Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what her timescale is for responding to the Ofcom recommendations in the report entitled Making on-demand services accessible: What should regulations look like?, published in December 2018.
Answered by Nigel Adams
As part of a digitally inclusive society, television content should be accessible for all UK audiences. That is why in December 2017, DCMS asked Ofcom to provide recommendations on making on-demand services more accessible. This is part of the implementation of the new power given to the Secretary of State to impose accessibility requirements on on-demand service providers.
Ofcom published its report in December 2018 and my department has been considering the report and engaging with stakeholders to develop the future legislative framework. We will set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will place in the Library the correspondence between the BBC and his Department from the date of the 2017 General Election on the Conservative Party's Election Manifesto pledge to maintain pensioner benefits and the policy of transferring responsibility for free TV licences for over 75s to the BBC.
Answered by Nigel Adams
There is no plan to place such correspondence in the library but the Government is clear that the future of the over 75 licence fee concession is the responsibility of the BBC.
The Government is disappointed with the BBC’s decision. People across the country value television as a way to stay connected, and the Government has asked the BBC to look at further ways to support older people.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
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 support UK museums that are not in receipt of grant-in-aid funding; and whether he has made a recent estimate of the number of those museums that are not in receipt of such funding.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
DCMS directly supports 15 museums and galleries, comprising 37 sites across the country, with grant-in-aid funding. The Ministry of Defence supports three service museums with grant-in-aid. In addition to this, there are around 2500 museums in England, 1,322 of which are accredited, which do not receive grant-in-aid but are supported by government by at least one of 16 different sources of public funding worth over £800 million per year, as outlined in the Mendoza Review: an independent review of museums in England published in November 2017. This includes the Arts Council England, an arm’s-length body of the department, which is the development agency for museums in England and supports museums in several ways including through its National Portfolio programme. Around half of the Accredited sector in England is independent museums with varied sources of income.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what (a) steps he is taking and (b) funds he is allocating to ensure that the UK remains a world leader in the design sector.
Answered by Margot James
Under its creative industries sector deal, the government has recently launched the £14million Creative Careers Programme, which is designed to raise awareness of the range of careers available across the creative industries, as well as launching the £4 million Creative Scale-Up investment readiness programme aimed at increasing the profitability, scalability and productivity of creative industries businesses. Design companies will be able to access both these programmes with obvious benefits for the wider sector in creating a pipeline of future talent.