Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what her planned timetable is for bringing forward legislative proposals to implement the recommendations of the Fan-led Review of Football Governance.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government published its response to the recommendations made by the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance in April 2022.
The Government recognises the need for football to be reformed to ensure the game’s sustainability in the long term. We remain committed to publishing a White Paper in due course, setting out our detailed response to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she will publish a White Paper on the implementation of the Fan-led Review of Football Governance.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government published its response to the recommendations made by the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance in April 2022.
The Government recognises the need for football to be reformed to ensure the game’s sustainability in the long term. We remain committed to publishing a White Paper in due course, setting out our detailed response to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing capital funding to support the transition of swimming pools in public leisure centres to renewable energy sources.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities, including swimming pools, which are great spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. We are committed to supporting these facilities to transition to renewable energy sources.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures. The scheme supports the aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037, as set out in the Heat and Buildings Strategy and the Net Zero Strategy in October 2021. For example last year, during Phase 3a, Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council was awarded £1,728,500 to decarbonise the swimming pool at Todmorden Sports Centre.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund are open to public sector bodies in England and areas of reserved public services across the UK. Sport, and Local Government, are devolved matters, therefore investment decisions concerning them in Wales are the responsibility of the relevant administration.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional funding for local authorities to help them manage the impact of rising energy prices on the operating costs of swimming pools in public leisure centres.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities, including swimming pools, which are great spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities.
We also recognise the impact rising energy prices will have on businesses of all sizes. Ofgem and the government are in regular contact with business groups and suppliers to understand the challenges they face and explore ways to protect consumers and businesses.
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at Local Authority level, and the government continues to encourage Local Authorities to invest in leisure facilities. Sport, and local authorities, are devolved matters, therefore investment decisions concerning them in Wales are the responsibility of the relevant administration.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what her planned timetable is for bringing forward legislative proposals for the Media Bill as announced in the Queen's Speech 2022; and what progress her Department has made on developing proposals relating to the (a) online prominence of Welsh language Public Service Broadcasting content and (b) remit of S4C.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Government set out its programme for the third session in the Queen’s speech on 10th May 2022 which included a commitment to legislate for a Media Bill.
Regional and minority language broadcasting has an important role to play in the UK’s broadcasting ecology, providing not only an opportunity for speakers to access content in a language familiar to them, but as a means of cultural expression for communities across the UK.
In recognition of this, the government set out its intention in the Broadcasting White Paper - Up Next - to legislate to introduce a new prominence regime which would require designated TV platforms to give appropriate prominence to PSB online services, including S4C. We will also legislate to update the public service remit of S4C to reflect the growth of digital and online services, and remove the current geographical broadcasting restrictions to allow S4C to broaden its reach by offering its content on a range of new platforms in the UK and beyond.
The Government will introduce this legislation when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answers of 14 July 2022 to Question 33716 and 33717 on Social Media: Public Service Broadcasting and Question 33718 on Internet: Public Service Broadcasting, whether exemptions for recognised news publisher content in regulations requiring social media companies to remove specific content will extend to the non-news content of public service broadcasters.
Answered by Damian Collins
Where a public service broadcaster qualifies as a ‘Recognised News Publisher’ as per clause 50 of the Bill, all their content will be exempt from online safety regulation, including any non-news content that they publish. This includes all content from the British Broadcasting Corporation and Sianel Pedwar Cymru among others.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect of provisions in the Online Safety Bill in relation to (a) exemptions for journalistic content and (b) content of democratic importance on protections for all Public Service Broadcasters.
Answered by Damian Collins
The Online Safety Bill will ensure content from all public service broadcasters is protected on social media platforms.
The Bill exempts recognised news publishers’ content from tech platforms’ new online safety duties. This means tech companies will be under no legal obligation to apply their new safety duties to that content. The criteria under which an organisation qualifies as a recognised news publisher are set in the Bill. They include the BBC, S4C and other public service broadcasters who publish news-related material.
