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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will assess the potential merits of arms-length funding to support community journalism and independent news start-ups to promote informed citizenship.

This Government believes local media has a vital role to play in local communities and in local democracy.There are no current plans for a Government investigation into the merits of arms-length funding for community journalism, but we would welcome evidence from the sector to support this.