Category: Culture

  • Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on Support for Sports

    Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on Support for Sports

    The comments made by Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 27 March 2021.

    We know that the restrictions on spectators continue to have consequences for many sports. That includes Rugby Union and its clubs at the elite level through to the grassroots.

    That’s why we’re helping our major spectator sports, with money already benefiting more than 100 organisations, from women’s football, to netball, badminton and basketball, with more to follow as we navigate our roadmap back to normality.

    This funding will support the survival and continued visibility of men’s domestic rugby union at the highest level, allowing the league to complete its season.

  • Damian Collins – 2021 Speech on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

    Damian Collins – 2021 Speech on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

    The speech made by Damian Collins, the Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2021.

    The Government have provided substantial support for the cultural, sporting and creative sectors since the start of the covid pandemic. This has been welcome but also essential, as many organisations within these sectors rely on revenue from tickets and events to survive. Through no fault of their own, they have been required to close, and the cultural recovery fund, in addition to the funding to support sports and TV and film production, has helped many important bodies to keep going that otherwise might have closed for good.

    However, we now need to focus on the road ahead, through to the lifting of the covid social contact restrictions on 21 June and beyond. The coronavirus has challenged the whole of our society, but it has also exposed further weaknesses in sectors that in some cases we already knew about. The point has been well made about the need for pandemic insurance for the events industry. Events and live performances have already become incredibly important to the music sector, because the remuneration that artists get from on-demand streaming services is relatively low, but these events will not take place unless an insurance scheme can be put in place.

    This is not just about events that could be held this summer; it needs to be done on an ongoing basis. It could be some time before the industry has any certainty, because new variants of covid might require further restrictions on the capacity of audiences and therefore restrict the viability of the event itself. Just as, several years ago, the Government partnered with the insurance industry to create Flood Re to minimise the risk of flood insurance and reduce the costs, we need a similar scheme to help to make insuring live events viable and reduce the cost to people putting on those events.

    In football, the lack of a strong national governing body for the sport that is able to ensure fair dealing in financial matters has been badly exposed. Many football clubs were in great distress before the pandemic struck. Clubs in the championship division of the English football league were routinely spending more than they earned each year on players’ salaries alone, and were running a financially unsustainable model. There has been no real recognition of the impact of the covid restrictions on professional football. The money within the game has not been enough to solve all the problems, and the support that has been given is minimal. Many clubs continue to rack up large debts. At the moment, a lot of the football league is being run on unpaid taxes. It is believed that the amount of unpaid taxes owed to HMRC by football clubs could be in the hundreds of millions of pounds. We need a proper financial regulator for football to ensure that clubs are run on a sustainable basis for the long term, but in the short term we may need to look at how some sort of financial assistance can be given to those most in distress. Clubs outside the premier league are largely community assets, and they need to be run in a sustainable way.

    I want to make two other points briefly. The last 12 months have exposed just how influential disinformation and hate speech on social media can be, particularly in relation to anti-vaccine campaigns to undermine confidence in the vaccine and spread conspiracy theories about the pandemic. It makes the bringing forward of the online harms Bill this year so important for the Department, and we must also ensure that there are proper resources for Ofcom, as the regulator, to ensure that there can be proper auditing and inspection of the way social media companies respond to campaigns of disinformation and hate speech, and other speech that can cause harm through social media networks. We have been talking about this for many years and I am glad that the Bill is coming, but it is also an imperative.

    Finally, the pandemic has also had a big impact on the advertising industry and broadcasting revenues from advertising, just as other media have struggled with revenue from advertising. There is no guarantee that this money will bounce back, particularly as audiences are increasingly diverting their attention to online services—social media to receive news and on-demand platforms to view content. Increasingly, many people spend time not watching broadcast material at all, but playing games and doing other things online. This potentially undermines the public service broadcasting model in this country. I welcome the fact that we have the PSB review, but we need to understand that the long-term impacts of rising production costs for television due to the impact of Netflix and Amazon Prime and of declining advertising revenues because of switching audience attention are fundamentally changing the market, and if we have media that—

    Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)

    Order. I am afraid we do have to move on.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2021 Speech on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

    Kevin Brennan – 2021 Speech on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

    The speech made by Kevin Brennan, the Labour MP for Cardiff West, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2021.

    It is a pleasure to follow the Chair of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Solihull (Julian Knight). Although we are on different political sides, those of us who serve on the Committee are in complete agreement on these issues.

