Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has plans to help the BBC increase funding for regional broadcasting.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government recognises that local and regional news and current affairs play a vital role in bringing communities together and providing shared experiences across the UK, and the BBC has an important role to play.
The BBC’s mission and public purposes are set out in the Royal Charter. The Charter requires the BBC to provide impartial news and information to help build people’s understanding of all parts of the United Kingdom and of the wider world. The BBC should offer a range and depth of analysis so that all audiences can engage fully with major local, regional, national, United Kingdom and global issues.
This is alongside broader legislative and regulatory obligations for all public service broadcasters, including the BBC, which are required to provide high quality, impartial news and current affairs programmes. The BBC, ITV and STV are also required to provide regional news. The Government has no plans to relax these requirements.
The BBC was given a fair licence fee settlement that aims to support households at a time when they need that support the most. It sends an important message about keeping costs down while also giving the BBC what it needs to deliver on its remit. With this settlement, the BBC will continue to receive around £3.8 billion in annual public funding, allowing it to deliver its mission and public purposes and to continue doing what it does best.
As the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the Government, and decisions over its spending and how it meets its obligations and delivers its services are a matter for the BBC.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
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 programme sharing across neighbouring regional stations by the BBC on local news provision.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government recognises that local and regional news and current affairs play a vital role in bringing communities together and providing shared experiences across the UK, and the BBC has an important role to play.
The BBC’s mission and public purposes are set out in the Royal Charter. The Charter requires the BBC to provide impartial news and information to help build people’s understanding of all parts of the United Kingdom and of the wider world. The BBC should offer a range and depth of analysis so that all audiences can engage fully with major local, regional, national, United Kingdom and global issues.
This is alongside broader legislative and regulatory obligations for all public service broadcasters, including the BBC, which are required to provide high quality, impartial news and current affairs programmes. The BBC, ITV and STV are also required to provide regional news. The Government has no plans to relax these requirements.
The BBC was given a fair licence fee settlement that aims to support households at a time when they need that support the most. It sends an important message about keeping costs down while also giving the BBC what it needs to deliver on its remit. With this settlement, the BBC will continue to receive around £3.8 billion in annual public funding, allowing it to deliver its mission and public purposes and to continue doing what it does best.
As the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the Government, and decisions over its spending and how it meets its obligations and delivers its services are a matter for the BBC.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ensure that local news production is at the centre of (a) the BBC and (b) other modern media stations.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government recognises that local and regional news and current affairs play a vital role in bringing communities together and providing shared experiences across the UK, and the BBC has an important role to play.
The BBC’s mission and public purposes are set out in the Royal Charter. The Charter requires the BBC to provide impartial news and information to help build people’s understanding of all parts of the United Kingdom and of the wider world. The BBC should offer a range and depth of analysis so that all audiences can engage fully with major local, regional, national, United Kingdom and global issues.
This is alongside broader legislative and regulatory obligations for all public service broadcasters, including the BBC, which are required to provide high quality, impartial news and current affairs programmes. The BBC, ITV and STV are also required to provide regional news. The Government has no plans to relax these requirements.
The BBC was given a fair licence fee settlement that aims to support households at a time when they need that support the most. It sends an important message about keeping costs down while also giving the BBC what it needs to deliver on its remit. With this settlement, the BBC will continue to receive around £3.8 billion in annual public funding, allowing it to deliver its mission and public purposes and to continue doing what it does best.
As the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the Government, and decisions over its spending and how it meets its obligations and delivers its services are a matter for the BBC.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with the BBC on its assessment of the potential impact of ending the weekly current affairs programme entitled We Are England on the provision of regional news broadcasts.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government recognises that local and regional news and current affairs play a vital role in bringing communities together and providing shared experiences across the UK, and the BBC has an important role to play.
The BBC’s mission and public purposes are set out in the Royal Charter. The Charter requires the BBC to provide impartial news and information to help build people’s understanding of all parts of the United Kingdom and of the wider world. The BBC should offer a range and depth of analysis so that all audiences can engage fully with major local, regional, national, United Kingdom and global issues.
This is alongside broader legislative and regulatory obligations for all public service broadcasters, including the BBC, which are required to provide high quality, impartial news and current affairs programmes. The BBC, ITV and STV are also required to provide regional news. The Government has no plans to relax these requirements.
The BBC was given a fair licence fee settlement that aims to support households at a time when they need that support the most. It sends an important message about keeping costs down while also giving the BBC what it needs to deliver on its remit. With this settlement, the BBC will continue to receive around £3.8 billion in annual public funding, allowing it to deliver its mission and public purposes and to continue doing what it does best.
As the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the Government, and decisions over its spending and how it meets its obligations and delivers its services are a matter for the BBC.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 on the future of Channel 4.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government set out its plans to deliver a new golden age of British TV and to and to help the nation’s public service broadcasters (PSBs) thrive in a White Paper, published on 28 April 2022.
