Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce independent regulation of the media to protect individuals from (a) invasive and (b) unethical journalism.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We have seen great improvements in press regulation with the formation of IPSO and Impress, which have the power to hold publications to account, including ordering prominent corrections. Both regulators are independent of government and enforce Codes of Practice, which include provisions on privacy and intrusion. They both operate free complaints handling systems and low cost arbitration schemes.
Ofcom, as the independent broadcast regulator, sets rules for broadcasters to meet in its Broadcasting Code. This includes rules ensuring that broadcasters avoid any unwarranted infringement of privacy in the making of programmes.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will introduce independent regulation of the media to protect people from invasive and unethical journalism.
Answered by Nigel Adams
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that insurance companies request medical reports under the provisions of the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 instead of Subject Access Requests under the General Data Protection Regulation.
Answered by Margot James
If a solicitor is acting on behalf of an insurer and is seeking health information about a prospective customer, these are not subject access requests under the GDPR. Such requests should be made under the Access to Medical Records Act (AMRA) 1988 and standard charges apply.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is responsible for regulating compliance with data protection legislation and may consider taking action against insurance companies which fail to comply with the relevant legislation.
The ICO has updated its guidance on Subject Access Requests and this can be viewed on its website at www.ico.org.uk.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many members of staff have left her Department since 1 January 2015; and how many of those members of staff were nationals of non-UK EU countries.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Since 1 January 2015, 358 staff have left the department (of which 53% was inter-Civil Service movement).
The Civil Service does not routinely collect information on the nationality of civil servants. The information requested is not held.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the quality of DAB radio coverage in Wales; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government, BBC and commercial radio are jointly funding the long term expansion of the local DAB network across the UK with the building of 182 new digital transmitters and modifications and frequency changes at a further 49 sites by the end of September 2016. Ofcom has published detailed maps outlining the improvements to coverage in local areas across the UK. As a result of this new investment, according to Ofcom, it is expected that local DAB coverage in Wales will increase from 63% to 85.4% of households and from 46.7% to 66.3% of major roads.
Separately the BBC is rolling out its national DAB network to a further 162 transmitter sites across the UK by the end of 2015. This programme will increase the coverage of its DAB network in Wales from 86% to 92% of homes.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of DAB radio reception across Wales; what information his Department holds on which areas in Wales have poor DAB reception; what steps his Department has taken to improve poor reception in such areas; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government is working with the radio industry to improve digital radio coverage for listeners across the UK. DCMS is providing up to £7.75m of capital funding to support investment made by commercial radio and supported by the BBC to expand the coverage local DAB network across the UK towards commercial FM equivalence. The programme will see a total of 182 new digital transmitters built across Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and technical modifications and frequency changes at a further 49 existing transmitter sites across the UK by the end of September 2016. Wales,will receive around 9% of the total DCMS capital funding to improve the coverage of local DAB including BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru.
Ofcom, the independent communications regulator has worked closely with the radio industry to develop a coverage plan for the local DAB network expansion to determine the most technically efficient way of matching DAB coverage levels to FM. Ofcom has published detailed maps outlining the improvements to local DAB network coverage for each of the local digital radio multiplex areas in Wales – i.e. Swansea, South East Wales, Mid & West Wales, North East Wales and West Cheshire and North West Wales - as a result of the local DAB expansion programme. These maps are available at the following web address http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/coverage/dab-coverage-plans/
Ofcom’s analysis of local DAB coverage of households (percentage) in Wales is summarised in the following table.
Local DAB Currently (1% time interference) | Local DAB predicted end of 2016 (1% time interference) |
63% | 85.4% |
For comparison current figures for BBC national and commercial radio FM household coverage (percentage) in Wales are in the following table. These are not directly comparable to the DAB coverage figures, mainly because although it is possible to receive FM reception (albeit poor quality) with low signal strength, DAB reception is either good or completely absent.
BBC FM coverage (robust indoor -54dB) | Commercial FM coverage (robust indoor - 54dB) |
87.1% | 54.1%
|