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Written Question
Royal Visits: Bahrain
Tuesday 21st June 2022

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice, if any, they have provided to the Royal Household regarding the attendance of members of Bahrain's royal family at this year's Royal Windsor Horse Show; and if so, what Government departments were involved in providing the advice.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Her Majesty's Government has not provided any such advice. Invitations to this annual event are issued by the Royal Household, and attendees join in a private capacity.

The UK and Bahrain have a close and long-standing relationship. No aspect of our relationship with Bahrain prevents us from speaking frankly about important issues. Long-standing connections and frank engagement underpin our bilateral relationship.


Written Question
Biometrics
Thursday 13th February 2020

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to uphold the EU's moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology in public places after Brexit.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

We understand that the EU have been considering a proposal for a moratorium, but no final decisions have been taken. There are no plans to impose a moratorium in the UK, but we will continue to keep the legal framework under review.


Written Question
Huawei: 5G
Thursday 6th February 2020

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements for interoperability will be put in place for the use of Huawei equipment in the 5G network and any related systems.

Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes

Interoperability will be one of the three strands of the strategy that the Government is developing to help diversify the supply chain. This will entail the deployment of all the tools at the Government’s disposal. The strategy has three main strands:

  • Attracting established vendors who are not currently present in the UK;

  • Supporting the emergence of new, disruptive entrants to the supply chain; and

  • Promoting the adoption of open, interoperable standards that will reduce barriers to entry.

In addition, the Government’s 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme provides an opportunity to support architectural models that open-up the radio access network, allowing operators to use different vendors for different components of the radio access network.


Written Question
Exhibitions: North of England
Thursday 9th May 2019

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much they contributed to the Great Exhibition of the North.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

The Great Exhibition of the North was the biggest event held in England in 2018 and Newcastle-Gateshead welcomed approximately four million people to the city over the summer of 2018.

Government contributed £6m to the Exhibition. Through sponsorship deals and funding bids, we increased the total budget for the Exhibition was £14m.


Written Question
Exhibitions: North of England
Thursday 9th May 2019

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how the chair of the Great Exhibition of the North was appointed; and who made the final decision on that appointment.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

Sir Gary Verity was appointed as Chair of the Great Exhibition of the North by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon George Osborne.


Written Question
Exhibitions: North of England
Thursday 9th May 2019

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether one of their representatives sat on the Board of the Great Exhibition of the North; and if so, who.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

Two representatives from the department sat on the board of the Great Exhibition. Helen Judge, Director General acted as Vice Chair of the Board and Martyn Henderson, Project Director of the Great Exhibition.


Written Question
Exhibitions: North of England
Thursday 9th May 2019

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what remuneration the chair of the Great Exhibition of the North received for that role; and how much was claimed in expenses by the chair.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

DCMS had a contractual relationship with Welcome to Yorkshire (WtY) to help support work on the Great Exhibition of the North.

Under this contract, DCMS paid WtY £445k between May 2016 and October 2018. This funding was for Sir Gary Verity’s role as Chair of GEOTN, and for associated support services, including logistical and communications support, from WtY.

During his tenure as Chair of the Great Exhibition of the North, WtY claimed £5014.95 (inc VAT) in expenses. These expenses were claimed by WtY related directly to Sir Gary Verity and members of the Welcome to Yorkshire team for expenses incurred during all stages of the Great Exhibition.


Written Question
Google
Wednesday 6th June 2018

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to Google about that company's autocomplete and related search features revealing the names of victims involved in sexual assault cases.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

The Government is committed to ensuring that victims of crime get the support they need to cope with and, as far as possible, recover from the effects of crime. Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with industry on a range of issues, including safeguarding victims of sexual assault. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.


Written Question
School Milk
Wednesday 8th June 2016

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to work to establish a Digital Powerhouse Contract Portal, as recommended in the recent report <i>The Digital Powerhouse: The innovation potential of tech clusters in the North</i>, and to add central government contracts to that portal once established.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

There are no current plans to do this.

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) have published the attached detailed guidance on the new transparency requirements for publishing on Contracts Finder.


Written Question
Peers
Wednesday 8th June 2016

Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider publishing central government data on procurement history and key performance indicators to help tech communities understand the opportunities available to them, as recommended in the recent report <i>The Digital Powerhouse: The innovation potential of tech clusters in the North.</i>

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

On 12 May, the Cabinet Office committed to implement the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) in the Crown Commercial Service’s operations by October 2016. This is part of the UK’s Open Government National Action Plan 2016-18. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has also begun a consultation on a number of proposals to update the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.