Channel 4 is a major pillar of these plans to safeguard the future of public service broadcasting. Following an extensive consultation, the Secretary of State has come to the conclusion that, in today’s intensely competitive broadcast economy, public ownership is holding Channel 4 back.
Channel 4 is and will remain a free-to-air PSB, just like ITV, Channel 5 and STV which are privately-owned and hugely successful. But the government will remove the restriction which effectively prohibits Channel 4 from producing and selling its own content so it can diversify its revenue streams and improve its long-term sustainability.
Whoever buys the broadcaster will inherit equivalent obligations to what it is subject to now as a Public Service Broadcaster - a requirement to support regional production outside London and England, commission a minimum volume of shows from independent producers, and to provide news as well as the original, innovative and risk-taking content it is known and loved for.
The Government will look to use some of the proceeds from the sale of Channel 4 to deliver a new creative dividend for the sector.
The Government will bring forward legislation to enable a change of ownership of Channel 4 through the Media Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether a leak inquiry was carried out by his Department into the source of reports by ITV News on 25 October 2021 setting out the detail of increases in the National Minimum Wage to be announced in the Budget on 27 October 2021, including quotes about the rationale behind those increases attributed to him.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
It is a long-established practice of the Treasury not to comment either on whether a leak inquiry has been established, or on its conduct or outcome.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the number of television advertising slots there have been on UK free to view television in the most recent year for which data is available, and (2) of the trend in the number of such advertisements over the previous 10 years.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
Ofcom is the independent regulatory body responsible for overseeing the amount and scheduling of adverts on UK licensed broadcast television. It is the responsibility of Ofcom to make any assessment in relation to the number of television advertising slots on UK free to view television or any related trends over the years.
Under section 322 of the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom requires licensed television broadcasters to observe a set limit on the amount of advertising they show. The number of internal advertising slots permitted on public service channels depends on the genre and scheduled duration of the specific programme. The total amount of advertising on ITV 1, Channel 4, Channel 5, S4C and STV must not exceed an average of seven minutes per hour of broadcasting in any one day, or an average of 8 minutes per hour between 6.00 and 11.00 p.m. For other broadcasters, the total amount of advertising in any one day must not exceed an average of nine minutes per hour of broadcasting. This may be increased by a further three minutes per hour devoted to teleshopping spots.
Ofcom’s Code on the Scheduling of Television Advertising (COSTA) sets out the rules with which licensed television broadcasters must comply when displaying adverts. If a broadcaster does not comply with these requirements, they can be found in breach of their licence.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether there are restrictions on the (a) length or (b) nature of advertising ITV shows on ITV hub.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
There are currently no limits on the amount of advertising Ofcom regulated on-demand services (such as ITVHub) can show. However, there are restrictions on the type and content of advertising that appear on on-demand services. These are set out in Section 368F of the Communications Act. Ofcom has designated the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to enforce the rules.
The advertising must adhere to the content and placement standards set out in the advertising codes, namely the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising (CAP Code). This code sets out the principles for advertisers that their marketing content should be legal, decent and honest.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what regulatory barrier prevents non-public broadcasters adopting any or all of Channel 4's obligations and methods of operating.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The government wants Channel 4 to remain a public service broadcaster. Public service broadcasters - publicly and privately owned - have both benefits and obligations. Our consultation document outlines that we see the value in many of these obligations.
Channel 4’s ability to make distinctive content, and its work with independent producers are precisely the strengths we would protect and expect any potential buyer to look to develop and nurture, should we decide to proceed with a sale. We do not therefore subscribe to a false binary choice between public service remit and privatisation.
Indeed, we already have two privately-owned - and very successful - public service broadcasters in the examples of ITV and Channel 5. Both continue to deliver public service objectives.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria were used in the appointment of the chair of the review of children's social care, announced on 15 January.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, asked Josh MacAlister to lead the independent review of children’s social care based on his understanding of the challenges facing the system and his experience of implementing innovative solutions. It is common practice for independent reviewers to be directly appointed based on their expertise.
The department will set out the expected timescales for the review in due course. As part of business planning and setting budgets for the financial year 2021/2022, the department will work with the lead reviewer to ensure there are sufficient resources available to undertake the review.
The event to launch the review was attended by over 50 people from over 25 organisations, as well as Josh MacAlister, the reviewer, and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. These organisations are: Action for Children, Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board, Association of Directors of Children’s Service, Barnardo’s, Become, BBC, Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, Cardiff University, Care Leaver Covenant Board, Chair of Child Safeguarding Panel, Office of the Children’s Commissioner, Children's Society, Coram, Council for Disabled Children, Daily Telegraph, Department for Education, Early Intervention Foundation, Family Justice Observatory, Family Rights Group, Financial Times, ITV, LEAP Academy, Local Government Association, National Children’s Bureau, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Ofsted, Social Work England, What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, Sky News and Social Work England. A number of individuals who were invited to and attended the event have lived experience of children’s social care. Representatives from other organisations were invited but did not attend. These are: Youth Endowment Fund, Kent University, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Reach Academy.