Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will have discussions with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) employers on the potential merits of businesses providing (i) showers and (ii) changing rooms to help encourage workers to participate in sport activities prior to or during working hours.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government is committed to ensuring that everyone is able to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that sport and physical activity provides.
We work across the Government and with Sport England to support adults to achieve 2.5 hours of physical activity a week, and the upcoming Sport Strategy will set out our ambition to make sport and physical activity a core part of everyone’s daily life, making it more accessible, more inclusive and more sustainable.
Sport England is an arm’s length body of the Government responsible for growing and developing grassroots sport and getting more people active across England. Sport England has published an ‘Active Employee Toolkit’ which offers advice, tips and shareable resources for employers to encourage their teams to build more movement into their working day.
Additionally, the Government’s Cycle to Work scheme encourages employees to travel to and from work by bicycle; guidance for employers who want to put in place a cycle to work scheme is set out here. Furthermore, the Government’s guidance for employers to offer gym memberships and sports facilities to staff can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions has she had with businesses on intergrading sport and activity into the working day.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government is committed to ensuring that everyone is able to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that sport and physical activity provides.
We work across the Government and with Sport England to support adults to achieve 2.5 hours of physical activity a week, and the upcoming Sport Strategy will set out our ambition to make sport and physical activity a core part of everyone’s daily life, making it more accessible, more inclusive and more sustainable.
Sport England is an arm’s length body of the Government responsible for growing and developing grassroots sport and getting more people active across England. Sport England has published an ‘Active Employee Toolkit’ which offers advice, tips and shareable resources for employers to encourage their teams to build more movement into their working day.
Additionally, the Government’s Cycle to Work scheme encourages employees to travel to and from work by bicycle; guidance for employers who want to put in place a cycle to work scheme is set out here. Furthermore, the Government’s guidance for employers to offer gym memberships and sports facilities to staff can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ban vaping advertising.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government currently has no plans to legislate to ban the advertising of vaping products.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is responsible for regulating advertising in the UK. The ASA already has rules in place that prohibit adverts for nicotine-containing vapes not licensed as medicines from appearing on TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and periodicals, online, and in commercial emails and text messages. Only a small number of nicotine-containing vaping adverts are permitted, and the ASA requires all vaping advertising to be socially responsible and not be placed in media targeted at under-18s or in media where more than 25% of its audience is under-18.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to introduce different registration processes for short-term holiday lets of (a) whole properties and (b) individual rooms.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The consultation on the registration scheme for short term lets in England closed earlier this month, on 7 June. The Government is now analysing the responses, which will inform the final shape of the scheme - including the process and unit of registration. The consultation response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure that people are able to access digital radio content.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Radio plays an important role in communities across the UK. It helps connect listeners with their community, and provide an important source of information, entertainment and support. This was recognised by the joint government and industry Digital Radio and Audio Review, which highlighted evidence from WaveLength.
The BBC and commercial radio are responsible for the operation of their respective radio networks, including the DAB radio networks. This includes delivering coverage to areas and the provision of radio services to listeners. Nevertheless, the Government recognises the importance of listeners being able to access their favourite radio stations on digital, which is why we have worked with the radio industry to help improve digital radio coverage for listeners across the UK.
Between 2015 and 2018, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) provided capital funding to support the BBC and commercial radio’s expansion of the UK’s local DAB radio network. This delivered improvements across the network and 172 new digital radio transmitters at sites across the UK.
DCMS has also supported the development of small-scale DAB, which provides a flexible and inexpensive approach to the terrestrial broadcast of digital radio services to a relatively small geographic area.
This initiative will provide local commercial and community radio stations with a viable opportunity to broadcast on digital, and reach under-served areas.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help ensure Public Service Broadcasters meet public service broadcasting obligations on reaching audiences.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government recognises how important it is that content delivered by public service broadcasters (PSBs) remains freely and universally available to a range of audiences across the UK.
