Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the film and television industry in England, including the freelance workforce, and to encourage investment from the US, following the industrial action by Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 2023.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government has set out a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and to add another 1 million jobs in the sector by 2030. That includes supporting the growth of the television and film industry.
Since 2010, HM Government has introduced a range of tax reliefs across the creative industries, including expanded relief for film and high-end television. Our screen sector tax relief is estimated to be worth more than £13 billion in Gross Value Added to the UK economy.
We have taken a number of additional steps to ensure that British film and television companies are able to invest in production, expand their businesses, and offer opportunities for cast and crew across the UK, in spite of production disruption resulting from the pandemic and the recent strike action in the United States of America.
This includes the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart Scheme and the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas. To build on this, and support the industry not only to survive but to thrive, the Government has taken further actions. This includes our support for the British Film Institute and British Film Commission, which has helped drive a near doubling of UK studio capacity, and the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, which is expanding the global reach of UK independent content. The sector also benefits from the continued success of our screen sector tax reliefs (for film, high-end TV, animation and children’s TV), which in 2021–22 provided £792 million of support for over 1,000 projects.
We recognise the impact of the American strikes on the film and TV workforce. HMRC has a ‘Time to Pay’ policy which may provide some support to affected cast and crew. This policy allows people experiencing temporary financial difficulty to schedule their tax debts in affordable, sustainable, and tailored instalments 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.
In the Creative Industries Sector Vision, the Government set out an ambition to improve the job quality and working practices of the sector, including supporting the high proportion of freelancers in the sector. This includes promoting fair treatment and working practices, enhancing support networks and resources for creative freelancers through Creative UK's Redesigning Freelancing initiative. DCMS and the industry will also continue to work together to produce an action plan in response to the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre’s Good Work Review, and proposals include the recent launch of the British Film Institute’s £1.5 million Good Work Programme for screen. The Government will continue to work with the BFI and the newly established screen sector Skills Task Force to support a strong skills pipeline in the sector and attractive careers pathways into the industry.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assistance they intend to provide to the British Library to aid (1) its recovery from the ransomware attack on 31 October 2023, and (2) the continuation of its research services; and what additional measures they have put in place to assist British institutions to (a) improve overall resilience, and (b) defend against cyberattacks.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The National Cyber Security Centre and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have been working closely with the British Library since the cyber-attack it sustained in October 2023. DCMS formed an incident response team, providing security guidance, recommendations and support to the British Library, and officials from the Department continue to work with their counterparts at the British Library.
The British Library is working hard to restore its services and began a phased return of key services on 15 January 2024.
Despite the cyber attack, the British Library’s buildings have remained open and well-used throughout, and it has maintained some key services including reading room access for personal study and some limited collection item ordering, exhibitions, learning events, business support, and onsite retail. In the immediate aftermath essential services such as WiFi and event ticket sales were quickly re-established.
On 15 January, the British Library restored a searchable online version of its main catalogue, comprising records of printed books, journals, maps, music scores and rare books.
The Government Cyber Security Strategy sets out our plan significantly to harden the Government’s critical functions against cyber attacks by 2025, with all Government organisations across the public sector being resilient to known vulnerabilities no later than 2030. We are working closely with publicly-funded institutions to enhance their overall cyber-resilience and to ensure that these targets are met.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the colonial archive series FCO 141 has been withdrawn from public access by the National Archives; and whether these documents are being withheld from public viewing and research.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The National Archives issued a public statement on Monday 11 July which answers this question.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the UNESCO report 2022 Global Report Re|Shaping Policies For Creativity, published on 8 February, what steps they are taking to support creative industries in the UK in order to prevent job losses and cultural sector closures as a result of the pandemic, particularly in view of the report’s recommendations on (1) labour protection for artists and cultural professionals, and (2) better pension provision and sick pay for freelancers.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government broadly welcomes the UNESCO 2022 Global Report ReShaping Policies For Creativity. We recognise the significant challenge the pandemic has posed to our arts and creative sectors and to the many individuals and freelancers working across these industries.
DCMS officials have been engaging with HMRC, Creative UK, Arts Council England, individual freelancers within the sector, and leading organisations such as ‘What’s Next’ to understand better the impact the pandemic has had on the sector and those working in it.
