Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made in improving terrestrial television coverage in (a) Blaenau Gwent and (b) other areas of the UK to ensure that all households have access to basic channels without needing to purchase a satellite dish.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ofcom estimates that 98.5% of UK households have access to around 18 channels including those from the public service broadcasters (PSBs) on the digital terrestrial TV (DTT, or Freeview) platform. Around 90% of UK households are also able to receive additional commercial DTT channels. Around 1.5% of UK households cannot easily receive DTT services with less than 0.5% not able to receive DTT services at all. However, DTT, cable and satellite digital television services together cover practically 100% of UK households, so that in all but the most exceptional of cases, everyone, including homes in hard to reach areas, should be able to get digital television services. As well as subscription services, digital satellite TV offers non-subscription reception options for a one-off equipment and installation cost, but with no on-going monthly payments. This includes FreeSat free-to-view satellite service which was launched by the BBC and ITV in 2008.
Asked by: Nigel Adams (Conservative - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, (a) which broadcasters have been sanctioned by Ofcom under the broadcast code in the last 10 years and (b) how many times each of these broadcasters was sanctioned.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The consideration of a sanction follows a decision by Ofcom that a broadcaster has breached a relevant requirement. There are a variety of sanctions available to Ofcom which include, for example, issuing a direction to a broadcaster or imposing a financial penalty. A case will normally be considered for the imposition of a sanction when Ofcom considers that a broadcaster has seriously, deliberately, repeatedly, or recklessly breached a relevant requirement.
Ofcom regularly publishes any broadcasting sanctions and regulatory decisions on its website. Since 1 January 2007 Ofcom has imposed 84 sanctions against 57 broadcasters as follows:
Licensee | Number of sanctions |
30 of GCap Media plc’s ‘One Network’ radio stations | 1 |
Al Ehya Digital Television Limited | 2 |
Al Mustakillah Television Limited | 1 |
ARY Digital UK Limited | 1 |
Asia TV Limited | 1 |
Bang Channels Limited and Bang Media (London) Limited | 1 |
BBA Media Ltd | 1 |
Biditis Limited | 1 |
Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd | 1 |
Channel Four Television Corporation | 3 |
Channel S World Limited | 1 |
Channel Television Ltd | 4 |
Club TV Limited | 1 |
Connection Makers Ltd | 1 |
CSC Media Group Limited | 1 |
Dama (Liverpool) Limited | 1 |
Discovery Communications Europe Limited | 1 |
DM Digital Television Limited | 4 |
DM Global Media Limited | 1 |
E Entertainment UK Limited | 1 |
ESPN (Europe, Middle East, Africa) Limited | 1 |
Gamecast UK Limited | 1 |
GMTV Ltd | 1 |
Granada Television Limited | 1 |
International Television Channel Europe Limited | 1 |
Islam Channel Limited | 1 |
ITV Broadcasting Limited | 1 |
ITV2 Limited | 1 |
Just4Us TV Limited and Playboy TV UK/ Benelux Limited | 1 |
Lakeland Radio Limited | 1 |
Leith Community Mediaworks Ltd | 1 |
Life Show-Case Ltd | 1 |
Life TV Media Ltd | 1 |
LWT (Holdings) Limited | 2 |
Majestic TV Limited | 1 |
Mohiuddin Digital Television Limited | 1 |
More FM Ltd (formerly One Gold Radio Ltd) | 1 |
MTV Networks Europe | 1 |
Neath Port Talbot Broadcasting CIC | 1 |
Playboy TV UK/Benelux Limited | 1 |
Portland Enterprises (C.I.) Limited | 1 |
Press TV Limited | 1 |
Radio Asian Fever Community Interest Company | 1 |
Regis 1 Limited | 1 |
RHF Productions & Portland Enterprises | 1 |
Satellite Entertainment Limited | 4 |
Springdoo Media and User Generated Broadcasting | 1 |
Square 1 Management Limited | 2 |
St Albans and Watford Broadcasting Limited | 1 |
Sunrise TV Ltd | 1 |
Takbeer TV Limited | 1 |
TalkSPORT Limited | 1 |
Teletext Limited | 1 |
The British Broadcasting Corporation (“the BBC”) | 13 |
The Light Academy Limited | 1 |
Venus TV Ltd | 1 |
Voice of Africa Radio Limited | 2 |
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the evidential basis is for the Pubs Code Adjudicator's statement on the ITV documentary, The Great British Pub Revolution, screened on 8 December 2016, that many of the tenants he has met are supportive of him in his role.
Answered by Margot James
This is a matter for the Pubs Code Adjudicator. I have asked the Pubs Code Adjudicator to write to the Hon Member directly. A copy of the response will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the Ofcom Content Board are former employees of the BBC.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
There are 13 members of Ofcom’s Content Board which advises the Ofcom Board and Executive on content matters, covering television, radio and video-on-demand quality and standards. The Board’s members have experience from across the broadcasting industry including Sky, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and S4C. 9 of the current 13 members have previously been employed by or have worked for the BBC. The amount of experience and the seniority of these roles varies considerably within that.
Asked by: Lord Storey (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) which UK terrestrial broadcasters produce annual original homemade content for children, and (2) how much those broadcasters spend annually on such content.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Ofcom’s 2015 report into the future of public service broadcasting included an assessment of the amount of UK originated Children’s television programming by the public service broadcasting channels.
In 2014, the BBC spent £84 million on children's television programming. The combined spend of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 was £3 million.
Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Chairman of Committees, in the last four weeks, what press stories have been initiated by the House of Lords Press and Media team, and what are the web links to each.
