Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to support community radio stations through the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government is strongly supportive of the community radio sector and recognises the great value that it offers to communities across the United Kingdom, in terms of providing quality local news, information and entertainment.
We recognise the challenges that some community stations are facing due to Covid-19 and are currently holding discussions with Ofcom and the Community Media Association (CMA) on possible options to provide urgent support for those stations in greatest need.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to arrange for licensing of the Wycombe Sound radio station to be expedited.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom is responsible for licensing community radio stations and has awarded over 270 licences to date.
Ofcom conducts licensing in rounds and invites applicants from each region of the UK in turn. Ofcom has published timetables for the latest round of community radio licensing and anticipate inviting applications from the South East of England outside the M25 in the first half of 2015.
For reasons of fairness, Ofcom assesses all the applications it receives in a region before awarding any licenses.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that the television licence fee is not deducted by Direct Debit from the accounts of those aged over 7l; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
There are no such plans. |