Live Webchat with Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries (Monday 31 January, 1.15-2.15pm)

[HelenMumsnet]

We're delighted to announce that Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, will be joining us for a webchat this Monday lunchtime.

Ed's responsibilities range from libraries and art galleries to broadband access, internet and film.

Ed says said that, ever since he was appointed last May, it has been a priority for him to keep in direct contact with people who want to ask questions, raise issues or make comments and suggestions.

So, do feel free to ask away - either on the day or, if you can't join us then, by posting your question in advance here.

[falsemessageoflethargy]

The Schools Library Service cuts across the country are another example of where funding should have been ringfenced. We lost ours last year - massive implications for schools.

[elkiedee]

While I'm quite critical of local councils too, do you really think that my opinion and that of everyone else in my borough counts for more at the moment than your government's decision to slash so much funding for councils that they are cutting non-statutory services to protect funding for statutory ones?

And is it deliberate government policy to punish voters who vote Labour in local elections?

[Querelous]

Mr Vaizey,


The World Service is respected internationally as unbiased, accurate and fair, a large part of this is due to it's local language coverage in an increasingly polarised and unstable regions of the world. Many of these regions are reliant on radio. What are the security / cultural implications for the UK and British nationals / companies engaging in of cutting for overseas trade of cutting for example the Somali, Swahili or Russian language coverage?

Will cuts to this vital bastion of democracy not ultimately lead to an increase in the threat of terrorism om our shores?


Querelous

[thewook]

" There are loads of library authorities who are pioneering changes which make libraries more relevant than ever. "

I really hope you don't mean the sort of bookshelf in a pub 'big society' rubbish that has been showon in news reports.
But I suspect that is what you mean.

What do you mean by relevant??? How can a library be more relevant than 'people need access to books and computers, therefore we will have libraries'???! What is a 'relevant library'???

Weasel words.

[EdVaizey]

@MarinaResurgens

I would like to ask you if you have any personal, extended experience of coordinating volunteer workers, as this is what your Government is advocating as a viable alternative to paying professional and paraprofessional library staff to provide a service.
What are your views on Philip Pullman's brilliant summary of this unworkable suggestion?

Philip Pullman

Well I thought Philip Pullman made a very powerful speech. But as a local MP I am constantly amazed by how many people do volunteer - working in Citizens Advice Bureau, running after school clubs for music and sport, caring for the elderly. Society wouldnt function without volunteers. So I am not sure we should stand in the way if people want to volunteer to work in or run their local library. We have never said volunteers should take over from professional librarians, but they can support their work either by keeping a library open or keeping it open for longer.

[freshmint]

To what extent do you have a say in the decision about whether the news corp purchase of the remainder of sky should be referred to the competition commission? Surely cross-media ownership and plurality should be part of your remit, not merely the business secretary's? Are you a Cablite on this issue?!

[fivegomadindorset]

Thank youfor answering my question, I was arentfanny, by closing my local library I will now have to travel a 15 mile round trip to get to my next nearest. The flag ship one is a 35 mile round trip and with the proce of diesel at the moment It gets expensive. Our library is used regularly by the older generation who can walk there, we don't have a bus service here. Quite honestly I don't give a stuff about councils being democratically elected, but I for one will probably not vote for your lot next time.

[LindsayWagner]

I think one of the models that the Future Libraries Programme is trialling a library in a pub. Which is super for children. And Muslims.

[compo]

Are you doing anything for save our libraries day on Saturday?
save our libraries day

[Crystylline]

it's just been announced that nearly 11,000 public sector jobs will be cut in the south west, including in every local authority massive impact on the arts and culture provision (libraries, theatres, museums etc).

given that the arts and culture represents 3.7% of GDP in the UK and is an important growth market, don't you think that cuts to grants, local authority funding, university education, staffing and department mergers and closures are going to negatively rather than positively affect this important industry?

The government claim to want to purse growth, but by axing the opportunities for growth, instead of investing in it, the actual result is unemployment, and a loss of value and impact, which will be visible not only UK wide, but internationally as well.

[Aitch]

[EdVaizey]

@gaelicsheep

I am pleased to see my question about cutting funding to specialist music colleges has already been asked.

Instead therefore I'm going to ask a question about broadband access. How does the Government plan to help people get access not just to broadband but affordable broadband? We have satellite broadband through the Scottish Broadband Reach project and we pay £35 a month for a distinctly flaky connection that cannot deliver streamed video at all. 2MB would cost well over £40 a month. It's all very well getting everyone access to broadband - how are you going to make it affordable for all and address the huge divide between cheap superfast in the towns and expensive barely a crawl in areas like mine? The market is not going to deliver improved landline broadband, certainly not for small and ancient rural exchanges like mine.

