Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
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 the Prime Minister on the BBC decision to change the eligibility criteria for free TV licences for people aged 75 and over.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State frequently discuss a wide range of issues relating to the business of the Department, including television and the media.
The Government has been clear that the future of the over 75s concession is the responsibility of the BBC, not Government. In the 2015 funding settlement, we agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020; this reform was then debated and agreed by Parliament in the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017.
The Government is disappointed with the BBC’s decision to restrict the over 75s concession to only those aged over 75 and in receipt of Pension Credit. We recognise the importance of television to people of all ages, particularly for older people who value television as a way to stay connected with the world. The Secretary of State met with the Chairman of the BBC Board and the Director-General of the BBC, and asked them to do more to help those affected by its decision.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
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 effect of the BBC's decision to change the eligibility criteria for free TV licences on the incomes of over-75s households in the UK.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The future of the over 75 concession is the responsibility of the BBC, not Government. We are very disappointed with the BBC’s decision to restrict the concession to only those aged over 75 in receipt of Pension Credit.
The BBC published research from Frontier Economics in November 2018 which looked at the potential impact of changes to the concession on those aged 75 and over. This research is available here: https://www.frontier-economics.com/media/2896/bbc-licence-fee-report-nov-18.pdf
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives from (a) Facebook and (b) Twitter on the removal of abusive and harmful content from their platforms.
Answered by Margot James
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with social media companies on a range of issues including the removal of harmful or abusive content.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the BBC on its public consultation on licence fees for people aged over-75.
Answered by Margot James
The government regularly meets with the BBC to discuss a range of issues, including the over 75 concession.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to enable young people to participate in open access youth work.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The provision of open access youth services in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Government.
Government recognises the transformational impact that open access youth work can have especially for young people facing multiple barriers of disadvantage, that is why we have invested £40m in the Youth Investment Fund to boost open access youth services in 6 disadvantaged areas and expect over 300,000 young people to benefit.
However Local Authorities in England have a statutory duty to provide sufficient open access services in their area. We believe they are best placed to know what is required in their communities.
The Government announced in the Civil Society Strategy its commitment to reviewing the guidance which sets out the statutory duty placed on local authorities to provide appropriate local youth services. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help improve diversity in the charity sector.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Encouraging greater diversity in the charity starts with ensuring that the sector’s leaders are truly representative of the communities they serve.
Last year we worked with the Charity Commission to carry out research into trustees. The Taken on Trust report found that there was a lack of diversity among boards of trustees. In the Civil Society Strategy published last month, the government committed to working with partners in the Charity sector to address this challenge. This work is getting started now and more detail will be available in due course.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of recent changes in the cost of train travel on sports fans.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Government sets the limit by which train operators can increase regulated rail fares in line with July’s retail price index (RPI). This limit will be 3.2% in 2019. The Government monitors how rail fares change, and keeps under review the way fare levels are calculated. We also welcome and encourage measures by sports clubs that acknowledge and take account of the wider financial burden on travelling supporters.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
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 improve mobile and broadband coverage.
Answered by Margot James
DCMS has already made superfast broadband available to more than 95% of the country through its Superfast programme, and at least a further 2% is likely to be achieved. Of which, 340,000 premises (over 1% of premises) are contracted to be delivered by March 2019. In those areas where decent broadband is not available, we are introducing a broadband Universal Service Obligation so that by 2020 everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to request high-speed broadband of at least 10 Megabits per second. We will keep the speed and quality parameters under review to make sure that it keeps pace with consumers' evolving needs.
My Department created the Barrier Busting Taskforce who are working closely with local authorities and suppliers on removing obstacles that are preventing the widespread commercial deployment of full fibre connectivity.
Working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG ) we introduced 5-year business rates relief for new fibre installation. By enabling 100% business rates relief for operators who install new fibre on their networks, this will provide an incentive for operators to invest in the broadband network.
The Department also recently published a Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, which sets out our strategy to enable the roll out full fibre networks to 15 million premises by 2025 and achieve nationwide coverage by 2033. This strategy follows the creation of the Local Full Fibre Networks Programme last year, which is designed to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks in both rural and urban locations across the whole of the UK.
On Mobile services, the Government is committed to ensuring that the UK has good quality, consistent mobile connectivity where people live, work and travel. My Department is also working across Government, and with others, to ensure delivery of our manifesto commitment to secure 95% geographic coverage of the UK by 2022.
Alongside this work, we welcome the opportunity that Ofcom's proposed 700MHz auction presents to improve mobile coverage across the UK, including in rural area.
On 5G the Government is committed to providing the world-class digital infrastructure the UK needs to compete and grow in the modern economy. The Government’s 5G aims are to be a world leader in and to ensure that the majority of the population have access to a 5G signal by 2027.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on the UK's digital technology sector.
Answered by Margot James
We are confident that the digital technology sector will continue to go from strength to strength. Research by Dealroom and Tech Nation showed that British tech businesses attracted $7.8bn of funding last year, which was almost double the amount received in 2016 and more than Germany, France and Sweden combined (https://technation.io/news/uk-tech-extends-lead-over-europe/).
It is the job of a responsible Government to prepare for all scenarios, including the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal. This does not reflect an increased likelihood of ‘no deal’.
We have engaged with the digital technology sector to understand the potential effect of all scenarios. As part of ‘no deal’ preparations we are now publishing a series of technical notices which will advise organisations on potential courses of action to take in the unlikely event of ‘no deal’ with the EU. With the first batch already published, areas such as data protection will follow shortly.
We firmly believe it is in the interests of both the EU and the UK to strike a deal. That remains the goal on both sides and we are confident that this will be achieved.