Asked by: Baroness Howe of Idlicote (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many times payment providers have (1) been asked to block payments to online gambling websites not licensed in the UK, and (2) blocked such payments, since the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 came into force.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Since the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 came into force there have been 11 occasions where the Gambling Commission has asked payment providers to prevent payments to online gambling website operators not licensed in the UK but believed to be transacting with consumers in Great Britain. On all 11 occasions the payment provider either terminated their relationship with the unlicensed operator or took steps to ensure that the unlicensed gambling website was no longer available to consumers in Great Britain.
In addition, the Gambling Commission are aware of additional instances where payment providers have, of their own initiative, terminated agreements with unlicensed gambling websites transacting with consumers in Great Britain. The Commission are unable to quantify these instances because payment providers are not obliged to report these cases unless the action is instigated by the Commission.
Asked by: Baroness Howe of Idlicote (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House the report of, or other documentation from, Ofcom's strategic review that led to the decision that Ofcom should regulate video-on-demand programme services from 1 January 2016.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
From 1 January 2016, Video on Demand (VOD) services will be regulated by Ofcom, following an internal review to ensure the regulation of broadcast is as effective and efficient as possible, for the benefit of customers, audiences, and the industry. Ofcom will act as the sole regulator for VOD services, rather than two separate bodies carrying out this work, creating operational efficiencies and allowing editorial content on VOD services to sit alongside Ofcom’s existing regulation of broadcasting.
Ofcom has communicated the outcome and reasons for its decision to stakeholders. More information can be found here :http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2015/1520333/
Asked by: Baroness Howe of Idlicote (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultation took place with relevant stakeholders before the announcement that video-on-demand programme services would be regulated by Ofcom from 1 January 2016.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
From 1 January 2016, Video on Demand (VOD) services will be regulated by Ofcom, following an internal review to ensure the regulation of broadcast is as effective and efficient as possible, for the benefit of customers, audiences, and the industry. Ofcom will act as the sole regulator for VOD services, rather than two separate bodies carrying out this work, creating operational efficiencies and allowing editorial content on VOD services to sit alongside Ofcom’s existing regulation of broadcasting.
Ofcom has communicated the outcome and reasons for its decision to stakeholders. More information can be found here :http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2015/1520333/
Asked by: Baroness Howe of Idlicote (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how Ofcom is ensuring that persons under the age of 18 are protected from inappropriate content in television and radio services.
Answered by Baroness Shields
Section One of the Broadcasting Code serves to protect children from unsuitable content in television and radio services. The rules in this section include specific provisions, and cover areas such as drugs, smoking, violence and dangerous behaviour, offensive language, sexual material and nudity. The rules also specifically protect children before the watershed on television at 9pm and at times when they are particularly likely to be listening to radio services. Ofcom enforces these rules robustly, and can impose statutory sanctions on any broadcaster that breaches them.
Asked by: Baroness Howe of Idlicote (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how a child is defined within the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.
Answered by Baroness Shields
For the purposes of protecting children from viewing or listening to unsuitable material, section one of the Broadcasting Code defines children as those aged under fifteen years. For the purporses of safeguarding children involved in programmes, the Code protects all young people under the age of eighteen.
Asked by: Baroness Howe of Idlicote (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to consult on their manifesto commitment to require age verification for pornography websites.
Answered by Baroness Shields
The Prime Minister announced on 29 July that there would be a consultation on the Government’s manifesto commitment to require age verification for websites containing pornographic material. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is currently preparing the consultation documents.
I would like to thank the Noble Lady for her tireless efforts in this area and hope she will engage in the consultation when it is launched for publication later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Howe of Idlicote (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the comments by Baroness Shields on 17 July (HL Deb, col 860), how European regulations on net neutrality will affect family-friendly filters being provided by internet service providers.
Answered by Baroness Shields
Throughout the negotiations of the Telecoms Single Market package, the Government pushed for the best outcome for UK consumers. The UK was instrumental in altering the original proposals on net neutrality to ensure that the outcome was a balanced, principles-based package that protects the open internet, while supporting innovation and keeping the UK’s current world class child protection measures in place.
We are considering the best method to ensure continuity for our filters regime and will be providing an update in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Howe of Idlicote (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the comments by Baroness Shields on 17 July (HL Deb, col 862), what measures regarding the protection of children’s safety online are being considered in the strategic defence and security review.
Answered by Baroness Shields
The Government remains committed to improving the safety of children online and continues to make significant progress in a variety of areas. The Government is working through the multi-stakeholder UK Council for Child Internet Safety to drive further progress, and maintain our position as a world leader in child internet safety.
At the “We Protect Summit” next month, we are seeking to promote a ModelNational Response that will provide guidance and support to countries on thecapabilities they need to have in place to combat online child sexual exploitation – which will in turn improve global coordination and our capability to act to protect the safety and human rights of children all over the world.
This will inform work on the relevant aspects of the 2015 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review.