    Last week, when we debated the cultural and entertainment sectors, I made a few points on which I thought the Government could act in the Budget. The first related to the plight of freelance musicians, artists and others who have been excluded from the Chancellor’s criteria for support. I pointed out that in Wales some funds have been set aside for support, but that what we really needed was cross-UK action from the Chancellor. The Chancellor has done the very minimum in his Budget, by simply recognising that it has been so long for some of the excluded—that is, the newer self-employed—that they have now become eligible for the self-employment income support scheme. He has done nothing to support those excluded by his arbitrary criteria. He has decided that they are to be treated as second-class citizens. It is deliberate and unjust, and it will not be forgotten by musicians, artists and others who have been snubbed.

    My second point was on the need to help to restart the live music sector with, as the Select Committee Chair said, a Government-backed insurance scheme. Our Committee wrote to the Chancellor to call for such a scheme and the response from the Government was a classic example of blinkered Treasury thinking. The insurance market cannot provide the cover needed for festivals because of covid uncertainty. The Government say that they have an irreversible plan for reopening; were they to underwrite a scheme, that would show confidence in not only live music but their own pronouncements. If their own words turned out to be true, they would never have to pay out anything.

    Other countries have taken similar action, with much lower vaccine roll-out rates, and of course it is being done for film and television. For the want of a tent peg, many festivals will have to be collapsed this summer. That is the Chancellor’s second failure of policy and action. As the Select Committee Chair pointed out, there are now opportunities for the scammers and outlaw companies such as Viagogo to take advantage by once again ripping off people who want to buy tickets for events that might never happen and might never exist.

    Thirdly, the Chancellor should have announced a scheme to ensure that musicians and artists could resume touring in EU countries. I note the launch of the “Carry on Touring” campaign’s website today. On social media today I saw the case of someone called Ed Lyon, a classical musician who has just spent six weeks and £945 to obtain a work permit for Belgium. Previously, in normal times, he could have just hopped on a train. The Chancellor is utterly complacent about the loss of export earnings to UK that this continuing fiasco will bring. Lord Frost is now his Cabinet colleague. Why has he not been told to do the job that he so abjectly failed to do in December when he delivered a no-deal Brexit for artists, musicians and their ancillary support industries?

    This Budget, despite some investment, did not do nearly enough to save jobs and support growth in the creative industries—the sectors with the fastest growth potential. It has left freelance workers out in the cold, it has thrown a summer of music into a muddy field of uncertainty and it has closed the gate on touring for our creative artists and musicians. Far from doing “whatever it takes”, it has taken away the opportunity to create.

  • Julian Knight – 2021 Speech on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

    Julian Knight – 2021 Speech on the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

    The speech made by Julian Knight, the Conservative MP for Solihull, in the House of Commons on 10 March 2021.

    This pandemic has highlighted just how widespread the responsibilities of the Department are: from our rich coastal communities that rely on tourism, to the world-renowned theatres, galleries and museums of our cities, our festivals and music events. They are all significant drivers not just of tourism spending, but of domestic spending. DCMS also has oversight of the charity sector, which has been ravaged by this pandemic.

    Across the DCMS space, this has been the hardest hit of any sector in the economy. It was among the first to close and is likely to be the last to reopen. Covid is almost designed to damage the sector because it relies on the close interaction of people.

    Many DCMS businesses are incredibly complex and, in the past, have not relied heavily on Government support; they have just got on making money and employing millions of people. This means, though, that the Treasury is perhaps less familiar with the intricacies of their work than with other more regulated businesses and industries such as financial services. It also means, to be frank, that there is less knowledge about how best to support them as we recover.

    Before the pandemic, Britain’s DCMS sectors were some of the fastest growing, with the creative industries growing at three times the rate of the UK economy as a whole. The creative industries alone contributed over £115 billion to the UK in 2019. That is equivalent to £315 million almost every day, which is a phenomenal contribution. We have world leadership in many of the sectors, including games, music—we have 9% of global music sales—and, as I will return to shortly, festivals and live music events. Covid-19 has meant that most of those sectors have been shuttered for almost a year, with several months yet before they are able to reopen under the Government’s road map. The Prime Minister’s road map set out dates that can now be the target for entertainers, producers, technical staff and audiences alike to get their shows back on the road, so to speak.

    The DCMS sectors are estimated to account for over a fifth of the UK economy. Without the growth from those sectors, the UK economy would have been in recession for three of the last four years; yet DCMS spends less than 1% of total Government spending. Although it has some very fine Ministers and officials, it is still seen as somewhat of a Cinderella Department within Westminster. That should not be the case, because those sectors are crucial to our aspirations for global Britain.