Ofcom is ultimately responsible for monitoring the performance of PSBs against their public service broadcasting obligations, including their obligations on reaching audiences. With specific regards to the BBC, while they are editorially and operationally independent, the Charter requires the BBC to serve all audiences, and the Government expects Ofcom to robustly hold them to account in delivering their public service obligations.
Reforms announced in the Government’s draft Media Bill will ensure that PSB obligations are delivered via on-demand services for the first time. This includes a new ‘online prominence framework’, which will ensure that public service broadcasting content is made available and given protected prominence across major online TV platforms, helping to ensure that PSB content continues to reach all audiences as viewers increasingly shift online.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps she has taken to improve regional diversity in public service broadcasting.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government recognises the role that both regional and local broadcasting can play in delivering types of public service content highly valued by local communities.
On a local level, the BBC, local TV providers and commercial and community radio stations all play a crucial role in disseminating accurate news and local information, strengthening pride of place, reflecting the unique interests of the audiences that they serve, connecting communities, and helping to address social issues like loneliness and mental health.
These local services are supplemented by further services delivered at a regional level by broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, STV, and commercial radio providers. Regional services continue to be highly valued by audiences, particularly in relation to their news and current affairs programming, though the Government recognises that they are unable to offer the same type and range of targeted content as genuinely local services.
Public service broadcasters (PSBs) are obliged to deliver against quotas to ensure that public service content meets the needs of a diverse range of viewers - this includes regional production quotas, requiring PSBs to produce a proportion of programmes outside the M25.
Ofcom is required to undertake regular analysis of key trends in the media sector, particularly how audiences are served across, and in different parts of, the UK. That data is used by Ofcom to inform their ongoing regulation of public service media providers, and also informs DCMS’s policy around the ongoing provision of local and regional media.
Reforms announced in the Government’s draft Media Bill will ensure that PSB obligations are delivered via on-demand services for the first time, and will seek to deliver regional prominence for certain designated online services, maximising the social benefits of PSB content to all audiences.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to seek public feedback on the adequacy of public service broadcasting platforms for accessing digital content.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government recognises the importance of television being accessible to all. Under the Communications Act 2003 and Broadcasting Acts of 1990 and 1996, broadcasters, including public service broadcasters, are already required to meet targets for access services which includes subtitling, audio description and sign language for their linear TV services. Statutory targets are set by Ofcom which include five and ten year targets for licensed television services. Ofcom’s Code on Television Access Services sets out these obligations and provides guidance and best practice on access services for broadcasters. Ofcom assesses broadcasters to ensure they provide appropriate provision and Ofcom carries out access research on how services meet the needs of consumers. If a member of the public has specific concerns over a service, they can make a complaint to Ofcom.
More than three quarters of households now use video-on-demand services, but the provision of subtitles, signing and audio description on these services has lagged behind broadcast TV. Following public consultation, through the Media Bill the Government is putting in place access service requirements to ensure that mainstream Video on Demand (VoD) services, including those of public service broadcasters, are accessible to people with disabilities. Aligning with existing broadcasting requirements, this will mean that 80% of a services’ total catalogue of hours must be subtitled, 10% of content audio-described, and 5% of content signed.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will issue guidance for cities on the UNESCO World Heritage Site tentative list on how they can ensure that any (a) planning and (b) development they undertake is consistent with UNESCO World Heritage Site rules.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is actively engaging with all the five new sites on the UK's Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. We are also coordinating engagement between the sites and HM Government's expert advisers on cultural and natural heritage. This is to ensure that all sites receive the advice and support they need, including guidance on planning and development where required.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help support sites on the UNESCO World Heritage Site tentative list.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is actively engaging with all the five new sites on the UK's Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. We are also coordinating engagement between the sites and HM Government's expert advisers on cultural and natural heritage. This is to ensure that all sites receive the advice and support they need, including guidance on planning and development where required.