Thanks - we set out a detailed broadband strategy for broadband roll out in December - which covers the whole of the United Kingdom. It includes £530m of investment to help get broadband to rural areas. We're looking for local councils to come forward with bids, working with private providers or community broadband groups. While staellite is expensive it may get cheaper with the launch of new satellites. But there may be other solutions for you apart from satellite. As a whole, we have some of the cheapest broadband in the world because we have a competitive market place.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

"Technology means that people no longer have a stranglehold on distribution, and arts organisations can pioneer new ways of engaging either by telecasting into cinemas, or with apps and things like that"

I am rather worried that the man in charge of libraries and creative technology is the same man that wrote that sentence! It does not make sense on any level.

Do you mean that there is greater access to distribution because of new technology? In that case do you actually know the costs of telecasting into cinemas or developing apps?

[MarinaResurgens]

Thank you for that Ed.
I work as a librarian and volunteer for various things at my local church and school. Trust me when I say that volunteers are a lovely extra and not to be relied on when responsible for providing a service.

[LilyBolero]

Thank you for your reply, please do urgently review the funding to specialist music colleges, and sort out the visa problems.

[freshmint]

Was that the strategy which you got completely and utterly confused about net neutrality and said that you and tim berners lee were "as one" on the oily and he said "uh, no we aren't?"

[freshmint]

on the issue, sorry not oily (where did that come from?!)

[compo]

I also work in my local library and volunteers are happy to come in for a couple of hours and run Reading groups
they're not so happy to be trained in financial procedures, health and safety , first aid, working unsocialable hours all unpaid

[EdVaizey]

@Avocadoes

Mr Vaizey,

I have read that you plan to scrap the idea of net neutrality (for those that do not know, this means that websites will have to pay Internet Service Providers for delivering their content. A big business with lots of cash will be able to afford to pay top whack and will therefore have its pages loaded faster onto your screen than a smaller, poorer rival).

Potentially this means that there will be a two tier internet. With big business being able to provide easy access to its content and small business/charities/individuals only being able to offer slow loading pages. The consumer will soon get irritated by the slow access to some information so will start avoiding the pages of smaller companies thus disadvantaging them ever more.

Even the US Government thinks net neutrality is of supreme importance so that all information is equal. That is the magic of the internet. Can you please explain why you are willing to undermine equality on the internet in favor of big business? Please don't use technical gooblidook in your answer in the hope of boring people to death so they continue to ignore this really important issue.

Avocadoes

Hi Avocadoes. I gave a speech on this issue last year. It was called the open internet. Basically I said that people should have the right to get all legal content they want on the internet. I also pointed out that a lightly regulated internet had enabled all the massive innovation we have seen eg Mumsnet and I wanted to preserve that. At the moment internet providers manage their traffic, they have to, but I have said that they will need to be more transparent so that big services which take up a lot of bandwidth will know if they are being slowed down. I also said that no traffic management should happen that is done on the basis of discriminating against competitors. Finally I pointed out the difference between us and the US - the US has two main providers so the potential for discrimination is huge which is why there is a big debate. Here we have 4 big providers at least plus dozens of others, so customers can switch easily. So I concluded we did not need to legislate at the moment but we will keep the situation under review.

[Bumperrlicious]

Apparently in one of the volunteer libraries it takes about 80 volunteers to keep the library open. I guess my husband can do it for free once he loses his paid job there, only, will he be allowed to take the children as I will have to go back to work full time?

[elkiedee]

It's nice to see you praising volunteers in CABs and at after school clubs, but many of these voluntary organisations are being squeezed for lack of funding (premises rent is a huge issue) and a lot of those are closing too. Can you quote evidence of voluntary organisations that aren't suffering from the cuts imposed by the national government on local councils?

[EdVaizey]

@Betelguese

Mr Vaizey

Music and Art in Schools is part of a humanistic culture.

Support for fine art, drawing, design, and music in schools needs to be addressed now after so many years of cuts and decline. Children have the right to be educated in music and arts from an early age. Music and Arts is a most essential part of our society, life and education, is a means to socialisation and a unifying thing. They ought to be considered compulsory subjects but they were not so during the previous administration.

What is you vision for the education in arts and music in schools? How do you see music and art funded and promoted in schools curriculum?

Some free primary schools are been established as art schools but we need more done.

Can you promise a dialogue with the families on this arts and music issue?

Hi Betelguese, I completely agree. We'll shortly be publishing a report by Darren Henley, the MD of Classic FM, into music education in schools. I think it will be very well received as it emphasises the huge importance of ensuring all children get access to a good music education and the chance to learn a musical instrument. I'm also confident we'll be able to respond positively to the review when it comes out. Working with Darren has been great and we're going to ask him to take forward what he's done to cultural education. There is a lot of good stuff going on but again it needs a bit of joining up and coherence.

[elkiedee]

Bumperrlicious, I'm sorry to hear about your husband's job, and I think your question addresses the crucial point here very well!