    Approximately one third of our creatives have been unable to access any Government support during the pandemic, apart from universal credit. It has been difficult for them to meet the rules of the Treasury support schemes due to the fact that they may not have enough evidence of past income to prove what they need. Those excluded are still excluded, and I have to say that many of them are in a very desperate state indeed today.

    The culture recovery fund, which the Minister will no doubt refer to, was incredibly welcome, with its £1.57 billion for the arts, but that money was less than half what the sector said that it needed. The second tranche of money is coming to the end of its allocation while thousands of creative businesses remain unable to operate, whereas the tranche of money announced in December still has not been fully distributed. There are question marks over the pattern of distribution, which my Committee will raise with the Arts Council on 12 April. There is a feeling that perhaps those with the sharpest elbows—those with the biggest names—have benefited the most.

    I am hopeful, though, that the welcome extra £300 million of investment into the culture recovery fund that was announced in the Budget will mean, effectively, that some of the harder-to-reach community organisations that may not have benefited from the first tranche of cash will be able to benefit in the months ahead. They will help to rebuild our cultural recovery from the ground floor up. It is, however, probably still not enough to see our world-leading arts through the pandemic and post-pandemic period. It is therefore vital that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport gets the recovery right, and continues to provide sector-specific tailored support to those industries, which must be given the support and certainty to reopen as it becomes safe to do so.

    There are questions to be asked about the support that those sectors are getting from DCMS, and how best it ought to be directed. For many months the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has been arguing for a number of measures, be it an extension of VAT relief so that companies are in a position to sell tickets and benefit from it, to the expansion of reinsurance schemes to cover live events, live performances and the music festival season.

    It was a relief to see in the Budget last week that the Chancellor listened, and that an extension of the VAT cut has been announced. Undoubtedly, that will be the push needed over the summer for many of our hospitality and tourism businesses, which have suffered so greatly, but for cultural events and exhibitions alike that may not be enough. To benefit from the reduced rate, they must be able to sell tickets and, up to this point, events have not been happening.

    For live events truly to survive this season, the reassurance of a Government-backed insurance scheme is key. It is estimated that a £650 million insurance scheme for live events would allow more than £2 billion of activity to go ahead. That is thousands of jobs across the country— 975 festivals. I know that everyone thinks of them as basically a bunch of kids in a muddy field in Glastonbury, but that is an outlier; we are talking about festivals of small, medium and large scale in all our constituencies across the country. We all know people who appreciate these cultural events—the way they feed into our cultural bloodstream and their vital importance to our way of life.

    While there is any possibility of events being cancelled, the industry relies on Government-backed insurance. There is market failure; no one in the private sector is covering covid. The industry cannot survive without a second summer season in a row. It must be said that the live events sector, in which we are world leaders, is near vanishing point. I was pleased to see the extension of the film and TV production restart scheme, giving producers the confidence to return to production, yet the same confidence is key for live events to be able to survive.

    At this juncture, I want to flag to the House an important matter that is increasingly coming to my attention. The uncertainty surrounding the live events sector and the increasing desperation of consumers to enjoy themselves once again is leading to the potential for real consumer detriment, with the sale of tickets for events that will not take place or have no possibility of taking place at full capacity.

    I am increasingly getting reports of individuals who say that they are hosting a festival but have no permission to do so yet, yet they are selling tickets on the promise of live entertainment in the future. Even if they later have to cancel that festival, there is every chance that they will still make some money, because many people may not ask for their money back as a refund. I alert the House that, without the surety of an insurance scheme and getting everything in black and white, there is an opportunity for potentially less scrupulous individuals to make money out of our hopes and ambitions for a great summer.

    That is without even looking into the tremendous knock-on effects on the local economies of places that play host to live events. As I referenced earlier, Glastonbury generates over £100 million for the south-west, but more generally, in all our constituencies, for every £10 spent on a live music ticket, £17 is spent in the local economy. Essentially, without the creative industries and live events, there will be no economic recovery from the pandemic.

    The UK is poised to host COP26 later this year. The world will be watching on as we host that great event. It is key that we get the pilots up and running. The National Exhibition Centre, one of the largest organisers and hosts of events in the country, tells me that without the pilots—without ways of testing covid-security, access into events and the way they are organised, and without trying to get individuals re-involved in the supply chain—there is every chance that COP26 will be like the austerity games, the Olympic games post the second world war; they will not be the jamboree that the Prime Minister hopes for, because we do not have the wherewithal. We are losing muscle from these sectors, and we need to replenish it in short order. I therefore urge the Government to get a handle on this and to ensure that the pilots go ahead as quickly as possible—a date of May is mentioned to me as essential—to ensure success at the back end of the year.

