Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the debate entitled The fight for a level playing field – ending discrimination against women in sport, which took place at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 13 October 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to supporting women's sport at every opportunity - pushing for greater participation, employment, commercial opportunities and visibility in the media. We appreciate the increased focus the Council of Europe has given to all these aspects.
There is no place for discrimination anywhere, it is completely unacceptable. There are some fantastic initiatives that exist to encourage women to take up sport and physical activity, for example Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, which has already inspired millions of women and girls to get active regardless of shape, size and ability. The Code for Sports Governance also requires national governing bodies to agree a diversity and inclusion action plan (DIAP) with Sport England and UK Sport. It is important that we make progress in the wider culture of sport to ensure women’s sport is treated equally to men’s at all levels.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the debate which took place at the Council of Europe on 23 June 2022 entitled The control of online communication: a threat to media pluralism, freedom of information and human dignity.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to being one of the safest countries to be online and we recognise the wider international debates taking place to address online safety. This includes the work of the Council of Europe, in particular the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, noting that recommendations will go to the Committee of Ministers in due course for appropriate review.
The UK continues efforts to tackle online harm through our Online Safety Bill, and to do so in a way that defends freedom of expression and pluralism online, protecting people’s rights to participate in society and engage in robust debate online. We remain committed to a pluralistic media landscape, where people can access information from a range of sources in order to form their opinions.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the debate entitled For an assessment of the means and provisions to combat children's exposure to pornographic content, which took place at the Council of Europe on 25 April 2022.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government shares the concerns raised by the Council of Europe about the impact of children’s exposure to pornography online.
The Online Safety Bill provides protection for children from online pornography. Services in scope of the Bill that host or publish pornography, including pornography sites, social media, video sharing platforms and forums will be required to protect children from this content.
The Government continues to engage with international partners, including through multilateral organisations such as the Council of Europe, to lead global discussions and build consensus around our approaches to tackling online harms.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the debate that took place at the Council of Europe between 24 and 28 January 2022 on sports policies in times of crisis.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the crucial work of the Council of Europe and in particular the PACE in this sphere, noting that recommendations will go to the Committee of Ministers in due course for appropriate review.
The Government recognises the important role that sport and physical activity plays, and took action to support the sport sector during Covid as a time of crisis. This is demonstrated by the £600 million Sport Survival Package set up in November 2020 as a result of restrictions on crowd capacities.
Furthermore, the £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund has supported local authority leisure centres to recover and reopen during the pandemic. This is in addition to more than £6 billion of unringfenced funding that has also been given to local authorities since the start of the pandemic to allocate in line with local needs which includes leisure facilities.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the debate that took place at the Council of Europe between 24 and 28 January 2022 on football governance.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to reforming football governance, and recognises the crucial work of the Council of Europe and in particular the PACE in this sphere, noting that recommendations will go to the Committee of Ministers in due course for appropriate review.
The Government recognises the need for the long-term financial sustainability of football clubs, particularly those in the lower leagues. That is why we have welcomed the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance and have endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.
The Government is working at pace to review the report in full, including detailed consideration of the recommendations made on improving financial stability and the governance of football clubs across the game, as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in the Spring.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the conclusions of the debate entitled Role of the media in times of crisis which occurred at the Council of Europe between 24 and 28 January 2022; and whether she plans to take steps in response to that debate.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government recognises the vital role of the media in supporting our communities and our democracy through the provision of reliable and high-quality information. The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the value of accurate information and trusted news sources in times of crisis. We are currently considering the conclusions of the Council of Europe debate, which rightly highlighted the importance of a strong, pluralistic, and independent media ecosystem in times of crisis.
We recognise the crucial work of the Council of Europe and in particular the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in this sphere, noting that recommendations will go to the Committee of Ministers in due course for appropriate review.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to tackle antisemitism online, including on social media.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Services in scope of the draft Online Safety Bill will need to protect users from illegal abuse, including illegal antisemitic abuse. Services in scope which are likely to be accessed by children will need to protect them from harmful or inappropriate content.
Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults. These companies will have to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable on their platforms and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently. If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.
The draft Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported its recommendations on 14 December. We are considering the Committee’s report and will introduce the Bill as soon as possible.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he plans to make for the implications of his policies of the debate that took place at the Council of Europe on 21 June 2021 on the potential merits of introducing a right to know mechanism for the preservation of media freedom.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government is committed to protecting the freedom of the press and recognises that a vibrant and free press plays an invaluable role in our cultural and democratic life. We want to make sure that this continues, with high journalistic standards working in the public interest. The government set up the National Committee for the Safety of Journalists, and published the National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists. The plan and the Committee’s aim is to ensure that journalists operating in the UK are as safe as possible, reducing the number of attacks on and threats issued to journalists. In addition, the government recently published an Online Media Literacy Strategy and Action Plan. Matters involving the Council of Europe are the responsibility of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will direct the Charity Commission to undertake an investigation into the expenditure of over £2m of charitable funds on legal expenses by the Governing Body of Christ Church, Oxford in relation to that College's attempt to dismiss the Dean of that College.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Charity Commission is the independent regulator and registrar for charities in England and Wales. As an independent non-Ministerial Department, Ministers cannot direct or control the Charity Commission. It is answerable to the courts for its legal decisions.
Disputes and disagreements in charities can be particularly damaging to the public’s confidence in charities. The Charity Commission opened a regulatory compliance case into Christ Church college in January last year and has continued to engage with the charity over a number of issues connected to the dispute at the College. These have included the expenditure of charitable funds on legal expenses connected to the dispute. The Commission has also instructed the trustees to commission an independent governance review. The Commission continues to closely engage with the charity and will do so until the matter is resolved.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps his Department is taking to help tackle loneliness.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recently published our strategy for tackling loneliness. This set out a raft of cross-government measures to take the first steps in tackling loneliness and takes forward recommendations from the Jo Cox Commission.
DCMS specifically is providing up to £1.8million to increase the number of community spaces available. This follows the announcement this summer of more than £20million of new funding for projects that bring people and communities together.
With the Office of National Statistics, the department has developed the ‘loneliness measure’ (to enable consistent analysis and build the evidence base), and will be piloting better use of open data around facilities and accessibility with local government. The department is launching an awareness campaign and including loneliness in internet safety.