400,000, which is used to help support community radio stations across the UK. It is administered by Ofcom, and applications are assessed by an independent panel.
For the financial year 2020-21, we have worked with Ofcom to use this Fund to provide emergency cash grants to help community radio stations to meet urgent liabilities and to keep themselves in business. Ofcom announced details of 81 awards on 4 June - allocating a significant proportion of the Fund’s budget for the year - and will be inviting applications for a further emergency funding round shortly to ensure that the full amount goes to those stations most in need of support at this time.
We are continuing to liaise with stakeholders across the sector regarding ways in which the Government can support community radio through Covid-19 and beyond.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure a sustainable future for independent, commercial radio stations.
Answered by John Whittingdale
We recognise there has been a significant negative impact on radio advertising revenues as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and have worked closely with commercial radio broadcasters and trade bodies to support the industry through this exceptionally challenging period.
In addition to the wider economic support available to UK businesses, the government has brokered sector-specific support for commercial radio. Discussions with Arqiva, the UK’s transmission network operator, have resulted in a package of assistance on transmission costs with six months free transmission for Arqiva’s small station customers.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that local radio stations continue to provide news to local communities (a) during and (b) after the covid-19 oubreak.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government recognises the vitally important provision of local news and current affairs by local radio stations, particularly during these unprecedented and challenging times.
The BBC and commercial radio broadcasters are operationally and editorially independent of government. However, the BBC has introduced a package of measures that it hopes will keep the nation informed, educated, and entertained through these unprecedented times, including increasing local news output between 6am and midday on all BBC local radio stations.
Commercial radio has increased its support to listeners and their communities through the provision of additional Covid-19 related content. The wider economic support available to UK businesses and from the package brokered by Government with Arqiva, the UK’s transmission network operator, which will provide six months free transmission for Arqiva’s small station customers, provides crucial support to maintaining news services across commercial radio.
As regards commercial stations, the local programming and content requirements for holders of local analogue commercial radio licenses are set by Ofcom under the relevant legislative framework – primarily the Broadcasting Act 1990 and the Communications Act 2003. These are matters for Ofcom.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress he has made on the roll out of small-scale DAB radio; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Ofcom, the UK’s independent regulator, is responsible for licensing small-scale DAB radio services. Following a consultation with the radio industry in 2019, Ofcom published a policy statement in April 2020 on the approach to licensing small scale DAB services, using powers given to them in The Small-scale Radio Multiplex and Community Digital Radio Order 2019. In June 2020 Ofcom confirmed that they plan to advertise Round One of the small-scale radio multiplex licences in September 2020.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many businesses have enrolled on the Cyber Essentials Scheme in Dunfermline and West Fife constituency.
Answered by Matt Warman
From 2016 until the end of April 2020, 48 Cyber Essentials certificates have been awarded to organisations in the Dunfermline and West Fife constituency. This is an estimate, as there is incomplete location data for some historical certificate entries.
A total of 44,443 certificates have been awarded to organisations across the UK.
A search function to find organisations with Cyber Essentials certificates is available at www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberessentials/search.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
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 potential merits of allowing Ofcom to protect local radio news services from reductions by multimedia companies.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Ofcom has a statutory duty under section 314 of the Communication Act 2013 to ensure that holders of analogue local radio licences carry locally relevant content and that a suitable proportion of local content is made locally. Ofcom are required to publish and keep under review guidance for commercial radio licensees setting out the detailed local programming requirements that Ofcom has considers appropriate for local stations to carry, including the minimum amount of locally made news. Ofcom's localness guidelines are published on Ofcom's website. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/information-for-industry/radio-broadcasters/localness
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
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 potential merits of allowing Ofcom to protect local radio news services from reductions by multimedia companies.
Answered by Nigel Adams
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.