Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prevent children accessing pornography online now that they do not intend to introduce age verification for pornographic websites.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Protecting children is at the heart of our online harms agenda and is key to wider government priorities. The government published the Online Harms White Paper in April this year which proposed the establishment of a duty of care on companies to improve online safety, overseen by an independent regulator with strong enforcement powers to deal with non-compliance.
The White Paper sets out our expectation that companies should protect children from inappropriate content, including pornography, and we will produce guidance for companies to keep children safe online, ahead of the new regulatory framework.
We are committed to the UK becoming a world-leader in the development of online safety technology and expect age verification to continue to be a tool used by companies to keep children safe online.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include (1) the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup, and (2) women’s world cup sporting events in the list of listed sporting events.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Cricket World Cup final, semi-finals and matches involving home nations’ teams are listed under Group B of the Listed Events Regime. Events listed in Group B may have live coverage on subscription television provided that secondary coverage is offered to qualifying broadcasters.
Coverage of women’s professional sport on free to air television has improved significantly in the last ten years, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Euro Championships, Women’s Rugby World Cup, cycling and tennis being regular fixtures on the BBC and ITV.
We know that more can be done to improve equality in sports broadcasting. That is why we have just announced our proposal to add the Paralympic Games to the list and we have started the statutory consultation process to do that. We are also considering the addition of women’s only sporting events where the equivalent men’s only tournaments are currently listed, which we plan to consult on later in the year. This is to give equal recognition to disabled and women’s sports.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the social media application TikTok and the safeguarding implications for young people of its use.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The government wants the UK to be the safest place in the world to go online. As set out in the Online Harms White Paper the government will take action to tackle content or activity that harms individual users, particularly children. We will establish a new statutory duty of care, overseen by an independent regulator to make companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users and tackle harm caused by content or activity on their services. The regulator will take a risk-based approach, prioritising action where there is the greatest evidence or threat of harm, or where children or other vulnerable users are at risk. Ahead of the implementation of the new regulatory framework, we will continue to encourage companies to take early action to address online harms.
With regards to the social media application TikTok, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has a live investigation on TikTok’s compliance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) relating to the protection of children’s personal data. The GDPR is regulated and enforced by the independent ICO, and as such, the government is unable to comment further on live investigations.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the importance of music education to creative industries in the UK.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
In 2016, the creative industries employed 2 million people and made up 5% of the UK’s total GVA. Securing a strong and diverse intake of skills and talent is key to the sector's continued success and that is why Government is committed to ensuring children enjoy a broad curriculum, including music. Recognising the importance of music, the Government is spending £300m between 2016-20 on music education hubs alongside a range of other arts and cultural educational programmes. In January 2019, DfE announced an additional £1.33 million funding for music education hubs and that an independent panel would be working with Government to create a model music curriculum.
Sir Peter Bazalgette's 2017 independent review of the creative industries concluded that social and informational barriers to entry are inhibiting the growth and greater productivity of the sector. That is why government is investing £2m seed funding for the industry-led Creative Careers Programme, aimed at raising awareness of employment opportunities and developing entry routes into the creative industries, including the music sector.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Reporters Without Borders 2019 World Press Freedom Index; and the UK’s position at 33 in that index.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
We welcome the improvement in the UK’s ranking, but are disappointed that our position is not higher. The UK press is among the most respected and free in the world. The government recognises press freedom is fundamental to a healthy democracy and strongly supports it, including committing to repeal s40; publishing a world leading independent review on the sustainability of high quality journalism by Dame Cairncross; and launching a Global Media Freedoms campaign.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Social Impact Bonds; and whether they intend to continue the scheme.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Government has launched several Social Impact Bond programmes since 2010, including the Peterborough Prison Offender Rehabilitation service, the Social Outcomes Fund, two Rough Sleeping Programmes and the Fair Chance Fund. Evaluation and assessment findings have shown that Social Impact Bonds can successfully address complex social problems, with evidence of both improved outcomes and reductions in costs.
The Centre for Social Impact Bonds will continue to build the evidence base for Social Impact Bonds by supporting the monitoring and evaluation of current programmes, and building on our partnership with the Government Outcomes Lab at Oxford University, a centre of expertise for Social Impact Bonds and innovative Government commissioning.
In line with our commitments outlined in the Civil Society Strategy, the Centre for Social Impact Bonds will continue to provide support to government departments to deliver Social Impact Bonds at scale. Government is also supporting the use of Social Impact Bonds in the commissioning of local public services through the Life Chances Fund, an £80m fund to help people in society who face the most significant barriers to lead happy and productive lives.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on local communities of the decision by Ofcom to remove the requirement on local radio stations to produce their own breakfast show.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
We have made no such assessment. These are matters for Ofcom, the independent regulator.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the regulations issued by Ofcom in 2018 that allowed radio station owners to reduce the minimum amount of local programming on local radio stations during daytime hours from seven to three hours per day.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
We have made no such assessment. These are matters for Ofcom, the independent regulator.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last reviewed the protected Sports Rights List; whether they have any plans to add other national sports, in particular women’s sports, to that list; if so, which sports they intend to add; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The list of protected sporting events was last reviewed between 2008 and 2009, by an independent advisory panel. Government does not currently have any plans to revise the list which we believe works well to deliver the best outcome. Our listed events regime strikes a 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.
Coverage of women’s professional sport on free to air television has improved significantly in the last ten years, with the women’s Football World Cup and Euro Championships, Women’s Rugby World Cup, cycling and tennis being regular fixtures on the BBC and ITV . However, the list is kept under continued review by my Department to ensure that the nation’s most loved sporting events remain available on free to air television.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an international media company which has bought a local commercial radio station, which has subsequently closed its local headquarters, is in breach of the commercial radio licence that was awarded to that local station by Ofcom.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The local programming and content requirements for holders of local analogue commercial radio licenses (whether the holder is ultimately owned by an international media organisation or not) are set by Ofcom under the legislative framework – primarily the Broadcasting Act 1990 and the Communications Act 2003. Changes to legislation introduced by the previous Government in March 2010 gave local commercial stations the ability to network local programming within defined editorial areas for the first time.
Under section 314 of the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom is required to produce and keep up to date localness guidance for local analogue radio license holders to follow in complying with their local programming and content requirements. In 2018, Ofcom consulted on changes to the localness guidance following research on listener attitudes. Ofcom’s impact assessment covered the potential impacts on radio listeners and the industry.
Compliance with licence requirements is a matter Ofcom, the independent regulator.