The All Party Writers Group (APWG) is pleased to announce that John Whittingdale MP has been elected as the new Chair of the Group. To support John Whittingdale in his role, Lord Tim Clement-Jones and Pete Wishart MP will act as co-Vice Chairs. Baroness Benjamin remains in the role of Secretary and Lord Dubs has taken on the role of Treasurer.
John Whittingdale has a long history supporting the creative industries through his chairmanship of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, having previously chaired the All Party Writers Group and other Groups relevant to intellectual property and during his time serving as the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. A strong supporter of creators’ rights, he says: I am delighted to have been elected as Chair of the All Party Writers Group. Immediate priorities are to ensure that creators are not harmed by Brexit; this will mean scrutinizing how we adapt EU laws on copyright into our own legislation with the Repeal Bill and seeing where we can adopt the progress for creators that the UK drove the EU to achieve in the first place. We must also work to better understand the situation of the working life of an author and how we can ensure creators are fairly rewarded for their work.
