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1,036 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)Indeed.12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)I beg to move amendment 12, in clause 48, page 102, line 11, after “service” insert “, or— (b) a person who was but is no longer a provider of a relevant internet radio service,”.…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)I understand the intention behind the amendments, but the purpose of the Bill is to protect the public value of live licensed radio, as secured within the regulatory framework.…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)It was a successful pilot funded by the BBC, because it was licence-fee funded. Personally, I would have liked it to continue, but the BBC obviously was under financial pressure…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)I hope that the sitting can end very soon in any case; I think we have pretty much concluded the debate, and the remaining clauses are relatively technical. I think the best…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)I suspect that the entire Committee agrees that it is important that children have access to public service broadcast content. The educational value of children’s television is…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)I join the hon. Lady in expressing my thanks. This is a very important Bill that has been in the making for a long time. There has been a lot of support for its provisions from…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)I do not intend to detain the Committee at great length. Clause 52 gives the Secretary of State a regulation-making power to make amendments to other existing legislation, which…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)The clause introduces schedule 12, which sets out minor and technical amendments to existing broadcasting legislation in relation to retained EU law. These are straightforward…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)Clause 49 inserts proposed new schedules 16A and 16B, as set out in schedules 10 and 11, into the Communications Act 2003. These new schedules make further provisions about…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)I have no doubt that van drivers spend as much time listening to the radio as car drivers do, so the hon. Lady is absolutely right to highlight vans. Turning back to the amendment…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)On amendment 32, the hon. Lady and I have debated the secondary legislation provided for in this Bill, and in other Bills in the past. In this case, we do not agree that the…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)I was just saying that the Government’s approach to the issue is to encourage the existing good partnerships between the radio sector and car manufacturers. Radioplayer is an…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)To some extent, the question is where we draw the line. The Bill is about live radio. The hon. Lady has put forward a different category of programming, so we now have three…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)I completely understand the hon. Lady’s concern, and I will say a little more about our approach to that issue in some detail. Essentially, we recognise that we need to keep a…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)I apologise to the Committee for croaking a little. I also declare that on Sunday I attended the Jingle Bell ball with Capital Radio, which is organised by Global Media. In…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)We have had a useful debate on one of the central parts of the Bill, and although the hon. Lady described it as one of the more contentious parts, I think there is widespread…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)I want to be clear: I am not criticising Impress. Impress is an independent regulator. It has a code of conduct that its members subscribe to. It adjudicates and carries out the…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Sixth sitting)I am very interested in that, because it has long been established that while the board of the BBC consists of some individuals who are independently appointed, the chair is a…12 Dec 2023HANSARDMedia Bill (Fifth sitting)I absolutely agree with the hon. Lady about encouraging manufacturers to include a radio. We would be very happy to do that. At the moment, it is almost unheard of not to include…12 Dec 2023