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 make regulations under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 to protect museum collections from sale when holding bodies go into administration.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government is aware of this important issue and DCMS is exploring options, including legislation, for how we may be able to prevent the dispersal, and therefore potential loss of these collections. One option is considering whether the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 can be used as a means of saving museum collections in the event of insolvency.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis officials and ministers have been in even more regular contact with museums and sector organisations to understand the impact of the pandemic, the measures the Government has taken to fight it and to understand what support museums and heritage organisations need and how best to get it to them. On 5th July, the Government announced a £1.57 billion support package to protect Britain’s world-class cultural, arts and heritage institutions. In addition, DCMS arms’ length bodies have created sector specific support. Arts Council England launched a £160 million Emergency Funding Package, the National Lottery Heritage Fund launched the £50 million Heritage Emergency Fund, and Historic England launched a £2 million Emergency Fund. This emergency short-term funding will help address pressures over the next 3-6 months for those organisations most in immediate need.
The Government has also announced unprecedented support for business and workers, to protect them against the current economic emergency. This includes the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme and VAT payment deferrals. We know that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, in particular, has been a lifeline for the museum sector. The Government continues to monitor the impact of these and other measures.
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 the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 9 July (HC Deb, col 1099), what plans they have to ensure that the universal rollout of gigabit-capable broadband is completed by 2025.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government is committed to delivering nationwide coverage of gigabit capable broadband as soon as possible. The latest Ofcom figures demonstrate full fibre coverage has increased to 3.5 million premises (or 12% of the UK), and by 1.5 million premises in the past year. Estimates of gigabit coverage are even higher at over 20% of UK premises, as a result of Virgin Media’s upgrades of its existing network.
To help the private sector deploy gigabit capable broadband more quickly and easily, we are removing barriers to deployment. For example, the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill will make it easier to connect properties with an unresponsive landlord. For harder to reach areas of the UK, we have committed to invest £5 billion in subsidising the deployment of gigabit capable 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, if any, to commission an independent review of the BBC’s funding needs to ensure that it receives the resources needed to meet the responsibilities set out in its Charter.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The BBC’s funding model is agreed with the Corporation as part of the Royal Charter. It was last considered as part of Charter Review 2015-16, during which process the Government committed to maintain the licence fee funding model for the BBC for the duration of the current Charter period, lasting until the end of 2027.
The current licence fee settlement is agreed until April 2022. Negotiations between the Government and the BBC for the next licence fee period, 2022-27, will begin in due course. The Government will set out more detail on the process to be followed ahead of negotiations.
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 assessment they have made of (1) the prevalence of the deliberate sharing of material capable of causing an epileptic seizure on social media platforms, and (2) the case for including measures against such behaviour in their forthcoming online harms legislation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Online Harms White Paper sets out the government’s plans for world leading legislation to make the UK the safest place to be online. We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users which will be overseen by an independent regulator. The ‘duty of care’ will ensure companies take risk-based and proportionate steps to keep their users safe. The regulator will also have the power to require companies to publish transparency reports, which will improve users’ understanding about the prevalence of harmful content and the countermeasures companies are taking. We will publish a full response to the white paper consultation later this year, which will set out final details regarding the scope of the duty of care and the obligations on companies. We will follow this with legislation.
In addition to this new legislation, it is important to make sure that the criminal law is fit for purpose to deal with online harms. DCMS and the Ministry of Justice have engaged the Law Commission on a second phase of their review of abusive and offensive online communications. This will include considering whether co-ordinated harassment by groups of people online could be more effectively dealt with by the criminal law, whether it is targeted at individuals with epilepsy or others. The Law Commission will review existing communications offences and make specific recommendations about options for reform, to ensure that criminal law provides consistent and effective protection against such behaviour.
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 involvement they have in Community Fibre Partnerships; and what assessment they have made of the impact of that scheme on the cost to consumers of better broadband connections.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Community-led schemes, including Community Fibre Partnerships, allow a group of premises to work together to upgrade their broadband connection through a joint funding arrangement with any broadband supplier who offers it. Community Fibre Partnerships can be successful in lowering the cost of improving broadband connections across a community, such schemes are not government run or administered. A Community Fibre Partnership is specifically only offered by Openreach and is but one example of a community-led broadband scheme. Such community-led schemes can take a variety of different forms to help suit the needs of the individual community. Further details of such schemes can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-led-broadband-schemes/introduction-to-community-led-schemes.
