Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2023 to Question 4035 on Veterans: Radiation Exposure, whether a security classification is automatically given to documents locked by Lord Chancellor's Instruments (LCIs) citing national security exemptions; and whether a classification was given to the documents noted in Question 4035 under LCIs (a) 76 and (b) 118.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The process for assigning security classifications to Government records is separate to the process of retaining records through a retention instrument (formally known as a Lord Chancellor’s Instrument). The originating Department assigns a classification in line with the Government Security Classifications Policy.
Records selected for permanent preservation which are classified at Secret or above are retained by the relevant Government Department through a retention instrument as The National Archives cannot hold material of this classification.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with the BBC on the potential impact of its coverage of the Israel-Hamas War on community cohesion in the UK.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC has a duty to provide accurate and impartial news and information. That is particularly important when it comes to coverage of highly sensitive events that could impact community cohesion in the UK.
The events in Israel since 7 October are terrorist acts committed by a terrorist organisation, proscribed in the United Kingdom since 2021 and designated as such by many other governments and international organisations.
The BBC is editorially and operationally independent and decisions around its editorial policies and guidelines are therefore a matter for the BBC.
However, calling these acts what they are, and accurately labelling the perpetrators, helps audiences to understand what has happened, is happening and its context.
That is why the Secretary of State has communicated with the BBC, and with the public, her disappointment that the BBC has refused to describe Hamas as terrorists, or the atrocities it has carried out as terrorism. The Secretary of State made that point to the BBC on multiple occasions since the terrorist attacks on 7 October.
And on the misattribution of responsibility for the strike on the Al-Alhi hospital, as the Prime Minister said in his statement to the House of Commons on 23 October, “the misreporting of this incident had a negative effect in the region – including on a vital US diplomatic effort – and on tensions here at home. We need to learn the lessons and ensure that in future there is no rush to judgement.”
As the external independent regulator of the BBC, Ofcom is responsible for ensuring BBC coverage is duly impartial and accurate under the Broadcasting Code and BBC Charter.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish (a) a copy of Lord Chancellor's Instruments (LCIs) Nos 76 and 118 and (b) set out which exemptions applied under those LCIs to retain Atomic Weapons Establishment files containing details of blood and urine testing of personnel in the UK nuclear weapons programme.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Lord Chancellor's Instruments (LCIs) are public records. Arrangements for their permanent preservation and public access are managed in line with public records and information rights legislation.
The schedules which accompany the named LCIs set out the reasons that specified Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) files have been retained by AWE. The grounds for retention of those AWE files covered by LCI 76 are national security, security against possible terrorist activity, international relations, and the UK’s international obligations. AWE records covered by LCI 118 were retained due to the risk of proliferation of nuclear weapons or retained to allow a more detailed review of their access status.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will have discussions with the BBC Board on the adequacy of the BBC News coverage of the conflict in Gaza.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC has a duty to provide accurate and impartial news and information. That is particularly important when it comes to coverage of highly sensitive events. The BBC’s accuracy and impartiality is critical to viewer trust.
The events in Israel since 7 October are terrorist acts committed by a terrorist organisation, proscribed in the United Kingdom since 2021 and designated as such by many other governments and international organisations.
The BBC is editorially and operationally independent and decisions around its editorial policies and guidelines are therefore a matter for the BBC.
However, calling these acts what they are, and accurately labelling the perpetrators, helps audiences to understand what has happened, is happening and its context.
That is why the Secretary of State has communicated with the BBC, and with the public, her disappointment that the BBC has refused to describe Hamas as terrorists, or the atrocities it has carried out as terrorism. The Secretary of State made that point to the BBC on multiple occasions since the terrorist attacks on 7 October.
As the external independent regulator of the BBC, Ofcom is responsible for ensuring BBC coverage is duly impartial and accurate under the Broadcasting Code and BBC Charter. Ofcom has been clear that responsibility lies with the BBC to decide the vocabulary it uses to describe unfolding events. The Broadcasting Code does not prevent broadcasters referring to terrorist organisations, nor does it prevent them referring to Hamas as terrorists.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with the BBC Director General on publishing the 2004 Balen Report.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC is editorially and operationally independent from the government, and this is an issue for the BBC. The Secretary of State has not discussed the publication of the 2004 Balen Report with the Director General.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of Ofcom in protecting freedom of speech in the media.
Answered by John Whittingdale
This Government is committed to defending the invaluable role of a free media. This is vital to a strong and fully functioning democracy where the powerful can be held to account.
Ofcom is the UK’s independent broadcasting regulator. In particular, it is required by legislation, and accountable to Parliament, to draw up and enforce a Broadcasting Code for television to ensure that audiences are adequately protected from harm. It is for Ofcom to determine whether there has been a breach of the Broadcasting Code, and whether to take action. In making any decision, Ofcom is required by the Communications Act 2003 to strike a balance between ensuring an appropriate level of freedom of expression and adequate protection from harmful material. It would not be appropriate for the Government to assess their effectiveness in this regard.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on how much funding the National Trust received through competitive grant schemes administered by her Department and its arm's-length bodies in financial years (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22, (d) 2022-23 and (e) 2023-24.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Historic England, National Heritage Memorial Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund funded National Trust through the following competitive exchequer and lottery funded grants across the period requested:
FY 19/20 – £4,205,285 across three schemes
FY 20/21 - £10,978,779 across seven schemes
FY 21/22 - £6,873,014 across seven schemes
FY 22/23 – £1,142,516 across two schemes
FY 23/24 - £505,186 across three schemes (Note this is YTD and does not include schemes that may come into the pipeline before FY close).
FY’s 20-22 show an increase in funding schemes due to specialist COVID 19 interventions.
No direct funding was made by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Core.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an estimate of the number of leisure centres that might have been built using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
On the 1st May 2019, the Standing Committee on Structural Safety issued a safety alert on the failure of RAAC planks.
Following this, the Cabinet Office wrote to all Government Departments and NHS England wrote to NHS Trusts highlighting the latest developments and advice.
Since then, individual organisations have been surveying properties and, depending on the assessment of the RAAC, decided to either monitor it, prop it up, or replace it. This is in line with Institution of Structural Engineers guidance.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many local authority leisure centres closed in each year since 1997.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Data held by Sport England is only fully available from 2010, when the Active Places database was fully established. Data is stored by facility type (e.g. pool, health and fitness gym, or sports hall) rather than “leisure centre.”
From 2010, approximately 414 local authority owned sites which have one or more pools, main halls or health & fitness gyms, closed either fully or partially (where a facility within the site, e.g. a pool or gym may have closed). At the same time, new facilities were constructed at 434 comparable sites. This indicates a net increase in facilities in the period between 2010 and present.
It is important to consider these numbers in the context of facility provision within the local area. Facilities may close for a number of reasons, this can include the rationalisation of multiple older facilities into a modern, better located facility.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with TV Licensing on the effectiveness of their policy on sending letters to people who have already told them they do not need a TV licence.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Ministers regularly talk to the BBC about a range of issues, including licence fee enforcement.
Under the Communications Act 2003 the BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee, not the Government. Given the BBC’s independence from government it would not be appropriate for the Government to seek to intervene on operational decisions on enforcement action. Nonetheless, the Government expects the BBC to collect the licence fee in an efficient and proportionate manner, and to treat all vulnerable people with sensitivity in doing so.
The TV Licensing website advises households that have recently completed a No Licence Needed declaration to ignore letters from TV Licensing asking them to buy a TV Licence. It also states that a No Licence Needed declaration is valid for two years, and that after this time, letters will be sent unless a household reconfirms its declaration.