Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether officials in her Department have received representations from (a) the UK Cinema Association and (b) cinemas acting independently of the association on the potential impact of a rise in performing rights fees as proposed by PRS for Music.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) continues to work closely with the UK’s cinema sector. DCMS has received representations from the UK Cinema Association and individual cinemas, primarily via their local MPs, regarding the potential impact of a rise in performing rights fees proposed by PRS for Music.
As DCMS has set out in response to these representations, this is a commercial matter for the film and music industries to resolve.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure the financial security of UK Athletics.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
UK Sport - the Department’s Arm’s Length Body on elite sport - works very closely with UK Athletics and other National Governing Bodies.
UK Sport is continuing to invest in both UK Athletics’ elite performance and major events programmes. This includes an investment of £22,175,520 in the Athletics World Class Programme and an investment of £9,065,401 in the Para Athletics World Class Programme across the four year cycle leading to Paris 2024.
UK Sport is investing £1.45 million in the 2024 World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow and £3 million in the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the (a) the Secretary of State for the Home Department and (b) professional footballing bodies on the eligibility of talented footballers on dependent visas to access professional sporting contracts.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I meet regularly with cabinet colleagues on areas of mutual interest. Access to professional sports person visas has been established following extensive consultation between the Home Office and over 60 Home Office approved Sports Governing Bodies (SGBs), including the four home nations’ football associations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has purchased mobile UV virus irradiation units.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
DCMS has purchased no mobile UV virus irradiation units.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government has made representations to the FIFA President on his remarks on equality and inclusion on 20 November 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Sport operates independently of the government, therefore direct representations to FIFA on equality and inclusion would be a matter for Home Nation football governing bodies to raise.
The Government continues to work with National Governing Bodies of sport and sector organisations to tackle LGBT discrimination in local, national and international sport. Our aim is to increase diversity within sporting organisations and to help the sport sector be more inclusive and welcoming to its spectators, participants and people in its workforce.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish the dates of any meetings her Department has had with Reach Plc since 1 January 2022 in which requests by Reach employees who are also NUJ members to receive a pay increase were discussed.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with news publisher stakeholders on a variety of issues. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with the directors of Chelsea FC on consulting supporters on the sale of the club through the creation of a democratically elected shadow board.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has been clear that it would like to see the club sold to an appropriate new owner before the end of the season. The process for any bid continues to be run by the club, and although we would welcome ongoing fan engagement, it will be for them to decide the precise terms of a proposed sale.
At the point the club has a preferred bidder we would expect them to apply for a licence to enable the sale. The Government will consider the merits of this licence application on its own terms, noting that we can only impose conditions on a licence which authorises the sale of the club if they are linked to the sanctions policy. The licence regime does not allow us to go further and insist on things which are not related to sanctions policy.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the upgrading of the telephone network, what steps she is taking to ensure resilience in telephone access to emergency services, particularly during a mains power failure.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The upgrade of UK landlines from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over IP (VoIP) technology is an industry-led initiative. Despite this, the Government and Ofcom are working together to ensure consumers and sectors are protected and prepared for the switchover process.
The Communications Act (2003) places obligations on Communications Providers, implemented under Condition A3 of Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement, to ensure that any caller can access Emergency Organisations (Police, Ambulance, Fire & Rescue, HM Coastguard) by using the emergency numbers “112” and “999” free of charge. If calling via mobile, this enables calls to 999/112 be made via another network if the caller’s mobile provider cannot provide a signal to make the call.
Alongside this, Ofcom has imposed regulatory obligations on communications providers to ensure customers have uninterrupted access to emergency organisations in the specific event of a power failure. The guidance states that providers must have at least one solution available that enables customers to access emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power cut, and that it must be offered free of charge to customers who are at risk due to their dependence on their landline.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the upgrading of the telephone network, what steps she is taking to ensure that the provision of voice services is maintained for vulnerable landline-only users without broadband.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Whilst the upgrade of UK landlines from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over IP (VoIP) technology is an industry-led initiative, the government and Ofcom are working together to ensure consumers and sectors are protected and prepared for the upgrade process.
In order to function correctly, VoIP services require a minimum stable connection speed of just 0.5Mbps, and voice-only services will still be available to consumers in the UK who do not wish to purchase a general internet connection.
Ofcom has issued guidance on this migration which states that providers should take steps to identify at-risk customers and engage in effective communications to ensure all are protected and supported in the switch-over process.
Moreover, the PSTN migration does not affect the universal service obligations set in the Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Order 2003 which require the designated providers to offer telephony services throughout the UK. BT and KCOM are therefore still required to maintain access to a range of telephony services as well as provide a series of special measures designed for users who have a disability.