    The cultural and creative sectors are one of the UK’s greatest exports, but they do vital work in our communities too. Even among those institutions that will survive the pandemic, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, there is likely to be a reduction in outreach programmes. Similarly, with another significant underspend in the National Citizen Service, poor and minority ethnic children, already worst affected by the prolonged closure of schools, will be those worst affected by a lack of outreach programmes and access.

    Social mobility stands to suffer significantly as the arts and performance struggle. In normal times, Britain’s cultural and creative sectors are world-beating, thriving growth sectors; without significant support in the recovery, the damage of covid-19 will scar these industries for years to come.

    Finally, I wish to touch on EU visas. Creatives and those in all the parts of the sectors covered by DCMS, including the games industry, performance, music, theatre and cultural events, are frankly bemused at the current arrangement—or lack thereof—with our partners in the EU. In effect, the industry has had a no-deal Brexit. Many Members represent fishing constituencies and we have spent a lot of time and bandwidth talking about that; however, we did not settle the issue of access for our creative people, in respect of whom we had an economic advantage over the EU and with the EU prior to departure. That is a major oversight.

    We now face the prospect of having to go to each country in turn to negotiate visa arrangements individually. As yet, we do not know precisely what our asks are, which I find quite incredible considering our huge balance of trade surplus in the creative sectors. We really must ensure that individuals are able to travel as freely as possible and to take their equipment with them through cabotage. After all, the sector is all about people. It is about some of our most creative people—people who represent Britain on the world stage and make our lives better. Although the Government have offered a lot of support over the past 12 months—I acknowledge that—we cannot take our eye off the ball now. More work needs to be done and we all need to put our shoulders to the wheel.

  • Steve Reed – 2021 Comments on Helping Museums and Theatres

    Steve Reed – 2021 Comments on Helping Museums and Theatres

    The comments made by Steve Reed, the Shadow Communities Secretary, on 22 February 2021.

    Theatres, galleries, cinemas and museums are the cultural heartbeat of our town centres but they are under threat as never before because of this Government’s incompetence and economic mismanagement.

    The Chancellor’s dither and delay has created uncertainty for businesses, cost jobs and threatened our recovery, despite Labour’s repeated calls to provide businesses with breathing space by extending the business rate holiday and the VAT cut for hospitality and leisure.

    Britain can’t afford the Chancellor to make the same irresponsible mistake all over again. He must give businesses certainty and reduce the risk of losing both jobs and life-enhancing cultural institutions.

  • Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on Women’s Sport

    Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on Women’s Sport

    The comments made by Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 19 February 2021.

    We are committed to helping our treasured sports through these challenging times. And today’s announcement is more evidence of our support for them.

    In particular, Women’s sport has faced acute pressures. The past few years have seen fantastic progress – with greater participation, employment, commercial opportunities and visibility in the media. I am determined not to let it take a back seat again.

    This targeted funding will enable sports to keep playing and inspire many more stars of the future.

  • Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on European Commission’s Draft Data Adequacy Decisions

    Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on European Commission’s Draft Data Adequacy Decisions

    The comments made by Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 19 February 2021.

    I welcome the publication of these draft decisions which rightly reflect the UK’s commitment to high data protection standards and pave the way for their formal approval.

    Although the EU’s progress in this area has been slower than we would have wished, I am glad we have now reached this significant milestone following months of constructive talks in which we have set out our robust data protection framework.

    I now urge the EU to fulfil their commitment to complete the technical approval process promptly, so businesses and organisations on both sides can seize the clear benefits.

  • Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on Culture Recovery Fund

    Oliver Dowden – 2021 Comments on Culture Recovery Fund

    The comments made by Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in the House of Commons on 19 February 2021.

    From restoring Georgian lidos and Roman baths to saving local screens and synagogues, our Culture Recovery Fund is helping to save the places people can’t wait to get back to, when it is safe to do so.

    All over the country, this funding is protecting the venues that have shaped our history and make us proud of our communities, whilst safeguarding the livelihoods of the people that work in them.

  • Ed Vaizey – 2015 Speech to the Oxford Media Convention

    Ed Vaizey – 2015 Speech to the Oxford Media Convention

    The speech made by Ed Vaizey, the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 4 March 2015.

    Introduction

    Good morning. Thank you very much for inviting me to speak to you today.

    With an election only weeks away, now seems like a good moment to reflect on what has been achieved in the last five years.

    I know that you share my view that I have done an outstanding job as your minister during that period.