Answered by Lord Laming
In the four weeks between Thursday 29 October and Thursday 26 November (when this question was tabled) at least 150 media stories about the work of the House of Lords have been generated following the issuing of press releases by the House of Lords Press and Media team.
This can be broken down to 34 broadcast features, 26 articles in national newspapers, 54 articles in newspapers from the nations and regions of the UK, 21 articles in trade publications and 10 articles on major news websites. It should be noted that the figure for websites includes only websites categorised as major national non-print news outlets such as the BBC, ITN, The Huffington Post etc. It excludes local news websites and websites of national newspapers.
During the four-week period in question a significant amount of the media coverage generated by the Press and Media Team was related to reports on the economic impact of further devolution from the Economic Affairs Committee, the report on the Scotland Bill from the Constitution Committee and the inquiry on the BBC Charter Renewal by the Communications Committee. There was also coverage of balloted debates following the Press and Media Team issuing press releases, which they offerfor all balloted debates. I have set out a range of examples of the coverage achieved as web links below.
Sample coverage of the Economic Affairs Committee report:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3326501/Peers-call-halt-devolution-powers-Scotland.html
www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article4619111.ece (subscription required)
www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/leaders/article4618836.ece (subscription required)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-34870354
uk.news.yahoo.com/house-lords-flexes-muscle-again-062919748.html#cXsOuCX
www.thenational.scot/news/nobody-knows-what-is-going-on-lords-demands-halt-to-scotland-bill.10229
www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/politics/756995/halt-the-scotland-bill-lords-committee-declares/
www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/lords-committee-halts-scotland-bill-6865533
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/scrap-barnett-formula-boost-scrutiny-10472253
Sample coverage of the Constitution Committee report:
www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article4622064.ece (subscription required)
www.scotsman.com/news/uk/lords-committee-scotland-bill-will-risk-future-of-uk-1-3956632
www.thenational.scot/news/more-peers-call-to-delay-progress-of-the-scotland-bill.10363
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/23/scotland-bill-devolution-the-vow-lords_n_8628320.html
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-34904774
Sample coverage of the Communications Committee inquiry:
www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/17/john-whittingdale-defends-bbc-charter-panel-secrecy
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11987215/Lord-Hall-Top-3400-most-watched-TV-shows-are-British.html
www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/10/bbc-director-general-hints-itv-has-poached-the-voice
www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/03/bbc-vice-news
The cross-party make-up of Select Committees allow the Press and Media team to develop and deliver proactive communications strategies for Committee work; that can prove more challenging for legislative work and areas of the House’s work subject to party political debate. In the 2014-15 session of Parliament, the Press and Media Team’s proactive promotion of select committee work generated 856 positive items of media coverage.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will publish the television advertising schedule and list the television channels being used for the Great Britain campaign; and if he will estimate the cost of (a) producing the commercials for that campaign and (b) each television advertising slot by time and date of broadcast.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The commercials are being shown on a wide variety of channels to reach the broadest spread of British businesses, including ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and satellite channels. Individual advertising spots are confirmed with broadcasters a few days prior to broadcast. The average cost of producing a commercial is £48,000 and to date 18 have been produced.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, which parliamentary constituencies have electorates more than 10 per cent (a) greater and (b) smaller than the UK average.
Answered by Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission recently published data relating to the 2015 UK Parliamentary general election results on its website. The requested information is set out in the attached table.
These results should be treated as provisional as they are based on data collected separately by the BBC, ITV, Sky News, and the Press Association. The Commission will publish a range of data for the 2015 UK Parliamentary general election in its report on the administration of those elections this summer. This will include the verified electorate figures by parliamentary constituency.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government under what circumstances and with what conditions access to any prison by a journalist would be permitted.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The External Communications team at the Ministry of Justice receives a significant number of requests by local and national media for access to prisons. For operational reasons and resource implications it is not possible to facilitate all requests.
Each request is considered on its own merit, with careful thought over the subject area, resource and security implications, victim impact, and value to the taxpayer. In a similar way to the police or the NHS, there are operational considerations to be made when filming or reporting in prisons. When facilitating media access we must ensure that the needs of victims are met, which may involve concealing identities, carrying out relevant checks and liaising directly with victims about the access request. We must also ensure that media access does not breach any security restrictions, for example filming keys or locks. Consideration is also given to protecting the identities of prisoners and staff.
We are committed to providing open and transparent access to prison and regularly provide access to journalists for news items, features and documentary programmes. We aim to provide a range of access to different journalists covering both print and broadcast media, local, national and online media.
Since the beginning of January 2015 we have provided access to a range of media outlets, a few examples are listed below:
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the justification for the Ministry of Justice’s refusal to permit visits to any prisons by a reporter from <i>The Guardian</i>.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The External Communications team at the Ministry of Justice receives a significant number of requests by local and national media for access to prisons. For operational reasons and resource implications it is not possible to facilitate all requests.
Each request is considered on its own merit, with careful thought over the subject area, resource and security implications, victim impact, and value to the taxpayer. In a similar way to the police or the NHS, there are operational considerations to be made when filming or reporting in prisons. When facilitating media access we must ensure that the needs of victims are met, which may involve concealing identities, carrying out relevant checks and liaising directly with victims about the access request. We must also ensure that media access does not breach any security restrictions, for example filming keys or locks. Consideration is also given to protecting the identities of prisoners and staff.
We are committed to providing open and transparent access to prison and regularly provide access to journalists for news items, features and documentary programmes. We aim to provide a range of access to different journalists covering both print and broadcast media, local, national and online media.
Since the beginning of January 2015 we have provided access to a range of media outlets, a few examples are listed below: