Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on ensuring adequate levels of funding for Welsh language free-to-air television channel S4C.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK government is committed to the future of Welsh language broadcasting and of S4C.
As set out in the government response to the Independent Review of S4C, completed in 2018, S4C will be fully funded from the licence fee from 2022 onwards. As part of the Licence Fee Settlement there will be a full and proper consideration of S4C's needs separate to those of the BBC.
The Government is committed to greater transparency in this settlement and the Secretary of State will lay his final determination before Parliament to allow time for debate before the settlement takes effect. Negotiations for the 2022 Licence Fee Settlement are ongoing, and the Government will not be commenting further on the process or the Government’s position on the licence fee negotiations at this time.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 merits of increasing the voucher support in successor schemes to the Broadband Upgrade Fund for small communities under 100 dwellings.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Broadband Upgrade Fund was a pilot conducted in the three areas of the UK from June 2020 to January 2021, running in parallel with the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. It was set up to test whether we could collate demand for broadband in an area that suppliers could observe in order to see if this would attract new suppliers to build in rural areas.
The final stage of the Broadband Upgrade Fund only recently completed, in January 2021. A full assessment of the effectiveness of the Broadband Upgrade Fund Pilot will be undertaken once there has been sufficient opportunity for proposals to turn into gigabit capable connections. Following this assessment the Department will determine whether this approach is incorporated into the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.
The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme has existed since March 2018, and has provided eligible areas across the UK with vouchers to cover the installation of costs of bringing gigabit connectivity to people’s homes and businesses. So far more than 66,000 vouchers worth up to £127 million have been issued to premises across the UK.
Following the government’s announcement on 19 March 2021, rural homes and businesses across the UK currently struggling with slow broadband speeds will continue to be able to benefit from this unique form of funding without needing to wait for coverage under the new Project Gigabit procurement contracts. The government is investing up to £210 million to build on the success of its Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and the new scheme is due to go live on 8 April 2021.
The new vouchers will be worth up to £1,500 for residents and up to £3,500 for businesses. There will be an online postcode checker available so people can check if their home or business is eligible. They can then search for and select a supplier that they wish to work with to set up a group project for their community. Suppliers registered to the scheme will guide each beneficiary through the process of application, and then, if eligible, through to connection. Group projects can be for as few as two premises only so are ideal for groups of less than 100 dwellings. If communities can group together to aggregate the value of their vouchers they can often accumulate enough funding to cover most or all of the costs for installation.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 effectiveness of the Broadband Upgrade Fund in Carmarthenshire.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Broadband Upgrade Fund Pilot provided an opportunity to test an innovative approach to demand stimulation in the broadband market. The final stage of the Broadband Upgrade Fund only recently completed, in January 2021, and many suppliers are still in the process of engaging with communities to put together project proposals to submit to BDUK for approval. Therefore, a full assessment of the effectiveness of the Broadband Upgrade Fund Pilot will be undertaken once there has been sufficient opportunity for proposals to turn into gigabit capable connections.
However, an initial assessment shows that communities in Carmarthenshire were particularly active, with over 3,200 residents and small to medium sized businesses registering their interest in the Broadband Upgrade Fund. Suppliers were also equally responsive to the demand identified in Carmarthenshire. Around 98% of businesses and residents who registered for the pilot received at least one offer from a broadband supplier, with 96% receiving two or more offers.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on that government's proposals to support (a) historic houses and (b) the wider heritage sector during the recovery from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Heritage is a devolved matter and as such, the Secretary of State has not met with the Welsh Government to discuss the above. He has however held meetings with the UK-wide organisation the National Trust on heritage sector recovery.
DCMS officials have worked with representatives of Cadw and Historic Houses (representing 26 properties in Wales) throughout the pandemic, including the Heritage COVID Working Group which both are invited to.