    Along with my officials, I’ve been at the heart of the DCMS, slogging my guts out on your behalf.

    So I am surprised that you’re debating later this afternoon … “What is the point of the DCMS”?

    A real vote of confidence in my tenure, I must say.

    I won’t play tit-for-tat, no matter how tempting it might be to call this speech “What’s the point of the Oxford Media Convention”?

    It’s always fun to play the Whitehall parlour game of how to re-arrange policy responsibilities.

    But the real questions worth looking at are: “what is the role of government in this multi-media age?” and “what are the challenges for the next five years?”

    What we have achieved

    We have the best broadband of the EU5 and the highest level of take up.

    Ofcom has just recorded the single biggest rise in average UK broadband speed ever recorded – a fifth.

    We have the highest level of e-commerce per head in the world.

    The proportion of households that have a tablet has almost doubled in the past two years.

    And thanks to many of the people in this room, we have the best television in the world.

    Since 2009, the Creative Industries as a whole have been a brilliant success, rising three times faster than the economy as a whole.

    TV and advertising revenues are up.

    The independent sector has enjoyed an annual growth rate of 6.6 per cent each year since 2009, with revenues over £3bn for the first time in 2014. International sales and commissions have more than doubled in the same period.

    And substantial contribution to the health of the TV industry comes from the UK’s commercial broadcasters, with:

    overall investment in content growing at five per cent a year since 2011;

    £725m investment in UK production in 2013;

    investment in first run UK production grew at seven per cent a year from 2011 to 2013; and

    investment in UK content from external producers grew by almost 10 per cent each year since 2011.

    A lot of this success has nothing at all to do with government.

    And indeed, some of that success has been down to government leaving well alone – sometimes government not doing something can be as important as government acting.

    But where we have seen that government can make a difference, we have acted.

    We have invested heavily in our digital infrastructure.

    Our rural broadband programme has seen two million homes connected, with 40,000 homes being reached every single week. That’s supported by extensive commercial roll out by BT and Virgin media.

    Our successful auction of 4G spectrum has seen the fastest take up of 4G in the world, after successfully completing digital TV switchover on time and under budget.

    Sajid Javid has concluded a ground breaking deal with mobile firms to deliver 90 per cent geographic coverage in the UK by 2017.

    We have launched local television.

    And we are building out the network for digital radio. London has more digital stations than any city on the world, and next year we will have 24 national commercial digital stations.

    And we continue to look at future innovation.

    To back innovation we have published our strategy for the Internet of Things.

    Ofcom is pioneering a framework for white space technology.

    And we are leading the way with 5G technologies – the University of Surrey’s 5G innovation centre announced last week that they had tested one a terabit per second connection – many thousands of times faster than current mobile data connections.

    There is another great success story it is worth pausing to reflect on – the impact of the screen tax credits introduced by the Chancellor.

    The Film Tax Credit helped see film investment increase by nearly a third in the last year alone. It has been responsible for almost £8 billion of film investment in the UK.

    In the first full year of the TV tax credit, almost £400 million of investment was made in high-end television supporting our home-grown media and record inward investment.

    And the animation, video games and visual effects tax credit will also, I am sure, stimulate significant levels of investment in the UK.

    Now we are looking at introducing a tax credit for documentaries and children’s television.

    The net result of all this, I would argue, is that the UK’s creative industries have never been healthier. Their profile in political debate has never been higher. They are the UK’s most effective calling card.

    The next Government will want to build on this success.

    Future challenges

    What are the challenges and issues it will face?

    The issue at the top of the in-tray will be the review of the BBC’s Charter, which has to be renewed at the end of 2016.

    The next government will have, in effect, 18 months to conduct the process.
    We made a conscious decision not to start the Charter Review before the general election.

    We didn’t want to get the BBC mixed up in partisan point scoring.

    There are many reasons why we need the BBC.

    Their recent commitment to work with UK-wide arts institutions and to support coding in schools are just two recent examples of this.

    Radio 1’s commitment to new music is another.

    We want to see a BBC that is fit for the digital age, able to fulfil the many roles that the BBC has done so successfully for many years – not just great content, but education and training, technical innovation, and a huge and irreplaceable contribution to civic society.

    But as I say, that debate won’t begin until May 8, and we won’t be expressing any views before then.

    Except to confirm that we “heart” the BBC.

    The second big – somewhat related – issue will be the next phase of the transformation in media brought about by technology.

    These are massive changes, bringing to the fore important issues – privacy, data, content regulation, intellectual property, competition.

    The rise of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix have transformed the experience of consumers. They bring huge opportunities, but also challenges to traditional media businesses.

    We have always believed in an open internet, as free as possible from regulation, and we have made the case again and again with our allies in international fora. But an open internet doesn’t mean a lawless free for all.

    Whenever a politician raises concerns in this area, they are accused of being a technological ignoramus, of stifling innovation.

    That’s a crude response to a sophisticated and nuanced landscape.

    There is still a role for government and for politicians in this arena. But it has subtly changed, moving from top-down one-size-fits-all regulation to an approach that focuses on flexibility and partnership.

    Let me give you an example, the issue of protecting kids online.

    Rather than legislate, we chose to work with industry. And as a result, in short order, we achieved parental filters for all the major ISPs; a major education campaign; and deep and meaningful changes to the way Google deals with search in this area. To try and legislate here would have been difficult – controversial, time consuming and inflexible.

    So in my view future issues will have to be approached on the basis of cooperation and partnership.

    The best approach in my view is not knee-jerk regulation or legislation, but to work with major players to achieve the best outcome.

    As I have said before, people need to meet us halfway. Politicians have legitimate concerns that reflect the wider concerns of society. Screaming “internet censorship” every time an issue is raised is utterly self-defeating.

    There are other big changes on the way as well.

    We will soon have a Europe-wide data protection regime, which is a great prize for those operating across borders provided it is not overly bureaucratic.

    And an energetic debate is starting on the opportunities for a digital single market.

    Our submission to the Commission is called a non-paper. That’s Euro speak for “think piece”. It contains our vision for what a digital single market could look like.

    But we won’t achieve it by imposing it on you – we want to, we have to, take you with us. So rise to the challenge and put forward your ideas and proposals to support further investment.

    If we can remove barriers to enable you to reach out to 500 million consumers, that has to be a good thing.

    And it has to be a good thing for the UK as well. We are already home to over 500 broadcasters. Major companies like Discovery, Disney and Viacom not only employ thousands of people here, they are major investors in UK content. We want to give them reasons to continue to invest here.

    The third challenge is our digital infrastructure and, alongside it, digital inclusion.

    As I said earlier we have made huge progress in rolling out Britain’s digital infrastructure in TV and radio – and in terms of mobile and fixed broadband But we need to go further and faster.

    We want the whole country to have access to superfast broadband.

    We want good mobile coverage everywhere.

    And we want to ensure people who live here have the skills to access services and content online.

    The point is that building digital infrastructure doesn’t have a start or finish date – the next government will have to look at where to go next.

    The final great challenge is diversity. I know you are talking about it later today.

    Media remains a powerful force for good in this country. To maintain its role, it has to reflect the society we live in. At the moment, it doesn’t.

    I became passionate about the cause two years ago, when I saw Lenny Henry perform in the Comedy of Errors at the National Theatre. I looked around me and saw a completely different audience. And all those abstract words such as outreach and engagement suddenly became real.

    I knew Lenny was vocal on the subject so invited him in for a chat, and found someone champing at the bit to effect real change. And the more people I talked to the BAME media community more I discovered the frustration, and yes anger felt by the BAME community who felt that not only had it all just been talk for the last thirty years, we were actually going backwards.

    Thanks to Lenny, Oona King and others, we are seeing change. I want to pay tribute to what has been achieved.

    Thank you too to all the major broadcasters now have clear diversity policies with real targets.

    We have uniform industry-wide monitoring for the first time which will make a real difference.

    The Creative Diversity Network has been put on a permanent footing. But we have only just started.

    The building blocks are in place and now we need to get on and do it.

    The people in this room can make that change.

    Conclusion

    I am as ambitious as ever for the future of our country, and so is the Government I’m lucky enough to be a member of.

    I am really proud that the Creative industries sit at the heart of this country’s success.

    We will continue to support you.

    We will intervene where we need to – but we will always work with you.

    We will build the infrastructure for the future that we all need.

    We will support investment in content and strong IP rights.

    And we will build an environment in which you can all succeed.

    It has been a great pleasure to have been your Minister.

  • Ed Vaizey – 2015 Speech on Drive to Digital

    Ed Vaizey – 2015 Speech on Drive to Digital

    The speech made by Ed Vaizey, the then Secretary of State of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on 10 February 2015.

    Good morning everyone.

    Well here we are again at the fantastic home of BBC Radio.

    I have had the enormous pleasure and honour of being the Minster responsible for radio over the last five years during a time when there has been a massive creative explosion across all UK creative industries – of which radio remains a fundamental part.

