Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Conclusion 9
Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radio Measures
Published 21 Jul 2023
Paragraph 42
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Pre-legislative scrutiny of the Draft Media Bill All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We acknowledge the Government’s preference to avoid putting in primary legislation a number specifying what a “significant” number of users is and what “used by” means. In order to adapt to reflect changes in technology and audience habits, we believe that these terms may be best judged by Ofcom under delegated powers. Accordingly, we welcome Ofcom’s role in informing the regulations designating or specifying radio selection services and the duty on the Secretary of State to give reasons if her regulations differ materially from Ofcom’s recommendations.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radio Measures (HC 1287), paragraph 42, 21 July 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 17 November 2023.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's reports and says it has amended the Bill in response to a number of recommendations, while declining others, including changing the prominence descriptor from "appropriate" to "significant".
- On genres, the Government does not agree that reverting to a list of specific genre requirements is compatible with modernising the remit, but has amended the Bill to refer to an "appropriate range of genres". It accepts the second recommendation, on Ofcom recommending new content categories.
- On prominence, it has "decided not to change from 'appropriate' to 'significant'", citing flexibility across different user interfaces and operability concerns.
- On listed events, it has amended the Bill to allow Ofcom to draw up a list of 'relevant services' to close the streaming loophole. On digital rights, it is "considering this issue" and plans to set out more detail "in due course".
- On video-on-demand, it accepts the recommendation to lay a list of services before Parliament no fewer than 5 sitting days before designation, but continues with its tiered approach.