Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 IPSO’s procedures for processing complaints from individuals affected by press abuse.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The media landscape has changed significantly since the Leveson Inquiry, and with it, the system of press self-regulation. We now have a stronger system through The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).
The government is committed to independent self regulation of the press, and does not intervene in or oversee the work of IPSO.
In 2016 IPSO commissioned its own external review which found it had made some important achievements in demonstrating it was an independent and effective regulator, and that it was largely compliant with the recommendations of the Leveson Report.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Welsh Government and (b) the Welsh Football Association on providing additional funding for the Welsh Football Association.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Although sport is a devolved matter, the Government continues to liaise closely with its counterparts in the Welsh Government.
As part of a promotional deal with the Football Association (FA), the National Lottery has provided a total of £10m in funding for the 66 clubs in the National Football League. This is a promotional deal led by the National Lottery and the Football Association. The National League is responsible for distributing funds and determining how and when the clubs receive this funding.
The National Lottery is now working with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland FAs to explore similar initiatives.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support package he plans to provide to (a) newspapers and (b) media outlets more widely in response to the covid-19 outbreak, and whether conditions will be attached to that funding.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Media outlets across the UK are facing existential pressures due to the impacts of Covid-19. The government remains in regular dialogue with stakeholders across the media sectors regarding ways in which this can be mitigated, in addition to the unprecedented package of nationwide support announced by the Chancellor.
In terms of newspapers in particular, the government has provided specific support to publishers during the crisis. The government has clarified that all journalists, including broadcast journalists, and other ancillary staff, are ‘key workers’ for the purposes of access to childcare and educational places. The government also issued guidance to local authorities on the importance of newspaper delivery, which has been critical to the continued dissemination of public interest news.
The government has also sought to maximise newspapers’ advertising opportunities by implementing a public information campaign to ensure the distribution of authoritative, up-to-date information about Covid-19, while also alleviating publishers’ financial pressures. The current partnership brings together over 600 titles across the UK, the vast majority of which are local papers. As with any media planning approach, titles are selected on their ability to engage with audiences at a national, regional and local level and to ensure value for money, reach and targeting efficacy.
For online media outlets, the government has taken steps to ensure the use of ‘keyword blocklisting’ technology is not inadvertently damaging any news publishers’ online advertising revenues for Covid-19 related stories. Additionally, the Chancellor brought forward the commencement of zero-rating of VAT on all e-newspapers in order to bring savings to readers and support digital publishing.
The department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is in regular dialogue with stakeholders about ensuring the support offered is as effective and fair as it can be. Ministers are engaging with broadcasters (both TV and radio) and news publishers on a regular basis to understand the impacts of Covid-19 on their day to day operations, and how the government can support them. The government will continue to consider all possible options in the interests of promoting and sustaining high-quality news journalism.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support for Heritage Railways in the UK her Department and HM Treasury have agreed since 8 April 2020.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We recognise the extremely difficult circumstances which heritage and tourism businesses, including heritage railways, are currently facing across the country as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. To assist in mitigating this impact, the Chancellor has announced an extensive financial support package for business and workers in the current economic emergency. The Heritage Alliance, of which the Heritage Railway Association is a member, is represented at weekly Ministerial teleconferences with DCMS, in order to communicate members’ issues and concerns to Government to help us to seek solutions and mitigations.
Heritage railways may wish to apply for further support from the Heritage Emergency Fund, a £50million scheme launched by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support the heritage sector through the Covid-19 pandemic. They may also want to approach Historic England, who have announced a £2million programme of grants for smaller, specialist organisations and projects.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding the Government has allocated to television broadcasting services in Irish and in Ulster-Scots under the (a) Irish Language Broadcasting Fund and (b) Ulster-Scots Broadcasting Fund.
Answered by Margot James
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport currently provides £3m for the Irish Language Broadcast Fund and £1m for the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund each year.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress her Department has made with social media platforms on a voluntary code of practice for online (a) abuse and (b) hate crime.
Answered by Margot James
The Internet Safety Strategy consultation closed on the 7 December and we are currently reviewing responses. We received a wide range of views from industry, charities, academia and others. These will help shape our Government response to the consultation which we will be publishing in the Spring.
The Prime Minister confirmed plans to bring forward the code of practice in her speech on the 6 February. The aim of the code of practice is to prevent abusive behaviour online, introduce more effective reporting mechanisms to tackle bullying or harmful content, and give better guidance for users to identify and report illegal content. The Government will be outlining more detail on the code of practice in the spring, as part of the Government response to the strategy.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many responses his Department received to its consultation, Internet safety strategy green paper.
Answered by Margot James
The Internet Safety Strategy consultation closed on the 7 December and we are currently reviewing responses. We received a wide range of views from industry, charities, academia and others. These will help shape our Government response to the consultation which we will be publishing in the Spring.
The Prime Minister confirmed plans to bring forward the code of practice in her speech on the 6 February. The aim of the code of practice is to prevent abusive behaviour online, introduce more effective reporting mechanisms to tackle bullying or harmful content, and give better guidance for users to identify and report illegal content. The Government will be outlining more detail on the code of practice in the spring, as part of the Government response to the strategy.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many responses to his Department's consultation, Internet Safety strategy green paper supported a voluntary code of practice for Social Media Platforms to tackle online (a) abuse and (b) hate crime content.
Answered by Margot James
The Internet Safety Strategy consultation closed on the 7 December and we are currently reviewing responses. We received a wide range of views from industry, charities, academia and others. These will help shape our Government response to the consultation which we will be publishing in the Spring.
The Prime Minister confirmed plans to bring forward the code of practice in her speech on the 6 February. The aim of the code of practice is to prevent abusive behaviour online, introduce more effective reporting mechanisms to tackle bullying or harmful content, and give better guidance for users to identify and report illegal content. The Government will be outlining more detail on the code of practice in the spring, as part of the Government response to the strategy.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 Digital Economy Act 2017, what guidance her Department has issued to providers of online social media platforms on their obligations to (a) report and (b) cooperate with the police on instances of serious digital abuse.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), which the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport co-chairs, published a practical guide for providers of social media and interactive services. The guide has examples of good practice to encourage businesses to think about "safety by design",including advice on informing the police of illegal content and co-operating with law enforcement requests to remove such content.
The guide can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/uk-council-for-child-internet-safety-ukccis
Additionally, we are introducing a code of practice for social media providers, as required by the Digital Economy Act, which will set out guidance about what social media providers should do in relation to harmful conduct on their platforms. The code of practice will include guidance on arrangements for notification by users; the process for dealing with notifications; terms and conditions in relation to these arrangements and processes; and, the giving information to the public about the action providers take against harmful behaviour. We are consulting on how to proceed with this as part of the Internet Safety Strategy and aim to publish the code in 2018.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has for the code of practice for online social media platforms to apply to conduct which involves threats of violence and terrorism.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are consulting on introducing a social media code of practice as part of the Internet Safety Strategy which was published on 11 October.
As laid out in the Digital Economy Act 2017, the code will seek to ensure that providers offer adequate online safety policies, introduce minimum standards and metrics and ensure regular review and monitoring. The code will not cover unlawful content or conduct, such as terrorist material or threats of violence, which the legal framework already addresses.
Government will continue to consult with stakeholders in the tech industry on the details of the code of practice before its introduction in 2018.