Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 2 August 2016 to Question 42624, what the evidential basis is for the conclusion that there has been a decrease in autocomplete suggestions from search engines providing access to stream ripping and online converter websites.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Work to reduce the prevalence of autocomplete suggestions which are likely to lead search engine users to infringing websites is still ongoing, and so it is not yet possible to analyse the resultant effectiveness of these measures.
This work is discussed by representatives of the creative industries and search engines at the round table meetings chaired by my noble Friend Baroness Neville-Rolfe as Minister for Intellectual Property. OFCOM provide research for these meetings utilising results which they take from publicly accessible search interfaces.
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 2 August 2016 to Question 42624, what the evidential basis is for the conclusion that a decrease in the prominence of copyright infringing websites in search engine results has resulted in a decrease in infringement.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Publically available research from industry clearly shows a decrease in traffic to the most high profile Bit Torrent indexing websites following changes to search engine algorithms to demote websites which have been the subject of large numbers of copyright infringement notices. While it is not possible to say exactly how this equates to changes in infringement, traffic levels to these websites are likely to be highly correlated with levels of infringing activity.
The work of the Ministerial roundtable group on search and copyright is supported by research from OFCOM, which gives the group a periodic snapshot of the prominence of copyright infringing websites in search results for various search terms.
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has received on the potential merits of requiring search engines to change their algorithms to reduce the visibility of illegal streaming websites.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
My noble Friend the Minister of State for Energy and Intellectual Property, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, chairs regular roundtable meetings between the UK’s leading search engine providers, representatives of the music and film industries, and government officials.
Since the instigation of these roundtables, Google, Yahoo! and Bing have all taken steps to reduce the prominence of copyright infringing websites in their search results. These steps have included algorithm changes as well as changes to the autocomplete suggestions offered to users.
The discussions are supported by research undertaken by OFCOM which has shown a decrease in the prominence of the most infringing websites (as measured by the number of notifications Google have received about infringing content for those sites).
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department submitted the final information required by the Chinese authorities to approve the export of pigs' trotters to China to those authorities.
Answered by George Eustice
We have worked with the UK pork industry to collate the necessary data and information requested by the Chinese authorities. The last set of information from all companies involved was submitted at the end of June and we continue to work with the Chinese authorities as they review this information to ensure they have everything they need to finalise the agreement.
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what length of time there was between her Department receiving information from Cranswick plc that was required for the approval of the export of pigs' trotters to China before her Department provided that information to the Chinese authorities.
Answered by George Eustice
The Chinese authorities requested information relating to the whole UK pork industry, involving the collation of information from a number of different companies. Once the necessary information was received from all pork companies involved, via AHDB, this was reviewed and verified by Defra and submitted to the Chinese authorities with accompanying competent authority assurances. The information was submitted to the Chinese authorities as soon as it was ready, following review and verification by Defra, meaning that it was sent in four separate tranches. Information relating to Cranswick specifically was first received on 21 December 2015 and submitted the following morning. The second tranche was received on 26 January and contained a large amount of detailed information from all the companies involved. This required extensive review and verification by Defra and was sent on 3 March. The third set of information was received on 24 March and once the necessary verification had taken place was submitted on 4 April. The final set of information was received on 24 June and submitted to the Chinese authorities on 27 June.
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make representations to her EU counterparts and the European Commission on amending provisions related to take-down notices in the Electronic Commerce Directive 2002.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. During this period the Government will continue to negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation.
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the reasons are for the time taken to begin trade with China in pigs' trotters since the protocol on such trade was signed in November 2015.
Answered by George Eustice
The signing of the protocol was an important stage in reaching agreement for the export of UK pigs’ trotters to China. We are now completing the additional requirements as part of the normal process of finalising the agreement with China.
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the most recent meeting took place between the UK Embassy in Beijing and the Chinese Certification and Accreditation Administration; whether approval for the export of pigs' trotters to China was discussed at that meeting; and what the outcome of that meeting was.
Answered by George Eustice
The UK Agriculture, Food and Drink Counsellor in Beijing meets with the Chinese Certification and Accreditation Administration (CNCA) on a regular basis to raise the importance of reaching agreement on the export of pigs’ trotters to China. The most recent meeting took place in the week of 11 July where agreement was reached on some additional information required by CNCA on which Defra is working as a priority.
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations of the Creative Industries Council in its report entitled Create Together, published in July 2016, on clarifying the role of safe harbours and rights holders' remuneration.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Create Together strategy produced by the industry members of the Creative Industries Council is a strategy for building on the economic success of the UK’s creative sector. It is one which the Government supports. Government is currently reviewing specific recommendations within the strategy, including on safe harbour. We are strongly committed to working constructively with industry on these issues.
The Government agrees that it should not be possible to benefit from encouraging the posting of copyright infringing content through safe harbours, and that the rules governing who is responsible for such content should be clear. In developing the UK’s copyright framework going forward, we will consider whether the current situation is providing the right mix of incentives and protections.
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on artistic remuneration for online content.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ministers and Officials from both Departments meet regularly to discuss a range of issues.