    The creative industries are an area that the UK excels at and which has grown by almost ten per cent in 2013, three times that of the wider UK economy and accounted for 1.7 million jobs in 2013, which was 5.6 per cent of UK jobs.

    This massive contribution is an all-time high and equates to around £8.8m per hour, or £146,000 every single minute, therefore playing a key role in supporting our long-term economic plan, which has turned the economy around.

    Perhaps the most dramatic change since 2010 has been the leap in connectivity and the roll out of superfast broadband – pushed by our investment – and the resulting explosion of access to video and audio entertainment.

    With an apparently endless choice of TV channels, on demand content, thousands of radio stations and music services like Spotify and Deezer what is most surprising – certainly to many outsiders – is the strength of the UK radio industry – more popular and just as relevant as ever.

    Radio does face challenges against competition for advertising. Though it remains a powerful medium it is not perceived as sexy – rightly or wrongly – by lots of advertisers. It remains the most underrated medium in terms of its share of advertising.

    But radio has shown itself time and time again that it is a medium which remains well adapted for the digital age: the perfect accompaniment to just about anything from digital surfing, cooking, working to driving home.

    The trick for radio is to grow both its reach and commercial impact – as gauged by average revenue per listener.

    And digital radio is absolutely central to this – there has been a widening of choice and content over the last four years to the point where we are now short of national capacity.

    As well as the massive success of BBC 6 Music, almost as successful has been the launch and rise of Radio 4 Extra. Launched in 2011 it is now the 2nd most popular digital station.

    Over on national commercial radio we have seen an increase in the number of stations available from four in 2009 to 14 today.

    Many of those stations are doing well, with Absolute 80s being the leading commercial digital station with over 1.5 million listeners. In the last few years we have seen more new national stations added such as Capital Xtra, LBC, and Magic and the capacity is now totally full.

    However, there is a risk of radio descending into sameness, with the same formats and playlists chasing the same mainstream audience. In my view, digital radio needs to promote a broader and more diverse range of services.

    So the new D2 multiplex and the ability to deploy DAB+ with the new service seems to me to be a golden opportunity to broaden the range and types of radio content, to widen its reach to listeners and help increase it’s commercial impact and I was very pleased with the plans presented by both bidders – Listen2Digital and Sound Digital – to broaden and strengthen the appeal of DAB.

    But to even discuss issues arising from a full national commercial multiplex and D2 shows how much has changed since 2010 and the scale of what was needed to get from there to here.

    One of my early actions when I came to DCMS was to launch the three-year Digital Radio Action Plan.

    The previous Government had put in the legislation – but there was an urgent need for a comprehensive plan supported by Government, industry and Ofcom to support the expansion of digital radio, tackle the barriers to digital migration and to assess the feasibility of a future radio switchover.

    The issues then included:

    the lack of an agreed set of technical standards for DAB receivers;

    very limited DAB coverage at a local level with national services also falling short of FM; and

    limited engagement with the car industry and a very low level of standard DAB conversions in cars

    Following the completion of work on the Action Plan, I set out our long-term vision of a digital future for radio at the Go Digital conference in December 2013.

    I did say that it was too early to set a date for a future radio switchover and that we need to see the majority of listening move to digital and have DAB coverage expand to close to FM equivalence before we will be ready to be talking about switchover dates.

    But what I was able to announce was a series of measures that helped us achieve those criteria.

    Well today I can confirm that the planning and – the lengthy debate about expanding DAB coverage has finished and we are now ready to commence the biggest ever expansion of DAB.

    Today we are formally announcing the building of 182 new digital transmitters across the UK – in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as modifications and frequency changes at a further 49 sites.

    Ofcom have now published the detailed coverage maps and an outline timetable for the completion of this work – by summer 2016. The programme will almost double the number of local digital transmitters and will take local DAB coverage up to the level of local commercial radio on FM.

    It will also create more of an even playing field so commercial stations can compete more effectively with the BBC on digital.

    These new transmitters start to be built next month and will increase local DAB coverage from less than 75 per cent of households today to above 91 per cent.

    This is fantastic news for millions of listeners who will now be able to listen to their favourite local stations on DAB – including BBC local and nations stations.

    It is also great news for motorists who will now be able to enjoy an uninterrupted DAB signal on thousands more miles of roads. I look forward to benefiting from the improved services when I’m out and about on the campaign trail.

    The new local transmitters are being part funded by Government along with the BBC and the commercial multiplex operators. And I can also announce that we have laid the regulations which will allow local Mux operators who build out to the plan to extend their local licences to 2030, something I announced in December 2013.