HM Government has been committed to supporting arts and culture throughout the pandemic. This can be seen through the unprecedented £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund support package which ensured venues and organisations survived the pandemic and continue to provide employment opportunities across the sector and the extension of tax relief for theatres, orchestras, museums, and galleries. We will continue to work closely with freelancers and organisations across the sector to see how we can best provide support to those affected.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made any assessment of the potential (1) economic, and (2) inflationary, impact on the UK of any global shortage of computer chips; and what steps they are taking to mitigate any impact.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We appreciate the difficulties that businesses are facing around the world as a result of the current chip shortage. The global nature of this market and a confluence of unexpected events, including the unprecedented pandemic, shifts in demand, and the impact of natural disasters, have had widespread ramifications internationally, including for major chip manufacturing countries.
Working closely with industry, experts, and international partners, the Government is looking at options that increase diversification of supply, enhance the resilience of procurement supply chains, and technical options to accelerate diversification away from silicon chips. This includes working with key allies to address risks stemming from the global nature of the industry.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any evidence from social media analytics that QAnon is gaining support in the UK; what discussions they have had with social media companies about removing content which promotes conspiracy theories which breaches community guidelines; and what action they are taking to combat such misinformation online.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government is focused on addressing disinformation or misinformation by any actor. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it continues to be vitally important that the public has accurate information about the virus, and DCMS is leading work across Government to tackle disinformation.
That is why we stood up the Counter Disinformation Unit up on 5 March to bring together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. The Unit’s primary function is to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and impact of disinformation and misinformation regarding Covid-19 and to work with partners to ensure appropriate action is taken.
Throughout the pandemic, we have been working closely with social media platforms to quickly identify and help them respond to potentially harmful content on their platforms, including removing harmful content in line with their terms and conditions, and promoting authoritative sources of information.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to work with (1) website providers, and (2) social media providers, to ban image-based abuse made using deepfake technology.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. We intend to establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Ahead of the implementation of the new regulatory framework, we continue to work closely with companies to encourage them to take early action to address online harms.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Ministry of Justice have also engaged the Law Commission on a second phase of their review of abusive and offensive online communications. As part of this the Law Commission will also look at the criminal law around the non-consensual taking and sharing of intimate images. This includes the creation and sharing of deepfake images. The review will look at existing offences and identify whether there are any gaps in the scope of the protection already offered to victims, making recommendations to ensure that the criminal law provides consistent and effective protection against the creation and sharing of intimate images without consent.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made, further to the Law Commission’s Scoping Report on Abusive and Offensive Online Communications published on 1 November 2018, to improve the current criminal law concerning abusive and offensive online communications, in order to tackle online abuse more effectively.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport and the Ministry of Justice have engaged the Law Commission on a second phase of their review of abusive and offensive online communications. This will begin in July 2019 and will build on the analysis undertaken for the Scoping Report.
In Phase 2, the Law Commission will review existing communications offences to establish whether the law is fit for purpose, and make specific recommendations about options for reform in this area. This will include considering whether co-ordinated harassment by groups of people online could be more effectively dealt with by the criminal law.
The Law Commission will also look at the criminal law around the non-consensual taking and sharing of intimate images. The review will look at existing offences and identify whether there are any gaps in the scope of the protection already offered to victims, making recommendations to ensure that the criminal law provides consistent and effective protection against the creation and sharing of intimate images without consent.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made to date in implementing their Loneliness Strategy, A connected society: a strategy for tackling loneliness, published on 15 October 2018.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Government’s strategy on tackling loneliness in England includes 60 new policy commitments from across government, with a range of timescales for implementation. Each of the nine departments involved is responsible for the delivery of its own policies, and implementation is overseen by the cross-government ministerial group on loneliness, chaired by the Minister for Sport and Civil Society.
A number of commitments have already been delivered, including the launch of an online social prescribing platform, and the award of grant-funding to 126 organisations through the Building Connections Fund.
Government will include an update on progress in its first annual report on tackling loneliness, which we expect to be published later in 2019.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that mobile phone users are fully aware of the extent to which their data may be harvested and shared by mobile phone applications.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Data Protection Act places an obligation on all organisations, including those that make mobile phone applications, to be clear about how they process individuals’ personal data and ensure that any consent obtained for its use is clear, unambiguous and purposeful. This information, along with individuals’ rights under the Data Protection Act, should be set out clearly in a privacy notice.
The Information Commissioner regulates and enforces the Data Protection Act and has a number of tools available to ensure compliance with data protection rules which include criminal prosecution, non-criminal enforcement and audits. For those who commit serious breaches there are significant financial penalties including fines up to £18 million or 4% of global turnover that can be applied as well as the backstop of criminal prosecution.