Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Counter Disinformation Unit has contacted YouTube to request the removal of videos doctored by the Russian state following the tweet by the Ministry of Defence on 23 March 2022 of their letter that organisation dated 22 March 2022.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
YouTube and other major tech companies have policies relating to disinformation, content manipulation, and other relevant harms to their users. HMG is clear that these calls and videos were part of Russian information and influence operation designed to achieve strategic effect to the advantage of the Russian state, by attempting to embarrass HMG, weaken its relationship with its allies, and undermine its support for Ukraine. Following DCMS engagement, YouTube removed the videos from their platform on 25 March 2022 in line with their Terms of Service.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many pieces of content the Counter Disinformation Unit has asked social media providers to remove following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The DCMS-led Counter Disinformation Unit is working to identify and counter Russian disinformation targeted at UK and international audiences. This includes working closely with the major social media platforms to ensure that they are cooperating at speed to swiftly address disinformation and coordinated inauthentic or manipulated behaviour, as per their Terms of Service. Where this content breaches their own Terms of Service, we expect platforms to remove it promptly. We are also ensuring that platforms are promoting authoritative content which accurately depicts the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
It would not be appropriate to provide a running commentary on operational detail which may risk undermining the CDU’s security and effectiveness. Now more than ever the effectiveness of the Unit is paramount as we continue our vital work to protect UK citizens from Russian disinformation.
The Online Safety Bill will force companies to remove illegal mis/disinformation that impacts individuals including state-sponsored mis/disinformation that contains illegal content. However this issue is not just about the content but the platform features, as hostile states take advantage of platform design and features, such as algorithms, to spread their propaganda. To address this, the Bill will require service providers to assess how the design of their services is linked to harm. They will have to look at how their services allow users to forward or share content, or to express views on other users’ content through “likes”, features often utilised by hostile states.
The Government is also committed to introducing further legislation to provide our world-class security services and law enforcement agencies with a suite of modern tools they need to tackle a full range of state threats.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) applications were received and (b) grants allocated to which organisations as part of the Fibre in the Water competition.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Two bids were received and evaluated as part of the Fibre in Water competition. The Government has allocated £1.2 million to the winning consortium to proceed with the design stage of the project. The remaining £2 million funds will be granted once this stage has been reviewed.
It comes from HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund which is used to fund pilot projects to test innovative ways of working across the public sector.
The project is led by Yorkshire Water, with Arcadis and University of Strathclyde. Additional partners will be announced shortly.
Please see the full press release announcement here.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Government has spent (a) in total and (b) with Saxton Bampfylde recruitment advisers for the appointment of a new Ofcom Chair.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Saxton Bampfylde has been appointed as the headhunter for this competition, following a tender process that was run in line with government procurement rules. The contract value is £18,000.
No other costs have been incurred, beyond the staffing costs usually associated with running a public appointments process.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress she has made on developing creative clusters, as announced in the creative industries sector deal.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Creative Industries Clusters Programme is currently delivered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as part of UKRI’s Audience of the Future Challenge and has made some remarkable progress over the last four years of its operation.
As of September 2021, the programme has identified that over 3,475 jobs had been created and safeguarded, over £176m of private co-investment has been leveraged from the initial public funding provided and 906 new business-led R&D projects have been supported through the programme.
We are working closely with colleagues in UKRI and AHRC to build on the success of this programme as part of the Creative Industries Sector Vision which was announced earlier this year.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many times the Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel has met since it was established; which Ministers attended each meeting; and if she will publish the minutes of each meeting of the Panel.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel was established in November 2020 in order to provide independent expertise and advice for the government’s strategic review of public service broadcasting.
Since its establishment, the Panel has met six times, on the following dates: (i) 19 November 2020; (ii) 14 January 2021; (iii) 24 March 2021; (iv) 18 May 2021; (v) 21 July 2021; and (vi) 24 November 2021. It is not expected to meet further.
The first meeting was attended by the then Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Oliver Dowden CBE MP; the second, third, fourth and fifth meetings by the then Minister of State for Media and Data, the Rt Hon John Whittingdale OBE MP; and the sixth by the Minister of State for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure, Julia Lopez MP.
In accordance with the Panel’s published terms of reference, the government does not intend to publish the minutes of the Panel. The Government will set out the conclusions of its strategic review of public service broadcasting in due course.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether any consideration is taken in the distribution of lottery funds of the level of ticket sales in areas of the country.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
National Lottery funding is awarded by 12 distributors working at arm’s length from the government. Distribution of funding is generally an application-driven process but distributors are expected to ensure a wide geographical reach.
The Department does not routinely receive information on the level of ticket sales in different areas of the country.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason there is a five year service qualifying criteria for public servants working in frontline emergency service roles to receive the Queen's Platinum Jubilee medal.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The five-year service qualifying criteria, which has been agreed across the government, Devolved Administrations and Crown Dependencies, has been determined on the basis of the precedent for previous commemorative Jubilee medals.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish a breakdown of income derived from the National Lottery income in each nation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Please see the answer to Written Parliamentary Question 126650.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answer of 16 March 2020 to Question 26996, on National Lottery: Grants, when she plans to update the database on National Lottery funding awards.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since 1994, the National Lottery has raised over £45 billion for good causes. Over 660,000 individual grants have been awarded since the National Lottery started - the equivalent of more than 235 lottery grants in every UK postcode district. More detailed information about National Lottery grants can be found at the National Lottery grants database website.
Due to technical limitations, this database does not incorporate more recent National Lottery grant data. We hope to have this resolved in the Spring.
In the meantime, information about Lottery funding is available on the websites of the twelve National Lottery distributors: National Lottery Community Fund, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, Arts Council Northern Ireland, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales, British Film Institute, UK Sport, Sport England, Sport Northern Ireland, Sport Scotland, Sport Wales.