Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how (a) the Local News Commission and (b) other similar organisations will be able to contribute to the development of her planned local media strategy.

We have been working across Government as the Local Media Strategy develops and are also engaging with key external stakeholders, from industry, academia, civil society and local government. Officials have already met with the Public Interest News Foundation, founders of the Local News Commission, as part of that engagement. Our work is also being informed by the range of studies conducted into the state of local journalism in the UK in recent years. With this in mind, we look forward to publication of the Local News Commission’s report and any new insights or recommendations that the Commission is able to offer.