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, by what mechanism Local Democracy Reporter Service journalists are held accountable to BBC standards of impartiality.
Answered by Margot James
The organisations which employ Local Democracy Reporter Service reporters are contractually obliged to produce and supply content and services to the BBC. In doing so they must adhere to a number of criteria including adherence to the Editors’ Code and the BBC Guidelines, which include impartiality.
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.