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Written Question
Broadcasting: Music
Wednesday 7th September 2022

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of legislation on the use of (a) lip syncing and (b) pre-recordings at performances advertised as being live.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The use of lip syncing and pre-recordings as part of performances advertised as being live is a decision for the artist or performer, and a private contractual matter between them and the event organiser. Event organisers, as with all businesses and traders, must comply with consumer rights legislation.


Written Question
BBC
Monday 25th October 2021

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has made with the BBC on the trends in the size and share of its viewership and audiences.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC is editorially and operationally independent of the government, and trends relating to audience and viewership are a matter for the BBC.

The BBC’s Royal Charter requires the BBC to represent, reflect and serve audiences, taking into account the needs of diverse communities of all the UK nations and regions. It is for Ofcom as the BBC’s independent regulator to ensure the BBC complies with its Charter duties.

The BBC includes details on audience trends within their Annual Report and Trust Statement.

The Secretary of State and I have had constructive discussions with the BBC leadership, and have made it clear that the BBC needs to ensure it is more accessible, and representative of the people who pay the licence fee.


Written Question
BBC: Finance
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing Government funding of public broadcasting to tackle the BBC funding shortfall.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The government will assess the merits of increasing funding for the BBC as part of the ongoing licence fee settlement negotiations, which began on 10 November 2020.

The Secretary of State has written to the BBC and S4C setting out the key factors they should consider when submitting their requests for the next settlement period, as is required by the Charter.


Written Question
BBC: Broadcasting Programmes
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what representations his Department has made to BBC executives on the broadcaster’s plans to make BBC Four the home of archive content, with the channel no longer set to commission new programmes.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The BBC is independent of the government and the government has no say over the BBC’s editorial or operational decisions, including proposed changes to the BBC Four service.


Written Question
Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press Inquiry
Thursday 20th May 2021

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

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 26 April 2021 to the Question 184471, what (a) policing reforms and (b) press regulations have been enacted following the Leveson Inquiry.

Answered by John Whittingdale

There have been extensive reforms to policing practices as well as significant changes to press self-regulation.

Since Lord Justice Leveson published his report on part 1 of the inquiry in 2012, the Government has considered all eight recommendations and introduced a number of reforms to policing. This includes the publication of the policing Code of Ethics by the College of Policing in 2014; guidance on relationships with the media; guidance on whistle-blowing; new powers for the Independent Office for Police Conduct to investigate without referral from the police and voluntary notification by chief constables of post-service employment for 12 months.

There now exists a strengthened, independent, self-regulatory system for the press. The majority of traditional publishers—including 95% of national newspapers by circulation—are members of IPSO. A number of smaller publishers have joined Impress.

These regulators enforce codes of conduct which provide guidelines on a range of areas, including discrimination, accuracy, privacy, and harassment. If they find that a newspaper has broken the code of conduct, they can order corrections or critical adjudications.

IPSO, unlike its predecessor the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), has the contractual power to legally enforce all the obligations into which the press has entered. This includes determining the wording, where a ruling is placed in a newspaper, in what font size and on what page. As well as dealing with complaints, IPSO can launch a standards investigation in cases where there may have been serious and systemic breaches of the Editors’ Code. IPSO also now has a compulsory low cost arbitration scheme, introduced in August 2018, that all member national newspapers have signed up to. This can be used to make claims for defamation, privacy and harassment, and some data protection breaches.

In 2016 IPSO commissioned its own independent review which found it had made some important achievements in demonstrating it was an independent and effective regulator, and that it was largely compliant with the recommendations of the Leveson Report.


Written Question
Channel 4
Thursday 29th April 2021

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason Ofcom has yet to publish the findings of its investigation into the Channel 4 programme entitled, Dispatches: The Truth about Traveller Crime, which commenced on 29 May 2020.

Answered by John Whittingdale

Ofcom is the UK’s independent regulator of television. Decisions on broadcasting regulation, including the duration of their investigations, are a matter for Ofcom.


Written Question
Football Association Premier League: Coronavirus
Thursday 11th March 2021

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to work with the Premier League to (a) identify breaches of covid-19 lockdown rules by football players and (b) ensure that prosecutions are pursued against those players for any such breaches of those lockdown rules as permitted under the Coronavirus Act 2020.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Secretary of State and I met with The Football Association, Premier League and English Football League earlier this year to discuss the importance of adherence to the strict COVID protocols they introduced last season.

In that meeting, the Secretary of State and I made the football authorities fully aware of their responsibility to ensure that players and staff act in accordance with government rules and guidance. The football authorities reiterated this important message to their clubs and players, highlighting the significance of both matchday and non-matchday COVID protocols.

Any person, no matter their profession, found guilty of breaching the law should be prosecuted accordingly.


Written Question
Sports: Coronavirus
Thursday 11th March 2021

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what evidence the Government took into account when making its decision to permit elite sports to continue during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Elite and professional sports competition has consistently been permitted since June, in common with other work which cannot be conducted from home. Government has issued thorough guidance to support Covid-secure training and competition. Governing bodies have established their own sport specific protocols, including appropriate mitigations and testing regimes. At every stage we have capitalised on medical and public health expertise.


Written Question
Television Licences: Hearing Impairment
Wednesday 17th June 2020

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reasons a television licence discount is not available for people with hearing impairments.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The government is committed to building a digitally inclusive society, and believes that television should be accessible for all UK audiences. The BBC provides subtitling on 100% of all of its programming (excluding BBC Parliament and BBC Scotland), as well as signing 5% of its content.


Currently, under the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004, TV Licence concessions are available to people who are registered blind or severely sight impaired, and people who live in qualifying residential care and are disabled or over 60 years old. We are not considering making changes to the current concessions regime at this time. The government has committed to review the TV Licence model ahead of the next Charter Review, which is set to be completed by 2027.


Written Question
Television: Hearing Impairment
Wednesday 17th June 2020

Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to take steps with representatives from the BBC to improve subtitles across all BBC channels and services.

Answered by John Whittingdale

As the independent broadcast regulator, Ofcom is responsible for holding broadcasters to account for their delivery of television access services (subtitles, audio description and signing), not the government.

Ofcom’s Code on Television Access Services sets out 10-year targets in relation to subtitling, which for BBC channels (excluding BBC Parliament and BBC Scotland) is 100% of all programming. Ofcom has found that the BBC has consistently met this target.

Ofcom’s Code provides further guidance that broadcasters should regularly monitor the quality of their access services, and ensure that scheduled access services are being provided correctly. In line with the BBC’s 2016 Royal Charter and Agreement, Ofcom is also currently reviewing how the BBC should make its UK Public Services accessible. Ofcom’s public consultation on BBC Accessibility concluded on 31 January 2020.