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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with (a) the Guardian Media Group and (b) Tortoise Media on the proposed buyout of the Observer newspaper.

It would be inappropriate to comment on any live merger case. As is clear under the Enterprise Act, this is a quasi-judicial process for the DCMS Secretary of State alone to exercise the statutory powers based on the evidence and following the established regulatory process. If there are any updates to report, Parliament will be informed in the usual way.