I also met with the President and Director General of the Historic House Association. This organisation represents more than 1,600 private and charitably owned historic country houses, including 26 houses in Wales. At this meeting, the short, medium and long term recovery of the sector were discussed.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 include the sale of unsafe electrical goods on online marketplaces within the proposed online safety Bill.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to tackling the sale of unsafe consumer products online, including unsafe electrical goods.
The new online safety legislation will focus on ensuring that people are protected from harmful content and behaviour online, with a particular emphasis on protecting children and on tackling the most serious illegal content.
It will not have a focus on product safety as it is important not to duplicate other work across government. As the country’s national product safety regulator, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has a clear remit to lead the Government’s efforts to tackle the sale of unsafe goods online.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to introduce the Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In December we published the full government response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation. This set out the new expectations on companies to keep their users safe online.
The Online Safety Bill, which will give effect to the new regulatory framework, will be ready this year.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of supporting minority language (a) artists, (b) music labels and (c) publishers through (i) creating a minority language music grant and (ii) producing guidance for those groups on working with streaming services.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
No assessment on this has been made, however we are continuing to meet with music stakeholders to understand the issues affecting their industry and provide support and guidance.
The Secretary of State provided a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This support package will benefit the live music sector by providing support to venues and many other organisations to stay open and continue operating. The Cultural Recovery Fund is devolved, Wales has received £59 million from the Fund under the Barnett formula.
Freelancers working in the cultural and creative sectors in Wales will be able to apply for their share of a £7 million fund – which is targeted specifically at those in the freelance sector hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. Further support for artists is available through the Arts Council of Wales.
Culture policy is a devolved matter, we would also recommend that this issue is raised with Welsh Government Ministers and Creative Wales.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 adequacy of the powers available to the Information Commissioner's Office to enforce its decisions against search engines located outside of the UK.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s data protection laws include extra-territorial scope and allow the Information Commissioner's Office to engage in international cooperation mechanisms to facilitate effective enforcement and to provide mutual assistance through notification, complaint referral, investigative assistance and information exchange.
Both the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 and the Data Protection Act 2018 provide for extra territorial scope, which applies to organisations offering goods or services, or monitoring the behaviour of data subjects within the UK, regardless of whether the processing actually takes place in the UK or not. In certain circumstances, this may allow the ICO to take action against companies located outside of the UK. Where enforcement is required to secure the data protection rights of UK users, the ICO will apply its powers as appropriate.
The Information Commissioner has an international team responsible for engaging with data protection and information regulators globally. The Information Commissioner’s investigative teams will, where appropriate, coordinate their investigative and evidence gathering activity; this may be either jointly or individually depending on the circumstances of the case. They also have operational protocols and memoranda of understanding with their international partners in support of this engagement.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what guidance the Government has issued to dating (a) applications and (b) websites to help ensure that people do not use those services to arrange to meet up in person in contravention of social distancing measures during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Over the past few weeks the Digital Tech Policy directorate within DCMS have been holding Coordinating Communications and Support teleconferences with key stakeholders.
Below is a list of key bodies that were engaged with throughout the series of calls. Dating apps and website companies are amongst their membership.
TechUK - the leading representative body for the tech sector in the UK, Tech Nation, Tech Cluster Group, Digital Catapult, CBI (digital team), Coadec
Others include: Tech Advocates, British Computer Society, Internet Association, Institute for Coding, The Software Alliance
The government has issued clear guidance to businesses and the general public on how to respond to the current situation and this guidance is kept up to date on GOV.UK. We would expect everyone to be aware of social distancing guidance and to be doing their best to follow it.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 Six Nations and Rugby Authorities to ensure that Welsh rugby games will continue to be broadcast in the Welsh language.
Answered by John Whittingdale
I have not had any discussions with Six Nations or any Rugby Authorities regarding the broadcasting of rugby games in the Welsh Language.
The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final, the Rugby World Cup Final and other games in the Rugby World Cup, and the Six Nations Rugby tournament are all included on the listed events regime, which ensures availability of live or delayed coverage respectively for qualifying free to air channels.