Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent meetings her Department has had with (a) authors, (b) scriptwriters and (c) playwright organisations in the last 12 months.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Arts Council England, as national development agency for creativity and culture, engages with a range of organisations on a broad range of artforms, including in the theatre and literature sectors.
Officials at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have, in the last 12 months, attended roundtable meetings convened by Arts Council England where author organisations have been in attendance.
Additionally, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, Minister for Arts and Heritage, delivered a speech for the Northern Writers’ Awards on Tuesday 22 June, an event supported by the organisation New Writing North. Lord Parkinson also attended and provided a speech at the London Book Fair on 18 April. He attended a reading and literacy themed roundtable run as part of Baroness Sanderson of Welton’s independent review for public libraries which was attended by a representative of the Society of Authors, and has had meetings and engagements with a range of poets, playwrights and authors in the course of his ministerial engagement.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, What steps her Department is taking to help support individuals employed in the film and television sector in the UK from being impacted by the Writers Guild of America strike.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Strike action by the Screen Actors Guild and The Writers Guild of America is a US industrial matter. However, the film industry is a global ecosystem and the Government understands that current strike action in the US is impacting our own productions and crew here in the UK. The UK benefits from a significant volume of US investment, with investors attracted not only by our competitive tax reliefs and state of the art studio infrastructure, but by our world-class, skilled crew.
We are engaging with industry to understand the impact of continued US strike action and continuing our support for the screen industries through competitive tax reliefs, investing in studio infrastructure, supporting innovation, and promoting independent content.
Additionally, HMRC has a ‘Time to Pay’ policy which may provide some support to affected crew. This policy allows businesses and individuals experiencing temporary financial difficulty to schedule their tax debts into affordable, sustainable, and tailored instalment arrangements with no maximum repayment period. These arrangements can be applied to any tax debt and are flexible, so they can be amended if circumstances change. More information about Time to Pay can be found by calling HMRC’s dedicated helpline on 0800 024 1222.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations in the report entitled Root and branch review of the parole system: the future of the parole system in England and Wales, published in March 2022.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We have made significant progress.
Parole Board hearings can now be heard in public – there have been three so far. We have reformed the way indeterminate sentence prisoners are moved to open prison conditions by making sure that moves only happen if there is evidence they can be safely managed and there is low risk of them absconding. The Secretary of State will reject any recommendation from the Board where he is not satisfied there is a wholly persuasive case for transferring a prisoner.
Regarding release decisions, the Secretary of State can now provide the Parole Board with an overarching view which takes account of all reports and available evidence, including any professional opinions offered by report writers pertaining to the prisoner’s suitability for release. In these cases, the Secretary of State will be represented at an oral hearing.
In Part III of the Victims and Prisoners Bill, we are making the statutory release test more prescriptive and making clear that an offender must not be released unless the Board is confident there is no more than minimal risk to the public.
We are increasing the number of Board members with a law enforcement background and the Bill will introduce the power to require them to sit on panels concerning the most serious offenders – the ‘’top-tier’’. The Bill also creates a power that will allow the Secretary of State to take a second look, on behalf of the public, at any decisions to release a top-tier prisoner.
Another key recommendation was to establish a Parole System Oversight Group to explore and resolve whole-system operational issues across the parole system in England and Wales, such as delays. This Group has now been established and the inaugural meeting was held in June 2023.
Asked by: Lord McInnes of Kilwinning (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to respond to the needs of vulnerable journalists, writers, and media workers in Afghanistan.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a champion of media freedom and a proud member of the Media Freedom Coalition. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, 40 per cent of media outlets in Afghanistan have ceased to operate and 60 per cent of journalists have lost their jobs since August 2021. In response, the UK is providing programme funding to support media organisations still operating in Afghanistan. We also continue to raise the issue of media freedom in our discussions with the Taliban.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of strengthening copyright provisions to help prevent the work of artists, performers and writers being copied and used on electronic devices without the permission of or remuneration to its creator.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
With a few limited exceptions, it is a copyright infringement to copy and use creative works on electronic devices without the copyright owner’s permission. A range of civil, and in some cases criminal, remedies are available where an infringement has taken place. Many rightsholders take additional measures against infringement by applying technological protection measures to their works.
The Government takes copyright infringement seriously and the Intellectual Property Office supports activities to help copyright owners enforce their rights. These include awareness raising, coordinating industry action, and direct enforcement in conjunction with the police.
We have no current plans to review copyright protection in this area.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact on revenue for education authors on converting the Oak National Academy to an arms-length curriculum body.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
As an integral part of the process to set up Oak National Academy as an arm’s length body, the department produced a business case which included an assessment of potential market impact. This business case will be published shortly.
Monitoring market impact will be a priority throughout Oak National Academy’s lifetime and will be factored into the body’s ongoing evaluation and two-year review.
Where Oak needs to use existing third-party content, such as texts, Oak will seek to have an overarching licence with relevant licensing bodies wherever feasible (or direct relationships with rights holders where necessary) so the rights holder gets full payment for their work.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact the Oak National Academy’s proposed creative commons licensing on education authors’ moral rights of attribution and integrity.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Oak National Academy is undertaking ongoing market engagement while finalising its plans for procurement. It is considering a range of potential licensing arrangements that will ensure third-party intellectual property rights will be respected. The invitation to tender will be released shortly.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the paper entitled Root and Branch Review of the Parole System: The Future of the Parole System in England and Wales, CP654, published on 30 March 2022, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of prohibiting probation staff from making recommendations to the Parole Board on public safety; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Officials continue to have discussions with trade unions representing probation staff about the changes made to the Parole Board Rules with effect from 21 July, and in particular the one which prohibits report writers from making a recommendation as to whether the statutory release test is met in the case of the prisoner whose detention is being reviewed by the Parole Board.
Probation officers continue to have a vital role in informing the decision which falls in law exclusively to the Parole Board, by providing comprehensive and fully reasoned assessments of the prisoner’s risk.
Our priority continues to be the protection of the public; the reforms to the parole system help us to do that.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the paper entitled Root and Branch Review of the Parole System: The Future of the Parole System in England and Wales, CP654, published on 30 March 2022, whether he has had recent discussions with trade unions representing probation staff on the rights of those staff to make recommendations to the Parole Board.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Officials continue to have discussions with trade unions representing probation staff about the changes made to the Parole Board Rules with effect from 21 July, and in particular the one which prohibits report writers from making a recommendation as to whether the statutory release test is met in the case of the prisoner whose detention is being reviewed by the Parole Board.
Probation officers continue to have a vital role in informing the decision which falls in law exclusively to the Parole Board, by providing comprehensive and fully reasoned assessments of the prisoner’s risk.
Our priority continues to be the protection of the public; the reforms to the parole system help us to do that.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government is taking steps to support artists and performers from Ukraine.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The sectors which DCMS supports have been a key player in the UK’s response to the war in Ukraine. This has included severely restricting Russian and Belarussian state organisations’ participation in cultural events, public shows of solidarity with Ukraine from cultural organisations, and the cancellation of high-profile exhibitions and tours to the UK. DCMS is continuing to work with the cultural sector to understand the impacts of the situation and, where appropriate, is engaging with other government departments. Ministers and officials have held meetings with sector representatives to discuss this directly. The Secretary of State and Minister for Arts have met members of the Ukrainian Government, Oleksandr Tkachenko and Kateryna Chuyeva, either virtually or in person, and regular communication is ongoing.
The British Council’s planned UK-Ukraine Season of Culture is going ahead from June-November 2022 and will involve British and Ukrainian artists, creative sectors, and educators. It will celebrate 30 years of formal diplomatic dialogue between the UK and Ukraine. The programme will advance knowledge of Ukraine in the UK, position the country’s cultural achievements, and create opportunities for Ukrainian creatives to develop lasting partnerships with their UK counterparts. Partnerships include Screen Ukraine at Sheffield Doc Fest, a Ukrainian programme at Edinburgh International Festival, and Ukrainian writers at Cheltenham Literature Festival, as well as grant opportunities for artists and organisations.