Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are having discussions with the Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, and other partners regarding (1) cultural cinema programme activity in Edinburgh, and (2) the 2023 Edinburgh International Film Festival, following the closure of the Edinburgh Film House.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Cultural cinema programme activity in Edinburgh is a matter for the Scottish Government, since this is a devolved policy area. Following the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) going into administration in October 2022, Screen Scotland purchased the intellectual property for the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
DCMS officials have spoken to the British Film Institute (BFI) about this issue. The BFI operates UK-wide and has a close working relationship with Creative Scotland and its dedicated screen agency, Screen Scotland. Throughout the period covered by the British Film Institute’s previous corporate strategy, British Film Institute 2022, Screen Scotland has been its delivery partner for the National Lottery-backed British Film Institute NETWORK programme, Short Circuit. The British Film Institute’s new strategy, Screen Culture 2033, is UK-wide and Scotland-based applicants are able to apply for applicable National Lottery funds.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much Ofcom has spent on its work to promote online media literacy in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Ofcom is operationally independent from His Majesty’s Government and is accountable to Parliament. Information on Ofcom’s budget and funding arrangements can be found in its Annual Report and Accounts, which are lodged in the House of Commons Library and published on Ofcom's website.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Frost on 27 May (HL Deb, cols 1103–6), which EU countries were involved in bi-lateral discussions with the UK Government about touring visas for workers in the cultural sector; and whether the Home Office was party to these discussions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As the Secretary of State has said, we have moved at pace and with urgency on plans to support the creative sectors to tour in Europe. We are engaging on a bilateral basis with all 27 EU Member States, and through this engagement we have established that in at least 17 out of 27 Member States some touring activities are possible without visas or work-permits. The UK has significantly more generous arrangements for touring professionals than many Member States. We are now working closely with individual Member States to encourage them to adopt a more flexible approach, in line with the UK’s own rules which allow creative professionals to tour easily here. We are working with a number of departments on this engagement strategy, including the Home Office.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why non-professional music activity in England has not been permitted to resume indoors without limits on numbers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Non-professional activities are permitted indoors within the legal gathering limits in a group of up to 6 people, or as a group of 2 households/bubbles. Activities can take place with multiple permitted groups, provided the groups are kept separate throughout the activity, and the event is organised in line with the organised events guidance for local authorities. However, non-professional singing indoors should only take place in a single group of up to 6 people. Activities should be organised to allow for social distancing to be maintained.
We have followed the views of public health experts on singing. We are aware that singing can increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission through the spread of aerosol droplets. We will continue to keep guidance and restrictions under review, in line with the changing situation. Further detail on step 4 will be set out as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to communicate with (1) the public, (2) businesses, and (3) charities, about the forthcoming switch-off of the Public Switched Telephone Network; and what assessment they have made of the impact the switch-off will have for (a) alarm manufacturers, and (b) vulnerable users of analogue technology enabled care products.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The retirement of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), and its replacement with Internet Protocol technology, is being led by Openreach and Virgin Media, as the relevant infrastructure owners. Openreach and Virgin Media have publicly set out their plans to withdraw these services by the end of 2025. The migration is likely to affect all fixed exchange lines, of which there are 31.3 million in the UK.
In June 2020, the Broadband Stakeholder Group, a Government advisory forum on telecoms policy, launched the ‘Future of Voice’ website. This consumer-facing website is designed to inform the public and businesses of the PSTN switchover process and was developed with the support of telecoms companies, Ofcom and DCMS. The website will also be a useful resource for charities, trade associations and public sector bodies to inform their members of the change.
Ofcom estimates that 81% of UK households have a landline service, with 4% of UK adults living in a home with a landline and no mobile phone, while 3% of UK households have only a landline without any broadband.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to review the effectiveness of the Electronic Communications Code contained within the Digital Economy Act 2017, and (2) to revise that code in order to address any barriers identified.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We are committed to consulting on whether further reforms to the Electronic Communications Code are necessary to support the delivery of digital connectivity. Timings for this consultation are still to be finalised, and we will confirm this as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to consult on the operation of the Electronic Communications Code.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We are committed to consulting on whether further reforms to the Electronic Communications Code are necessary to support the delivery of digital connectivity. Timings for this consultation are still to be finalised, and we will confirm this as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Barran on 9 November (HL Deb, col 808), what proportion of the £119 million of funding available through Arts Council England has been paid directly to individual freelance workers; and what is the breakdown of payments by (1) art form, and (2) category of freelance worker.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Of the £119m available through Arts Council England as part of their Covid emergency support, over £26m has been distributed to individuals, including freelance workers, and organisations via the Emergency Relief Fund and Project Grants Funding (as of 5 November 2020).
Within the £26m, £17m has been distributed to individuals via ACE’s Emergency Response Fund (now closed) and c.£9m has so far been distributed to both organisations and individuals via Project Grants (out of a total of c.£80m available until April 2021).
In addition to the two Funds above, the £119m also includes the following:
£6 million distributed by a series of Benevolent Funds focused on self employed individuals; and
£18 million available through their Developing Your Creative Practice Fund
The split by art form and category of freelance worker will be made available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to bring forward proposals for a pilot study allowing the use of digital forms of identification for age verification purposes in retail and hospitality settings.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
A Document Checking Service pilot is currently underway to test the use of digital means of identification-proofing across the economy. Age verification is a key requirement in a range of sectors where there are age restricted goods and services, including hospitality and retail. It is important we get our approach right. Therefore, we are working with industry and civil society to develop standards that will provide confidence to retailers and consumers that digital identity products are secure and fit for purpose. We continue to work in close collaboration with other Government departments on this matter.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to maintain the European Electronic Communications Code beyond the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December; and, if they intend to maintain the Code, what assessment they have made of its impact on the use of digital technologies designed to detect and prevent online harms against children.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, it is a legal requirement to implement the European Electronic Communications Code Directive (EECC) by 21 December 2020. The Government's approach to implementing the Directive was published at gov.uk on 22 July (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementing-the-european-electronic-communications-code), and was laid in the House of Lords Library on the same date.
Amendments made in UK legislation to implement the Directive will be retained after 31 December, save for limited instances where corrections are required to reflect the UK’s exit from the European Union. The Directive is infrastructure focused and does not include measures relating to the regulation of content, and our transposition approach as set out does not impinge on online harms.