Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will list grants made by his Department to the Press Recognition Panel since 2014; and what the purpose was of those grants.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In 2014, the Ministry of Justice awarded a sum of £3 million to the Press Recognition Panel (PRP). This payment was made on the basis of the Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the press, which states that the Lord Chancellor (acting on behalf of The Exchequer) will fund the PRP until it becomes effective. This initial funding was exhausted in the 2022-23 financial year. Since then, an annual payment of £430,000 has been made to the PRP, in line with its right to request further reasonable sums in the event that its income is considered to be insufficient, so it is not frustrated by a lack of funding. This was also set out in the Royal Charter. The last of these payments were made in the 2026-27 financial year. As the Ministry of Justice acts on behalf of HM Treasury as a funding conduit, plans for future funding do not fall under the remit of the Department although the Ministry of Justice will continue to fund the PRP if they make further funding requests.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to provide future funding to the Press Recognition Panel.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In 2014, the Ministry of Justice awarded a sum of £3 million to the Press Recognition Panel (PRP). This payment was made on the basis of the Royal Charter on Self-Regulation of the press, which states that the Lord Chancellor (acting on behalf of The Exchequer) will fund the PRP until it becomes effective. This initial funding was exhausted in the 2022-23 financial year. Since then, an annual payment of £430,000 has been made to the PRP, in line with its right to request further reasonable sums in the event that its income is considered to be insufficient, so it is not frustrated by a lack of funding. This was also set out in the Royal Charter. The last of these payments were made in the 2026-27 financial year. As the Ministry of Justice acts on behalf of HM Treasury as a funding conduit, plans for future funding do not fall under the remit of the Department although the Ministry of Justice will continue to fund the PRP if they make further funding requests.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the reporting thresholds for excluded sellers in the Platform Operators (Due Diligence and Reporting Requirements) Regulations 2023 on individuals selling low-value personal items through online marketplaces; what representations he has received from industry on those thresholds; and he Government plans to (a) raise the monetary threshold and (b) remove the 30-transaction threshold in those Regulations.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The thresholds for excluded sellers in the Platform Operators (Due Diligence and Reporting Requirements) Regulations 2023 are designed to exclude casual sellers from reporting requirements while ensuring HMRC receives information necessary to support tax compliance.
HMRC engages regularly with affected stakeholders regarding operation of the regime. The exclusion thresholds are based on rules internationally agreed at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The rules are subject to regular review, and the UK will remain engaged in international discussions to ensure consistency with international partners and minimise burdens on platform operators.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps she is taking to promote UK soft power.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Soft power is fundamental to the UK's impact and reputation around the world. It builds relationships, promotes our values, and helps support our growth, prosperity and security.
The Government is determined to make maximum use of all our soft power assets towards these ends, and in particular, our continued support for the British Council and BBC World Service will enable them to maintain their outstanding work across the globe over the current spending review period.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the provisions enabling AI Sandboxes in the Regulating for Growth Bill will include protections for UK Intellectual Property to ensure that it cannot be suspended to allow experimentation in relation to technologies such as AI.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The AI Growth Lab, enabled through the Regulating for Growth Bill, will support the safe testing of AI-enabled products and services by allowing, in limited and controlled circumstances, temporary modifications to certain regulatory requirements that may inhibit innovation or growth. The Government has been clear that it is not intended that these powers will apply to intellectual property. Existing UK intellectual property protections will remain fully in place and will not be suspended for the purposes of the AI Growth Lab.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing funding for covered tennis and padel facilities in Maldon constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That has to mean delivering a range of facilities across the country based on what each local community needs.
On 16 March, the Prime Minister confirmed £10 million investment in 2026/27 to develop new delivery models, including at least £2.5 million to the Lawn Tennis Association for covered courts for tennis, padel and other activities.
We provide the majority of our support for grassroots sport through Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding into grassroots sport across England, including providing support for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). The LTA is receiving up to £14.5 million for seven years from 2022 to 2029 to invest in community tennis initiatives that will benefit as many people as possible.
We are now working closely with the sport sector stakeholders and local leaders to develop plans for future funding for a range of sports across the country based on communities’ needs. We will keep stakeholders and the wider sport sector updated as this work progresses, and we will announce plans once they have been fully developed.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department will extend the discount under Loan Charge settlement plan to schemes used before December 2010.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The Government commissioned an independent review of the loan charge to help bring the matter to a close for people who have not settled and paid their loan charge liabilities. The review identified affordability as a key barrier preventing those individuals from settling and made recommendations to remove this barrier.
The Government has no plans to apply the review’s recommendations beyond those individuals and employers with outstanding liabilities that were the focus of the review.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage greater consistency in age ratings and content warnings across streaming services to help parents ensure age-appropriate viewing for their children.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We note the findings of Ofcom’s Review of Audience Protection Measures on On-Demand Programme Services. The Government will shortly be designating mainstream video-on-demand services, bringing them under enhanced regulation by Ofcom. Ofcom will then consult on a new Standards Code for these services, similar to the Broadcasting Code. This will give the public an important opportunity to set out their views directly on the use of age ratings and content warnings.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
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 findings in Ofcom's Review of Audience Protection Measures on On-Demand Programme Services regarding public demand for greater consistency in age ratings used on streaming services.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We note the findings of Ofcom’s Review of Audience Protection Measures on On-Demand Programme Services. The Government will shortly be designating mainstream video-on-demand services, bringing them under enhanced regulation by Ofcom. Ofcom will then consult on a new Standards Code for these services, similar to the Broadcasting Code. This will give the public an important opportunity to set out their views directly on the use of age ratings and content warnings.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans she has to increase public awareness of changes to the Highway Code made in the last 4 years.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Following changes made to the Highway Code in 2022, the department ran THINK! Campaigns in 2022 and 2023 to raise awareness of the changes and encourage understanding and uptake of the new guidance, with 86% of road users having heard of the changes by September 2023.
The Government's new road safety strategy identifies that more work is needed to continue embedding these changes.
The THINK! campaign will continue to run three radio filler adverts encouraging compliance with the guidance to improve safety for those walking, cycling and horse riding. We will also continue to promote the changes via THINK! and Department for Transport social media channels, as well as through partner organisations.
The Road Safety Strategy also sets out further actions to enable safer active travel including supporting councils to provide high-quality, easily accessible active travel schemes across England, and the development of its third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS 3).
As our road environment and technologies evolve, providing education for all road users throughout their lifetime is vital to improving road safety.
To support a Lifelong Learning approach in the UK, the government will publish for the first time national guidance on the development and delivery of road safety education, training and publicity. Alongside this, the government will publish a manual to support the implementation of a Lifelong Learning approach for road safety.