    Getting to this point has taken a long time, it has been difficult and complex process but I think it is a great example of cross industry cooperation working closely with Government and Ofcom.

    But it also a very tangible sign of the Government’s long-term support for digital radio.

    I would like to thank everyone who made this happen especially Will Harding [Global] Grae Allen [Bauer] Gregory Watson [Muxco] Jimmy Buckland [UTV] Paul Eaton [Arqiva] Tony Moretta and to Tim Cockram and Hellen Keefe at the BBC.

    In 2013 the BBC announced a programme of 162 new transmitters to take their National DAB BBC coverage to beyond 97 per cent.

    I would like to congratulate the BBC and Arqiva on this excellent progress. Already 100 new transmitters have been added and BBC national DAB coverage increased to 95 per cent. This work is scheduled to complete by the end of 2015.

    During our deliberations about radio’s future I have been struck by the importance of local radio stations and the passion of those who run them.

    I believe local radio – in all its forms has a strong and sustainable future – whether on FM, which will be sustained for the smallest stations, or on local DAB. But small local stations do need a DAB solution that works for them.

    For that reason I was pleased to announce in December 2013 £500,000 of funding for an important programme of work by Ofcom to develop a low cost solution for small local stations to get onto DAB.

    I am delighted that Ofcom are making very good progress on this development and I am pleased to confirm that Ofcom will be commencing a series of 10 area trials – more than originally envisaged – for small scale DAB starting this summer.

    So taken together the expansion of local and national DAB coverage and the launch of the 12 licensed but un-launched local DAB multiplexes over the past 18 months is a massive step forward by the industry.

    It means that so many more people can enjoy their favourite stations on DAB. It means that the entire primary road network will be fully covered. Hopefully it will finally end all those conversations about how much people love digital radio but it does cut out for 10 seconds under that bridge….

    It will also signify that – by the end of 2016 – coverage criteria set by Government for a switchover decision will have been met.

    The priority for radio going forward is for the radio industry, supply chain and vehicle industry to really come together and take the next step to deliver the benefits and communicate the benefits of digital radio.

    Given the collective work already in train I am sure that together you will be able to move the digital listening from 38 per cent towards the switchover criteria of 50 per cent in the next couple of years – but as we have seen from the latest RAJAR figures there is much to do.

    The theme of the conference is ‘drive to digital’. A huge amount of progress has been made since 2010 to tackle perhaps the biggest barrier to any future switchover – the conversion of cars. The car is where 22 per cent of radio listening occurs and digital radio in car is a much better listening experience than analogue.

    We have had tremendous support from the vehicle manufacturers and their trade association the SMMT and I would like to thank to Mike Hawes, the SMMT and all the vehicle manufacturers for their brilliant support. I was pleased to hear that as of Q4 2014 over 60 per cent of new cars now come with digital radio as standard with a further 14 per cent having digital radio as an option.

    That’s an incredible shift since 2010 when the percentage of cars with digital radio fitted as standard was only four per cent.

    In the last 12 months 1.5 million cars have been sold with DAB. The Q4 2014 data also shows that commercial vehicles are now increasingly being fitted with digital radio as standard with now almost 30 per cent of vans coming with digital radio, which compares with four per cent at the beginning of the year.

    But there remains the challenge of the existing stock of cars and finding a new low cost solution for cars, which do not have an installed DAB. I am keen to look at ways we can support research and innovation and I will be discussing this further with Digital Radio UK to see what might be possible.

    When I spoke in December 2013 I was really pleased to be able to announce that DRUK would be taking a lead on the launch of the digital tick mark, working with manufacturers and retailers in both the domestic and vehicle sectors.

    This is important as it raises the specification standard of radios on sale and will provide consumer reassurance and a better listening experience.

    I am pleased to confirm that the majority of manufacturers have had their products tested and approved to use the tick mark and these products are beginning to arrive in stores.

    I am also delighted to confirm that the DVLA is working with DRUK and has started to include digital radio messaging and the tick mark on 40 million tax reminders they are sending to motorists.

    So in summary, good and continuing progress over the past 14 months, but there is still much to do.

    It’s probable that the radio switchover criteria will be met by 2017 and the Government of the day will be able to take a measured and informed decision of when to set a timetable for the switchover from analogue to digital.

    This will put us in line with other European nations such as Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and potentially Germany where the rollout of DAB+ services has been given a recent boost by commitments from their public service broadcasters.

    I am confident that radio will continue to thrive and prosper – a powerful, relevant modern medium prepared for the digital age – and you can be sure that I will be listening somewhere.