Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made representations to the International Olympic Committee on the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I have made no representations to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
The British Olympic Association, as the National Organising Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is the domestic representative to the IOC and does so operating independently of Government.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of whether orchestras in Northern Ireland will remain eligible for Creative Europe funding for EO-Lab ii after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Michael Ellis
We are considering future options with regards to Creative Europe and the terms of future participation would be subject to negotiation with the EU. The Prime Minister made clear in her speech in Florence that, where possible, we want to continue to take part in specific policies and programmes which are of joint advantage to both the UK and the EU. The UK Treasury has provided further reassurance that it will underwrite the payments of multi-annual projects selected for support while the UK is still a member of the EU even if the projects continue beyond the UK’s exit from the EU.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with her Cabinet colleagues on the effect on tourism of an expansion of Heathrow Airport.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Government has accepted the case for airport expansion in the South East and the Airports' Commission's shortlisted options. Transport and connectivity are key issues within the tourism sector, as highlighted in the Prime Minister's new Tourism Action Plan. The Department will be ensuring that tourism is one of the factors considered, when a final decision is taken on a preferred scheme.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what total amount of funding has been allocated to the Superconnected Cities project.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Super Connected Cities Programme had an allocation of up to £150m, to support broadband and digital projects across 22 citiesup to March 2015. The Chancellor extended the connection voucher scheme to 50 cities from April 2015 on a first come first serve basis, with up to £40m of that funding available for this.Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the funding for Superconnected Cities has been allocated to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Belfast and Derry/Londonderry were two of fifty cities benefitting from the Super Connected Cities Programmes, and received up to £15.6m to help develop digital infrastructure and capability, and to remain internationally competitive, attracting investors and businesses.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will allocate additional funding to the Superconnected Cities fund for those applications in the most recent round that were unsuccessful.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Any decision regarding funding is subject to the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has for funding for voucher offers under the Superconnected Cities fund that were not taken up.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Broadband Connect Voucher Scheme was hugelysuccessful, and has benefitted 55,000 small and medium businesses (SMEs) across the UK. All broadband connections vouchers issued to SMEs before the scheme closed on 12 October that comply with the scheme’s terms and conditions will be funded.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to reduce the digital exclusion of people with sensory loss.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Government recognises the importance of Digital Inclusion. The Government Digital Service launched the Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy in April 2014. The Strategy sets out 10 actions that Government and partners from the public, private and voluntary sector will take to reduce digital exclusion.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will review the effectiveness of existing legislation on subtitles and audio description for on-demand television.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government remains committed to seeing an improvement in the provision of access services for video-on-demand (VoD) services. We have been monitoring progress of the provision of access services for VoD content since 2013 through engagement with the Authority for Television On Demand (ATVOD), platform operators and content providers. If ATVOD's 2015 annual survey of VoD services indicates that significant progress has not been made then, as stated in the Connectivity, Content and Consumers Paper (July 2013), we will consider legislation in 2016.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with television representatives on the setting of targets on the provision of subtitles for on-demand television services.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
We have been monitoring progress of the provision of access services for Video on Demand (VoD) content since 2013 through engagement with the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD), platform operators and content providers. As part of our continuing assessment of access to such services for VoD content, we will use information from a variety of sources and engagement with relevant parties to develop a target that we would expect to see reached by mid-2016.