Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that video-on-demand and streaming platforms adhere to best practice age labelling guidelines produced by the British Board of Film Classification.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As the designated body for age classification of film content, the Government has great trust in the British Board of Film Classification’s (BBFC) best practice age ratings.
While adoption of the BBFC’s age ratings by online platforms is currently voluntary, we welcome their usage by Video on Demand platforms. We were particularly pleased to see Netflix announce on 1 December 2020 that they have become the first platform to achieve complete coverage of their content under the BBFC’s ratings. We will continue to engage with industry to encourage other Video on Demand platforms to adopt the BBFC’s ratings across all of their content, and will keep the evidence for legislation in this area under review.
The video sharing platform regime, for which Ofcom is the regulator, came into force on 1 November 2020. UK-established video sharing platforms must now take appropriate measures to protect the public, including minors, from illegal and harmful material. The BBFC is engaging actively with both Ofcom and video sharing platforms to share their expertise on emerging technologies and the applicability of content ratings on the streaming platforms.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps his Department is taking to support businesses in the (a) hospitality, (b) entertainment and (c) arts and culture sectors.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We know that businesses in arts, culture, entertainment and hospitality have been hit hard by this pandemic. That's why we secured an unprecedented £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund of which over £1 billion has so far been allocated so far to over 3000 organisations.
This is along a world class package of broader economy measures worth hundreds of billions, including the furloughing scheme and the Self Employed Income Support Scheme
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many times (a) he and (b) his officials working on the Online Harms Bill have met with representatives of (i) Facebook, (ii) Twitter, (iii) Google and YouTube, (iv) TikTok and (v) Ofcom in the last three months.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Ministers and officials have had regular meetings and discussions with industry, Ofcom and other stakeholders on a range of issues over the last three months, including online safety. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department provides to broadband customers in urban areas who are unable to access fibre-to-the-cabinet, where Openreach has no plans to make such services available and whose premises are above the connectivity thresholds in the universal service obligation.
Answered by Matt Warman
The government is committed to delivering nationwide coverage of gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible by encouraging network build by Openreach and a range of alternative competing networks. Gigabit broadband will provide customers in urban areas with access to faster and more resilient broadband.
To support this objective, we are taking action to remove barriers to the commercial roll out of faster broadband. For example, we have introduced legislation into Parliament to make it easier to connect tenanted properties where there are unresponsive landlords. In addition, we have plans to mandate connectivity in new builds, and are working with the Department for Transport to reform the streetworks regime to make it quicker and easier to deploy new networks.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of urban properties are unable to access fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband and above the connectivity thresholds for the universal service obligation.
Answered by Matt Warman
Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report 2019 found that 2% of all urban properties (approximately 322,000 premises) in the UK could receive a fixed broadband connection that was above the threshold for the Universal Service Obligation but below 30Mbps, the typical minimum speed delivered by Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology. These statistics consider only fixed network provision.
The Department does not hold the information about how many or what proportion of properties are specifically connected using Fibre to the Cabinet technology. Many urban properties can also access 30 Mbps speeds or more using cable networks, as well as 4G and 5G mobile services capable of delivering broadband speeds above the Universal Service Obligation thresholds.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of urban properties are unable to access fibre-to-the-cabinet broadband and qualify for assistance under the universal service obligation.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Ofcom Connected Nations Report 2019 found that 1% of all urban properties (approximately 161,000 premises) in the UK were unable to access a fixed broadband connection that met the minimum speed thresholds under the Universal Service Obligation (USO). However, the vast majority of these premises are likely to be able to access a 4G or 5G mobile service that provides USO level download and upload speeds or higher and will not therefore be eligible for an upgraded connection under the Universal Service Obligation.