Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the tax revenues the statutory gambling levy will raise per year.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government’s priority is to ensure funding is directed where it is needed most to deliver our objective to further understand and reduce gambling-related harms. That is why we have appointed UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and NHS England, together with appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales, as lead commissioning bodies for research, prevention and treatment. Decisions on how levy funds are spent within research, prevention and treatment lie with commissioning leads. We are also establishing robust governance structures to ensure the core aims of the levy are met and we expect to publish an Annual Levy Report each year setting out the use of the levy and impact against objectives.
The levy will be charged at a set rate for all holders of a Gambling Commission licence, ranging from 1.1% to 0.1% of Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) and is expected to raise around £90 million to £100 million per year.
The Gambling Act 2005 is clear that all gambling activity licensed by the Gambling Commission is in scope of the levy, including society lotteries. However, to minimise disruption, these operators will be charged the levy at the lowest rate of 0.1%, in recognition of the low rates of harm associated with participation in society lotteries and the important benefits they bring to good cause fundraising. This 0.1% will be charged as a proportion of proceeds retained after good causes. Under the terms of the fourth licence, the National Lottery operator, Allwyn, is already required to make a £1.6 million annual contribution to socially responsible purposes such as research and treatment. Commercial prize draws are not regulated as a gambling product under the Gambling Act.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to measure the impact of the funds raised by the statutory gambling levy.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government’s priority is to ensure funding is directed where it is needed most to deliver our objective to further understand and reduce gambling-related harms. That is why we have appointed UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and NHS England, together with appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales, as lead commissioning bodies for research, prevention and treatment. Decisions on how levy funds are spent within research, prevention and treatment lie with commissioning leads. We are also establishing robust governance structures to ensure the core aims of the levy are met and we expect to publish an Annual Levy Report each year setting out the use of the levy and impact against objectives.
The levy will be charged at a set rate for all holders of a Gambling Commission licence, ranging from 1.1% to 0.1% of Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) and is expected to raise around £90 million to £100 million per year.
The Gambling Act 2005 is clear that all gambling activity licensed by the Gambling Commission is in scope of the levy, including society lotteries. However, to minimise disruption, these operators will be charged the levy at the lowest rate of 0.1%, in recognition of the low rates of harm associated with participation in society lotteries and the important benefits they bring to good cause fundraising. This 0.1% will be charged as a proportion of proceeds retained after good causes. Under the terms of the fourth licence, the National Lottery operator, Allwyn, is already required to make a £1.6 million annual contribution to socially responsible purposes such as research and treatment. Commercial prize draws are not regulated as a gambling product under the Gambling Act.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what basis society lotteries and external lotteries are subject to a mandatory gambling levy, while the National Lottery and commercial prize draw operators are not.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government’s priority is to ensure funding is directed where it is needed most to deliver our objective to further understand and reduce gambling-related harms. That is why we have appointed UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and NHS England, together with appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales, as lead commissioning bodies for research, prevention and treatment. Decisions on how levy funds are spent within research, prevention and treatment lie with commissioning leads. We are also establishing robust governance structures to ensure the core aims of the levy are met and we expect to publish an Annual Levy Report each year setting out the use of the levy and impact against objectives.
The levy will be charged at a set rate for all holders of a Gambling Commission licence, ranging from 1.1% to 0.1% of Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) and is expected to raise around £90 million to £100 million per year.
The Gambling Act 2005 is clear that all gambling activity licensed by the Gambling Commission is in scope of the levy, including society lotteries. However, to minimise disruption, these operators will be charged the levy at the lowest rate of 0.1%, in recognition of the low rates of harm associated with participation in society lotteries and the important benefits they bring to good cause fundraising. This 0.1% will be charged as a proportion of proceeds retained after good causes. Under the terms of the fourth licence, the National Lottery operator, Allwyn, is already required to make a £1.6 million annual contribution to socially responsible purposes such as research and treatment. Commercial prize draws are not regulated as a gambling product under the Gambling Act.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government which organisations they intend to receive funding raised by the statutory gambling levy.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government’s priority is to ensure funding is directed where it is needed most to deliver our objective to further understand and reduce gambling-related harms. That is why we have appointed UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and NHS England, together with appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales, as lead commissioning bodies for research, prevention and treatment. Decisions on how levy funds are spent within research, prevention and treatment lie with commissioning leads. We are also establishing robust governance structures to ensure the core aims of the levy are met and we expect to publish an Annual Levy Report each year setting out the use of the levy and impact against objectives.
The levy will be charged at a set rate for all holders of a Gambling Commission licence, ranging from 1.1% to 0.1% of Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) and is expected to raise around £90 million to £100 million per year.
The Gambling Act 2005 is clear that all gambling activity licensed by the Gambling Commission is in scope of the levy, including society lotteries. However, to minimise disruption, these operators will be charged the levy at the lowest rate of 0.1%, in recognition of the low rates of harm associated with participation in society lotteries and the important benefits they bring to good cause fundraising. This 0.1% will be charged as a proportion of proceeds retained after good causes. Under the terms of the fourth licence, the National Lottery operator, Allwyn, is already required to make a £1.6 million annual contribution to socially responsible purposes such as research and treatment. Commercial prize draws are not regulated as a gambling product under the Gambling Act.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to cap the prize offered by large scale commercial prize draws.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Large scale commercial prize draws are not regulated as a gambling product under the Gambling Act 2005. There is currently no provision in the Act to introduce a cap on the prizes offered by prize draws.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps her Department is taking to increase (a) broadband and (b) mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
Answered by Matt Warman
The government is committed to nationwide rollout of future proof, gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible. Improving mobile coverage in rural areas is also a priority. We are committed to extending geographic mobile coverage to 95% of the UK and we are considering all of the options available to facilitate this.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to increase the level of funding for schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We have committed an extra £14 billion to schools in England over the next three years. This will bring the schools budget to £52.2 billion in 2022-23. This will allow funding increases for all schools. In particular, every secondary school will receive a minimum of at least £5,000 per pupil next year, with every primary school getting a minimum of at least £4,000 from 2021-22. This is the largest cash boost in a generation and has only been possible because of our balanced approach to the public finances and careful stewardship of the economy since 2010.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
What steps he is taking to strengthen the Union.
Answered by David Mundell
Strengthening and Sustaining the Union is a key priority for the UK Government. This is why we have asked Lord Dunlop to carry out a review to ensure that we are working in the most effective way possible to realise fully all the benefits of being a United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2019 to Question 229177 on visas: married people, if he will collate and publish figures for (a) the number of applications submitted under Appendix FM where the sponsor did not meet the financial requirement but argued that there were exceptional circumstances pertaining to their case and (b) the number of applications that were successful.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Information collected, collated and published in official statistics is kept under review, balancing user needs against burdens on suppliers, in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, implementing the Statistics and Registration Act 2007 (copy available at https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/code-of-practice/the-code/).
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to take into account the skills and qualifications of non-EEA nationals applying for entry clearance under Appendix FM; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Whilst skills and qualifications of non-EEA nationals applying for entry clearance under Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules are generally not taken into account, there is provision within the Rules that they can be where there are exceptional circumstances.
Paragraph 21A of Appendix FM-SE, inserted by HC 290, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-changes-to-the-immigration-rules-hc290-20-july-2017, sets out objective criteria by which decision makers will in such cases, assess an applicant’s relevant skills and qualifications within the context of previous or prospective employment or self-employment income.