Contributions
162 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTV Licences for Over-75sI will give way in just a moment. From its impartial news and current affairs coverage of the day’s events to its wide-ranging radio content, the BBC provides something for…08 May 2019HANSARDDraft Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019I could not possibly put a figure on it, but I assure the hon. Gentleman that I am talking about small numbers and very small variances in price. Ofcom has a duty to keep the…30 Apr 2019HANSARDDraft Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. It is a pleasure to serve under your…30 Apr 2019HANSARDDraft Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019I hope so, because that is outside the remit of this SI. Returning to this SI, I want to answer the questions the hon. Member for Ogmore asked about the ICO and the notification…30 Apr 2019HANSARDDraft Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019The hon. Members for Ogmore and for Gedling raised many interesting and challenging issues, most of which are beyond the scope of the SI. None the less, I will respond to those…30 Apr 2019HANSARDDraft Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019If that comes to pass—there are a lot of ifs, buts and maybes in this—it will not be a cap on what can be charged; it will be a threshold. Once it is reached, the operating…30 Apr 2019HANSARDDraft Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019The phone companies will make charges. Ofcom’s duty is to make sure that those charges are reasonable and fair, and that the overall market for international calls is working,…30 Apr 2019HANSARDDraft Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019The rest of my speech will probably make clear why the Government did not think that it was worth using the affirmative procedure. That said, the Government did agree with the…30 Apr 2019HANSARDOnline AbuseI thank the hon. Lady very much for her support. It is very important that we work across parties in this area. We have welcomed the Labour party’s input to these deliberations,…29 Apr 2019HANSARDOnline AbuseThat is an excellent suggestion. I am happy to put that to my hon. Friend the Minister for Sport, and if the hon. Lady and the hon. Member for Warrington North, who chairs the…29 Apr 2019HANSARDOnline AbuseI certainly agree with the right hon. Gentleman. I am sorry if I gave that impression; I wanted to offer up some hope that over time more and more solutions for removal will be…29 Apr 2019HANSARDOnline AbuseThe hon. Lady makes a good point; people would need that. I believe more and more counselling is being offered, but I am not aware of whether that offer is consistent across the…29 Apr 2019HANSARDOnline AbuseI see that we have had a change of Chair. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship as well, Mr Austin. Coming back to the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member…29 Apr 2019HANSARDOnline AbuseI am afraid that I cannot give the right hon. Gentleman that assurance. We are not sure when the next Session will commence, but I fear that the timing of the second phase of that…29 Apr 2019HANSARDOnline AbuseI agree; a cross-party approach is much more powerful. We want to spend our time not arguing across the Floor of the House, but on confronting the tech companies with the…29 Apr 2019HANSARDOnline AbuseIt is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Ryan. I congratulate the Petitions Committee on its impressive work. I thank the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen…29 Apr 2019HANSARDOnline Pornography: Age VerificationOn 17 April 2019, my Department announced that age-verification for online pornography will begin on 15 July 2019. This means that commercial providers of online pornography will…24 Apr 2019HANSARDDigital Skills: Elderly in Rural AreasSome 75% of those in this country with no digital skills are aged 65 or above. My Department has launched the digital inclusion innovation fund, which is designed to tackle…11 Apr 2019HANSARDTopical QuestionsWe published our future telecoms infrastructure review last year and we are now implementing it. We are about to launch the £200 million rural gigabit programme at the end of the…11 Apr 2019HANSARDDigital Skills: Elderly in Rural AreasThe hon. Lady is quite right: on-demand programme services need to catch up. The Ofcom proposals were made at the end of last year and are receiving consideration by my…11 Apr 2019