Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how their mid-term review of the BBC Charter will be informed by Ofcom’s review of the BBC’s operating licence.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ofcom is independent of the government and the government has no say over Ofcom’s operational decisions. A review of the BBC's operating licence and service requirements is therefore for Ofcom as the BBC’s regulator.
The Mid-Term Review of the Royal Charter offers an opportunity for the government to consider whether current governance and regulatory arrangements for the BBC are working effectively, including the effectiveness of the regulation by Ofcom.
We will start the preparations now, ahead of the review starting formally next year, as the Royal Charter sets out.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that the BBC does not reduce the number of quotas related to delivering public value content, including those related to (1) radio, and (2) children’s programming.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is clear that the BBC has to provide high quality, distinctive content and services. However, it is ultimately a matter for Ofcom as the independent regulator on how to enforce these obligations through appropriate regulation. It is therefore for Ofcom, not the government, to set and amend quotas for the BBC’s public services.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why cuts were made to the final year of the Young Audiences Content Fund pilot; what assessment they made of (1) the effectiveness of that Fund, and (2) the need to provide notice of any changes to its funding.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following a successful Spending Review, the Young Audiences Content Fund will continue into its third year and receive up to £10.7m for year 3 of the pilot scheme, totalling up to £44.2m for the three years.
As set out in the Contestable Fund scoping paper published in 2018, monitoring and evaluation of the Fund would inform the annual budget allocation over the course of the pilot. The 2021/22 funding awarded demonstrates a commitment to the value of children’s television programming in an exceptionally challenging fiscal climate, where some tough decisions have had to be made. DCMS has engaged continuously with the BFI, who administers the Fund, throughout the funding determination.
Although assessment of the funds is ongoing, the Year One review sets out a number of successes for the fund. As planned, a detailed evaluation of the scheme, against the criteria set out at launch, will take place this year before a decision is made on whether to close, continue or expand the Contestable Fund.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the cuts of the Young Audiences Content Fund pilot, what steps they are taking to ensure the pilot leads to a secure, well-supported and long-term future for that Fund.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Following a successful Spending Review, the Young Audiences Content Fund will continue into its third year and receive up to £10.7m for year 3 of the pilot scheme, totalling up to £44.2m for the three years.
As set out in the Contestable Fund scoping paper published in 2018, monitoring and evaluation of the Fund would inform the annual budget allocation over the course of the pilot. The 2021/22 funding awarded demonstrates a commitment to the value of children’s television programming in an exceptionally challenging fiscal climate, where some tough decisions have had to be made. DCMS has engaged continuously with the BFI, who administers the Fund, throughout the funding determination.
Although assessment of the funds is ongoing, the Year One review sets out a number of successes for the fund. As planned, a detailed evaluation of the scheme, against the criteria set out at launch, will take place this year before a decision is made on whether to close, continue or expand the Contestable Fund.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the mid-term review of the BBC Charter not being conducted before the Ofcom review of public service broadcasting; and how will the review by Ofcom be used to inform the mid-term review of the BBC Charter.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ofcom is required to conduct a review into public service broadcasting at least every five years and went out for consultation in December 2020. The report of its third review, "Public Service Broadcasting in the Internet Age", was published on 2 July 2015.
The concept and principles for the Mid-Term Review are set out in the BBC Royal Charter of 2016. The Royal Charter is clear that “the (mid-term) review must not be undertaken before 2022 and must be completed by 2024.”
Government officials shall be undertaking preparatory work ahead of the mid-term review starting formally next year, and will consult Ofcom on the scope, timing, and terms of reference in due course, as is required by the BBC Charter.
Further, the Charter requires that Ofcom conduct a periodic review of the BBC which looks at the extent to which the BBC is fulfilling its Mission and promoting each of the Public Purposes and addressing any specific issues of concern. This must be concluded in time to inform the Mid-Term Review.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of UK users of the organisations expected to be in within the scope of the draft Online Safety Bill that access (1) pornographic websites, and (2) social media sites that contain pornography
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Online Safety Bill will deliver the most comprehensive approach in the world to protecting children online. Where pornographic websites or social media sites host user generated content or facilitate online user interactions (including video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming), they will be subject to the duty of care. The government has not conducted a detailed sector-by-sector analysis of the services in scope of the Bill and the number of UK users accessing those services, given the breadth of services in scope of legislation. However, the online safety regime will capture both the pornography sites most visited by UK users and pornography on social media, therefore covering the vast majority of sites where children are most likely to be exposed to pornography.
The exact list of Category 1 services has not yet been determined. We have set out how the process will work for designating Category 1 services. Thresholds will be set by the government about the number of users and functionalities of a service, following receipt of advice from Ofcom. This is to ensure the process is objective and evidence-based. Ofcom will then be required to assess services against these thresholds and publish a register of all those which meet both thresholds.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of (1) pornographic websites, and (2) social media sites that contain pornography, that will be (a) Category 1 organisations, and (b) not Category 1 organisations, under the draft Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Online Safety Bill will deliver the most comprehensive approach in the world to protecting children online. Where pornographic websites or social media sites host user generated content or facilitate online user interactions (including video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming), they will be subject to the duty of care. The government has not conducted a detailed sector-by-sector analysis of the services in scope of the Bill and the number of UK users accessing those services, given the breadth of services in scope of legislation. However, the online safety regime will capture both the pornography sites most visited by UK users and pornography on social media, therefore covering the vast majority of sites where children are most likely to be exposed to pornography.
The exact list of Category 1 services has not yet been determined. We have set out how the process will work for designating Category 1 services. Thresholds will be set by the government about the number of users and functionalities of a service, following receipt of advice from Ofcom. This is to ensure the process is objective and evidence-based. Ofcom will then be required to assess services against these thresholds and publish a register of all those which meet both thresholds.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of organisations within the scope of the draft Online Safety Bill that are (1) pornographic websites, and (2) social media sites that contain pornography.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Online Safety Bill will deliver the most comprehensive approach in the world to protecting children online. Where pornographic websites or social media sites host user generated content or facilitate online user interactions (including video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming), they will be subject to the duty of care. The government has not conducted a detailed sector-by-sector analysis of the services in scope of the Bill and the number of UK users accessing those services, given the breadth of services in scope of legislation. However, the online safety regime will capture both the pornography sites most visited by UK users and pornography on social media, therefore covering the vast majority of sites where children are most likely to be exposed to pornography.
The exact list of Category 1 services has not yet been determined. We have set out how the process will work for designating Category 1 services. Thresholds will be set by the government about the number of users and functionalities of a service, following receipt of advice from Ofcom. This is to ensure the process is objective and evidence-based. Ofcom will then be required to assess services against these thresholds and publish a register of all those which meet both thresholds.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Digital and Culture on 11 January (130006), to which online pornography sites their online harms proposals will apply.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Where pornography sites host user generated content or facilitate online user interactions (including video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming), they will be subject to the duty of care.
The online harms regime will capture both the most visited pornography sites and pornography on social media, therefore covering the vast majority of sites where children are most likely to be exposed to pornography. In practice, we would anticipate that any commercial pornography site hosting user generated content or facilitating user-interaction will need to put in place robust measures such as age verification to prevent children from accessing it. This would then also protect children from any non user generated content as well.
We will continue to review our proposals to ensure we deliver the most comprehensive protections for children online.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Digital and Culture on 11 January (130006), what estimate they have made of the number of online pornography sites which (1) allow, and (2) do not allow, (a) user-generated content, or (b) user interaction; whether they keep a record of those sites; and if so, what plans they have to publish those records.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Where pornography sites host user generated content or facilitate online user interactions (including video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming), they will be subject to the duty of care.
The online harms regime will capture both the most visited pornography sites and pornography on social media, therefore covering the vast majority of sites where children are most likely to be exposed to pornography. In practice, we would anticipate that any commercial pornography site hosting user generated content or facilitating user-interaction will need to put in place robust measures such as age verification to prevent children from accessing it. This would then also protect children from any non user generated content as well.
We will continue to review our proposals to ensure we deliver the most comprehensive protections for children online.