Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to promote independent news networks by ensuring that (a) Government and (b) other public announcements are made by buying space on news websites not owned by newspaper groups (i) in areas where no local printed newspapers are available and (ii) generally.

The Government runs a number of communications activities, including campaigns, across a range of media channels. For each activity, channels are selected based on whether they will reach the target audience effectively to have the most impact.

Independent news networks can form a key part of this and we consider them wherever necessary.