The largest and riskiest services, Category 1 service providers, will also need to set and enforce policies to ensure that the importance of journalistic content is taken into account when making moderation decisions. This will cover journalistic content published by public service broadcasters.
Parliament has just approved amendments to the Online Safety Bill tabled by the government to further strengthen the protections for recognised news publisher content. Category 1 service providers will be required to notify news publishers and offer them a right of appeal before removing or moderating their content or taking any action against their accounts. This will ensure content from news publishers, including UK public service broadcasters, are not arbitrarily removed at the height of the news cycle. These protections would not apply to news publisher content where this content would give rise to civil or criminal liability for the service, or where it amounts to a relevant offence as defined by the Bill.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ensuring that regulations requiring social media companies to remove specific content are not applicable to Public Service Broadcasting output.
Answered by Damian Collins
The Online Safety Bill will ensure content from all public service broadcasters is protected on social media platforms.
The Bill exempts recognised news publishers’ content from tech platforms’ new online safety duties. This means tech companies will be under no legal obligation to apply their new safety duties to that content. The criteria under which an organisation qualifies as a recognised news publisher are set in the Bill. They include the BBC, S4C and other public service broadcasters who publish news-related material.
The largest and riskiest services, Category 1 service providers, will also need to set and enforce policies to ensure that the importance of journalistic content is taken into account when making moderation decisions. This will cover journalistic content published by public service broadcasters.
Parliament has just approved amendments to the Online Safety Bill tabled by the government to further strengthen the protections for recognised news publisher content. Category 1 service providers will be required to notify news publishers and offer them a right of appeal before removing or moderating their content or taking any action against their accounts. This will ensure content from news publishers, including UK public service broadcasters, are not arbitrarily removed at the height of the news cycle. These protections would not apply to news publisher content where this content would give rise to civil or criminal liability for the service, or where it amounts to a relevant offence as defined by the Bill.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that all public service broadcaster output that conforms with Ofcom regulations remains visible on social media platforms.
Answered by Damian Collins
The Online Safety Bill will ensure content from all public service broadcasters is protected on social media platforms.
The Bill exempts recognised news publishers’ content from tech platforms’ new online safety duties. This means tech companies will be under no legal obligation to apply their new safety duties to that content. The criteria under which an organisation qualifies as a recognised news publisher are set in the Bill. They include the BBC, S4C and other public service broadcasters who publish news-related material.
The largest and riskiest services, Category 1 service providers, will also need to set and enforce policies to ensure that the importance of journalistic content is taken into account when making moderation decisions. This will cover journalistic content published by public service broadcasters.
Parliament has just approved amendments to the Online Safety Bill tabled by the government to further strengthen the protections for recognised news publisher content. Category 1 service providers will be required to notify news publishers and offer them a right of appeal before removing or moderating their content or taking any action against their accounts. This will ensure content from news publishers, including UK public service broadcasters, are not arbitrarily removed at the height of the news cycle. These protections would not apply to news publisher content where this content would give rise to civil or criminal liability for the service, or where it amounts to a relevant offence as defined by the Bill.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) economic and (b) cultural impact of songwriters and composers in the UK.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The music industry is vital to the economy and culture of the UK. In 2019, the music, performing and visual arts sector contributed an estimated £10.5bn in GVA to the UK economy. PRS for Music, the organisation that pays royalties to over 160,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers, saw overall revenues in 2021 reach £777.1m, a 22.4% increase on 2020.
The cultural impact of music is also invaluable. According to UK Music’s 2021 ‘This is Music’ Report, the UK public listens to an estimated 60 billion hours of music a year. Songwriters and composers form the bedrock on which the overall success of the music sector is built. Despite the challenges of Covid-19, songwriters and composers continued to have significant impact; UK Music’s 2021 ‘This is Music’ Report states that over 5 million songs and compositions were registered with PRS for Music, nearly one third more than in 2019. The Government wants to ensure this success continues.