Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether stories written by Local Democracy Reporter Service reporters are available to access free of charge for BBC licence fee payers.
Answered by Margot James
Licence fee payers can access content from Local Democracy Reporter Service reporters, free of charge, via BBC News outlets, as well as through the newspapers, websites, radio stations and TV channels which make up the 800 other outlets in the Local News Partnerships.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the Independent Press Standards Organisation to apply for approval under the Press Recognition Panel.
Answered by Margot James
Seeking approval from the Press Recognition Panel is a decision for independent press regulators. The Government is committed to the system of independent self-regulation for the press.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to abolish the press recognition panel.
Answered by Margot James
The Press Recognition Panel remains an important part of the regulatory framework.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with Sport England on progress in increasing disability participation in (a) sport and (b) shooting.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I have regular meetings with Sport England to discuss increasing disabled people’s participation in sport and physical activity as participants, spectators and in the workforce. The importance of increasing participation by underrepresented groups was highlighted in our strategy 'Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation' which was published in December 2015.
Sport England’s strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’ also places a clear emphasis on targeting those who are hardest to reach, including disabled people. As such, they are ensuring that each of their investment programmes impacts directly on disabled people. For the financial year 2017/2018 Sport England invested £1.2 million into the English Federation of Disability Sport, now known as the Activity Alliance, to provide expertise and services in marketing and communications, research and insight, and engaging with disabled people and the disability sector. In addition, all of Sport England’s major capital investments are required to make their facilities accessible, and Sport England publish online tools and guidance to help designers, building owners and operators create accessible facilities.
Government recognises the value of shooting as an outdoor recreation and is keen to ensure that everyone who wants to be involved has the opportunity to do so. Between 2017 and 2021, Sport England is investing £1,290,000 in British Shooting to continue to support more people to get involved in shooting sports and to develop talented athletes within the sport. The investment has also supported British Shooting to integrate Disability Shooting GB into its own governance and operation from April 2017.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Commonwealth Games Federation on the participation of Britain's elite shots in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
In 2015, at the Commonwealth Games Federation General Assembly, the entire Commonwealth of Nations made the decision for shooting to be an optional sport at all Commonwealth Games. This was reaffirmed in 2016 when the new CGF Constitution was approved. Its status as an optional sport is not, therefore, a decision for UK government.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Data Protection Bill on the ability of insurance companies to verify claims made on individual insurance applications.
Answered by Margot James
The Government has engaged with a number of representatives from the insurance sector, sector regulators and other government departments to understand the impact of the General Data Protection Regulations on the sector, and how best to design the derogations found in the Data Protection Bill.
Insurance sector representatives were particularly concerned about the implications of the general prohibition on processing special categories of data and criminal conviction and offences data found in Article 9 and 10 of the GDPR. Paragraph 20 of Schedule 1, to the Data Protection Bill, ensures that insurance companies can process special category data and criminal conviction and offences data for insurance purposes.
It is the responsibility of each organisation to ensure their compliance with the GDPR which comes into effect on 25 May 2018. The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has provided guidance on compliance with the new data protection rules on its website at;www.ico.org.uk.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he next plans to meet the Press Recognition Panel.
Answered by Margot James
DCMS ministers and officials regularly meet with a range of stakeholders, including the Press Recognition Panel, to discuss a range of issues.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to commemorate the Battle of Beersheba in 1917.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
While the Government has not commemorated the centenary of the Battle of Beersheba with a specific event, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Israel and the Chief of the Air Staff attended a commemoration to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October 2017, at the Commonwealth War Graves Beersheba War Cemetery in Be’er Sheva, Israel.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on freedom of the press and responsible self governance by the press.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Press freedom is a cornerstone of our democracy and for this reason the Government does not interfere with what the press does and does not publish, as long as the press abides by the law of the land. Government has delivered the framework for a new system of independent self-regulation, one which protects press freedom whilst offering real redress when mistakes are made. It is now for the press to decide whether they want to apply for recognition.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when the replacement body for the Press Complaints Commission will commence work.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government has no role in the establishment of self-regulators of the press. The Press Complaints Commission ceased operations on 8 September 2014. The Independent Press Standards Organisation, the new independent regulator for the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK, commenced work on the same date.