There are a variety of funding sources to help communities commence a community-led scheme. The Government has set out a number of alternative schemes to help businesses and residents upgrade their broadband connection through a community partnership.
A rural component of the Scheme launched in May 2019 with funding provided through the Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme. Up to £3,500 is available to rural SMEs and up to £1,500 for rural premises is available to support the installation of gigabit-capable broadband when part of a group scheme. These vouchers can be used in community broadband projects to offset the cost of installing gigabit-capable connectivity that communities would otherwise wholly fund themselves.
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individuals have enquired about the availability of higher speed broadband under the Universal Service Obligation launched on 20 March.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) provides every household with the legal right to request a broadband connection that provides download speeds of at least 10Mbps and an upload speed of at least 1Mbps, where this is not already available commercially.
Performance monitoring of the Universal Service Obligation is the responsibility of Ofcom. Chapter 9 of the Universal Service Statement by Ofcom sets out the reporting requirements for Universal Service Providers (BT and KCOM) who will be required to report at least every six months on the number of USO requests received, the number of requests accepted, the number of Confirmed Orders received that involved a customer agreeing to pay excess costs and the number of requests rejected by the Universal Service Provider including an explanation of the reason why.
As the Universal Service Obligation launched on 20 March 2020, no statistics on its progress have yet been published by Ofcom.
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 is the average cost quoted to individuals who have sought a better broadband connection under the Universal Service Obligation launched on 20 March.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) provides every household with the legal right to request a broadband connection that provides download speeds of at least 10Mbps and an upload speed of at least 1Mbps, where this is not already available commercially.
Performance monitoring of the Universal Service Obligation is the responsibility of Ofcom. Chapter 9 of the Universal Service Statement by Ofcom sets out the reporting requirements for Universal Service Providers (BT and KCOM) who will be required to report at least every six months on the number of USO requests received, the number of requests accepted, the number of Confirmed Orders received that involved a customer agreeing to pay excess costs and the number of requests rejected by the Universal Service Provider including an explanation of the reason why.
As the Universal Service Obligation launched on 20 March 2020, no statistics on its progress have yet been published by Ofcom.
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 assessment they have made, as part of their preparations for exiting the transition period, of the economic viability of UK venues booking acts from EU member states for live music events and studio performances.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
DCMS has engaged extensively with union bodies, artists and cultural organisations to help understand the needs of the creative and cultural sector on their preparations for the ending of the transition period. We understand the diverse circumstances of companies, organisations and individual practitioners and how they may need to adapt as the transition period ends.
We will continue to work with these stakeholders in the coming months and we will continue to keep Parliament informed with analysis at appropriate times in a way that does not impede our ability to strike the best deal for the UK.
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 assessment they have made of the likelihood of any restrictions introduced on EU musicians touring in the UK following the completion of the transition period being reciprocated for UK musicians touring in the EU.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
DCMS has engaged extensively with union bodies, artists and cultural organisations to help understand the needs of the creative and cultural sector on their preparations for the ending of the transition period. We understand the diverse circumstances of companies, organisations and individual practitioners and how they may need to adapt as the transition period ends.
On temporary entry for business purposes (mode 4) as part of a free trade agreement, we want a reciprocal agreement that would enable UK citizens will be able to undertake some paid business activities in the EU without a work permit, on a short-term basis. The precise details, including range of activities, documentation needed, and the time limit, is a matter for negotiation
We are confident that such a free trade agreement based on friendly cooperation can be achieved.
However, in all circumstances, we expect UK musicians’ work to continue to be an export that is highly valued in the EU as it is across the world.
We will continue to work with these stakeholders in the coming months and we will continue to keep Parliament informed with analysis at appropriate times in a way that does not impede our ability to strike the best deal for the UK.
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 will publish further information on the pilot tests for new models of flexible and inclusive volunteering opportunities announced in the Loneliness Strategy; how many they expect to be operating by 31 March 2019; and which voluntary bodies will be involved.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Centre for Ageing Better will publish further information on the flexible volunteering pilots in November 2018. Up to five sites will be launched by March 2019 to test and develop new approaches to age-friendly, flexible and inclusive volunteering.