Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 impact of forthcoming salary rises at the BBC on the wider television industry.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
As the BBC is independent from the government it is responsible for deciding the amount it pays staff, and for demonstrating to the public that it is delivering value for money.
The creative industries in the UK are thriving and there remains a highly competitive market for talent.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to amend the Public Records Act so that the statute includes information held, transmitted or recorded through electronic communications.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
There are currently no plans to amend the Public Records Act regarding information held, transmitted or recorded through electronic communications. Section 10 (1) of the Act already encompasses not only written records but ‘records conveying information by any other means whatsoever’ including information held and recorded through electronic communications.
Guidance is also provided in Section 46 Code of Practice on the Management of Records issued by me as the Secretary of State for DCMS under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). The Code was updated and published in July 2021 (as outlined in the Written Statement of 15 July 2021, HCWS185). It provides principle-based guidance for relevant public authorities on contemporary information management practice in the modern digital working environment.
There also exists a variety of supporting guidance at both departmental and cross government level that provides advice for ministers, private offices and civil servants on their record keeping responsibilities. This guidance is kept under review and updated in response to changes in technology and ways of working.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department will publish its Gambling White Paper.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Gambling Act Review is wide-ranging and aims to ensure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age. We will publish a white paper setting out our conclusions and next steps in the coming months.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of public support for the television licence fee.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The licence fee funding model was last considered as part of Charter Review 2015-16. The BBC Charter Review consultation received over 192,000 responses and found the majority of respondents did not want to see a change in the way that the BBC is funded: 60% thought the current licence fee model did not need to be changed.
As a result, the government has committed to maintain the current licence fee funding model for the duration of this eleven year Charter period, until 2027.
However, as the Secretary of State has said, due to the changing landscape of the broadcasting sector and viewing trends, it is time to begin asking serious questions about the long-term funding model of the BBC. The Government will therefore undertake a review of the overall licence fee model and those discussions will begin shortly.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate her Department has made of the number of households in the UK that regularly use video on demand to access entertainment.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Ofcom’s Media Nations: UK 2021 report estimates that 74% of UK households use a broadcaster video-on-demand service such as BBC iPlayer or All 4, and 75% of UK households use a subscription video-on-demand service, like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video.
The Government launched a consultation in August 2021 to level the playing field between traditional broadcasters and video-on-demand streaming services, to provide a fair competitive framework and ensure UK viewers receive equivalent standards. We are now considering the response to the consultation and will publish next steps in due course.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Our plan for Net Zero will generate thousands of well-paid jobs here in the UK, help us develop thriving, world-leading green industries, strengthen our energy security, and improve our health and well-being. Acting now will put us at the forefront of the large, expanding global Green Technology and Sustainability markets. This will ensure that the UK is driving the technology of the future forward and will allow us to capitalise on export opportunities.
This is why the government's approach will be tech-led using the best of British technology and innovation – just as we did in the last industrial revolution – to help make homes and buildings warmer, the air cleaner and our journeys greener, all while creating thousands of jobs in new future-proof industries.
Our Net Zero Strategy sets out a plan to:
Level up our country by supporting up to 190,000 green jobs in 2025 and up to 440,000 jobs across net zero sectors in 2030
Build a secure, home-grown energy sector which ends our dependency on volatile foreign gas prices, which will help protect consumers and businesses.
Leverage new private investments of up to £90 billion by 2030 levelling-up our former industrial heartlands.
The policies and spending brought forward in the Net Zero Strategy mean that since the Ten Point Plan, we have mobilised £26 billion of government capital investment for the green industrial revolution. More than £5.8 billion of foreign investment in green projects has also been secured since the launch of the Ten Point Plan, along with at least 56,000 jobs in the UK’s clean industries.
Take a credible and conservative approach to cutting our climate emissions, putting us on track to meet our carbon reduction targets, including our Nationally Determined Contribution (68% reduction by 2030) and Carbon Budget 6 (78% 2035) - building on our successes since 2010.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 using some of the £5 billion allocated to Project Gigabit to create broadband vouchers that will enable network builders to upgrade the non-commercial parts of an exchange area at the same time as they are deploying full fibre to the commercial parts.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The government is investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit so that communities which will not gain gigabit connectivity through commercial roll-out are not left behind. Commercial delivery is going further and faster following announcements by suppliers this year and will reach most UK homes and businesses while Project Gigabit is targeted at the remainder.
As part of Project Gigabit, the government is investing up to £210 million into the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS). The eligibility criteria for vouchers was changed in April 2021 when we moved from the previous scheme to the new Project Gigabit criteria which are focused on ensuring we only provide public subsidy in areas which are least likely to get commercial coverage. We will conduct a performance review every six months to monitor the performance and effectiveness of the vouchers scheme, including the eligibility criteria.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 reforming the Electronic Communications Code to increase access to properties to build and maintain broadband infrastructure.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act 2021, introduced changes to the Electronic Communications Code (‘the Code’) which will make it easier for telecoms operators to gain access to properties, such as blocks of flats, for the purpose of installing digital connections. A consultation on the implementing regulations closed in August. The consultation response will be published in due course, with regulations laid as soon as parliamentary time allows.
A public consultation on whether further changes to the Electronic Communications Code (‘the Code’) are needed to support digital deployment was carried out between January and March this year. Replies to that consultation are currently being considered and the government’s response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 mandating full fibre broadband in newbuild properties.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
It is a priority for this Government to ensure that new homes are built with fast, reliable and resilient broadband. Following a public consultation supported by evidence, my department set out a policy in 2020 to mandate that new homes get the connectivity they need. We will shortly launch a statutory technical consultation on legislative proposals to amend the Building Regulations 2010 in England, ensuring that new build homes are developed with both gigabit-ready infrastructure and gigabit-capable connections. Following this final consultation stage, we will lay regulations as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 privatising BBC Worldwide.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
BBC Worldwide, formerly a BBC commercial subsidiary, was merged with BBC Studios in April 2018 and no longer exists. The new BBC Studios is already a commercial subsidiary of the BBC and therefore receives no public funding. Dividends made by BBC Studios are returned to the BBC’s public service arm, supplementing the BBC’s licence fee income.