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Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) Thursday Volume 553 22 November 2012 No. 73 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Thursday 22 November 2012 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2012 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 695 22 NOVEMBER 2012 696 Mr John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con): Does my House of Commons right hon. Friend agree that we need to study Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations very carefully, but that any decision affecting the freedom of the press is so Thursday 22 November 2012 important that it should be made only by Parliament? Does she accept that there is now almost total agreement The House met at half-past Nine o’clock that we need a new, independent regulator with tough powers, but that the decision on whether there should be any legislative back-up involving statute is of such PRAYERS huge importance that we need to be absolutely certain that there is no alternative before proceeding down that route? [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] Maria Miller: My hon. Friend is right to talk about the importance of the freedom of the press, but we must also ensure that there is robust and full redress for victims. Those are the things that we must balance, and Oral Answers to Questions that is why I think that it would be entirely appropriate for us to have discussions, whether in the Chamber or elsewhere in the House. CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT Ms Harriet Harman (Camberwell and Peckham) (Lab): I agree with Members who have said that this issue is of enormous importance. Like me, the Secretary of State The Secretary of State for Culture Olympics, Media had an opportunity to meet victims of phone hacking and Sport was asked— and press intrusion yesterday. The hon. Member for Maldon (Mr Whittingdale) Leveson Report was absolutely right to say that this is a matter for the House. In that context, may I ask the Secretary of State 1. Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con): whether she intends to make a statement to the House When she expects the Leveson report to be published. on the day on which the Leveson report is published, [129104] and also whether she will ensure that the Government provide an early opportunity for the House to debate it? The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport I have already asked for cross-party Front-Bench talks, (Maria Miller): I expect Lord Justice Leveson to deliver but this is also a matter of great interest and importance his report by the end of the month. The inquiry team for Back Benchers in all parts of the House. will make an announcement about specific times later this morning. Maria Miller: I thank the right hon. and learned Lady for the opportunity to clarify the position. She Mr Buckland: If the Leveson inquiry recommends an and I have already had discussions about this very issue. end to the current system of press regulation, will the I hope that we will continue to have such discussions, Government rise to the challenge and help to create a and that they can involve the other parties as well. My system that will quickly gain the trust of the public? right hon. Friend the Leader of the House will be able to make things clearer in his business statement later Maria Miller: My hon. Friend is right to identify today. trust as an overwhelming prerequisite for any solution Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): The to our problems involving the press. Certainly the status Secretary of State will recall that the Leveson inquiry quo is not an option. The principles that will drive any started as a result of the phone hacking scandal. Is she solution are the need for an independent regulator, the aware of recent evidence that journalists were using need for tough regulation, and the need to do everything information like a trading commodity, one of them possible to preserve free speech. picking up the hack and then passing it to another to disguise the source of the hacking? Will Leveson cover Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab): Given that both the that aspect? Secretary of State and the Prime Minister, who set up the inquiry, have stressed time and again the importance Maria Miller: Obviously Lord Leveson has been looking of giving Lord Leveson space in which to report and at this issue in an enormous amount of detail, and not prejudging the outcome, how helpful is it for colleagues criminal investigations are also in progress. I am sure of the Prime Minister, in the Cabinet and elsewhere, to that the specific issue raised by the hon. Gentleman, make repeated comments in an attempt to undermine and indeed many other issues relating to the prevalence the report in advance? of phone hacking, will be dealt with in Lord Leveson’s inquiry report, which, as I have said, will be available Maria Miller: I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman very shortly. for endorsing the importance of the report, and I join 4G Network him in doing so. We must ensure that we look at the facts and the judgment of the inquiry.Comments expressing 2. Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con): concern are coming from many quarters, but I urge When 4G network services will be rolled out in everyone to wait and not to prejudge the findings of the (a) England and Wales and (b) Central Bedfordshire. inquiry, which will be forthcoming very shortly. [129105] 697 Oral Answers22 NOVEMBER 2012 Oral Answers 698 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, very local and personal way that we can give this Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): EE is already commemoration the importance it needs. The Government deploying 4G services in 11 cities, and will be doing so are investing more than £50 million in projects such as in five more before the end of the year. We expect the refurbishment of the Imperial War museum, but we further 4G services to become available by mid-summer. will also be doing an awful lot more at a community It will of course be for the operators to decide when level. they will become available in Central Bedfordshire. Access to the Arts Andrew Selous: My constituency is only 34 miles north of the House of Commons, yet large parts of it, 4. Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab): such as the village of Studham, have almost no mobile What assessment she has made of access to the arts in phone coverage. Many complaints have been raised each region. [129108] with me about that, particularly by people running businesses and working from home. Will 4G help them? The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey): My Department’s Mr Vaizey: 4G should be helpful to them in the next Taking Part survey shows high levels of access to the few years, but I would also say that we take the issue of arts in all regions of England; the figures are 78.9% in partial not spots, where there is not universal coverage, England overall and 74.5% in the west midlands. very seriously. That is one reason why we are looking at making it easier to deploy mobile phone masts and Tristram Hunt: First, may I pay tribute to the great increase mobile phone coverage, particularly in areas work the Minister is doing on the Wedgwood museum? such as the one described by my hon. Friend. However, as a result of the extraordinary and disproportionate cuts to local authority budgets, great Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab): Has the Minister museums such as the Potteries museum and art gallery seen reports this week showing that the failure to roll in Stoke-on-Trent face a funding and scholarship crisis. out 4G speedily will cost £120 million at Christmas In a recent letter to The Guardian, the chair of Arts alone—in sales just next month? Does he accept that Council England, Liz Forgan, said that bodies such as the Government’s failure to deliver 4G speedily has an hers cannot fill the vacuum. What talks is the Minister economic impact? Will he indicate when 4G will be having with that great aesthete and lover of the arts the available in my area and throughout the Principality of Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Wales? to make sure that our great cities and regions continue to have access to great art? Mr Vaizey: The spectrum for the 4G services that are going to be auctioned only became available when we Mr Vaizey: I met the great lover of the arts’ junior completed the digital television switchover in October. Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for Communities We followed the previous Government’s timetable for and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member that, so if anyone is to blame for the delay, it is them. for Bath (Mr Foster), only yesterday, and my Department has regular communications with the Department for First World War (Commemoration) Communities and Local Government. As the hon. Gentleman knows, we managed to keep the cuts to 3. Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con): national portfolio organisations down to 15% or less, What plans she has to ensure a suitable commemoration and we have massively increased the national lottery of the centenary of the first world war. [129107] share for the arts. However, we do, of course, take concerns about local authority funding seriously.
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