Part of Media Bill - Committee (2nd Day) – in the House of Lords at 7:30 pm on 20 May 2024.
Lord Foster of Bath
Chair, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, Chair, Justice and Home Affairs Committee
7:30,
20 May 2024
My Lords, I am enormously grateful to the Minister for his detailed response. Clearly, this is an issue we are very likely to return to on Report.
I have a couple of quick points the Minister might ponder on. He told us that ofcom will be responsible for drafting the video on demand code. He said that will lead to Ofcom having extensive powers. But I am still left wondering how Ofcom is going to be made aware of the views of Parliament as it comes to draw up the code. How will we have any say in that code before it is finally put into place?
I confess that there were a couple of things the Minister said that slightly worried me. In response to a very simple Amendment, which asked that one of Ofcom’s statutory consultees would be the BBFC, the Minister said, “We have discovered that Ofcom and the BBFC meet regularly”. I am sure they do, and I am delighted, but this Bill is meant to be future-proof and things could change later. I cannot understand why, if they meet regularly anyway, the BBFC cannot be listed as a statutory consultee.
Finally, it was slightly odd, given all the powers Ofcom has and how it will be able to do all this work, that when it comes to accrediting those who choose not to use an age-rating system, the Minister’s response appeared to be that Ofcom has too much on to take on that responsibility. I thought that was slightly odd. As I said, we are grateful to the Minister for his response, and I am certain we will be returning to this issue at a later date.
Amendment 57 withdrawn.
Schedule 5: Tier 1 services: Chapter to be inserted as Chapter 3 of Part 4A of the 2003 Act
Amendments 58 to 61 not moved.
Schedule 5 agreed.
Schedule 6: Tier 1 services: Further amendments of Part 4A of the 2003 Act
Amendments 62 to 66 not moved.
Schedule 6 agreed.
Schedule 7 agreed.
Clause 38: Audience protection reviews
Amendment 67 not moved.
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As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
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Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services.
Ofcom Web Site http://www.ofcom.org.uk
