Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 11
Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radio Measures
Published 21 Jul 2023
Paragraph 44
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Department told us that it intended to consult Ofcom and other stakeholders before changing the statutory conditions for designating a radio selection service but this does not appear in the Bill. If the Government intends to carry out consultation with Ofcom and other stakeholders before exercising a power to make secondary legislation, that intention should be reflected in the content of the Bill. We recommend that consultation with Ofcom and industry stakeholders prior to the Secretary of State exerting the powers provided in the draft Media Bill to make secondary legislation on the designation of radio selection services be made a prima facie statutory requirement in the Media Bill.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Twelfth Report - Draft Media Bill: Radio Measures (HC 1287), paragraph 44, 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.