Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ensure that BT (a) refunds in full late payment charges incurred by customers because of delays caused by postal strikes in full and (b) issues an apology to such customers.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
BT customers who have incurred late payment charges should contact BT customer service to discuss and resolve any issues that the postal strikes may have caused.
Ofcom, the independent telecoms regulator, requires all communication providers to be members of an approved independent Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme, which can assist in settling complaints. BT has signed up to the Communications Ombudsman service, which is free for consumers: https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/communications
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department for funding (a) the building of new and (b) refurbishing of existing swimming pools in the upcoming Budget and Spending Review.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to indoor and outdoor pools and that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy.
Government has provided a range of support for swimming pools during the pandemic. The £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country. In addition, Sport England have made 127 Covid support awards to the Swimming & Diving community (totalling £1,100,560), and a further 20 awards to multi-sport projects (totalling £211,171) where swimming and diving are expected to benefit.
Beyond Covid, Sport England have awarded £8,529,154 to swimming and diving projects since April 2017, and have provided £16,123,002 of funding to Swim England in the same period.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support he plans to provide to bingo clubs for their reopening on 17 May 2021 to help those clubs deal with the financial pressure they have faced during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government recognises that the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be extremely challenging for businesses, including in the Bingo sector. In recognition of the impact of requiring some businesses to remain closed for a longer period, we have introduced an enhanced package of support, including Restart Grants of up to £18,000 per premises, specifically for those which have been required to remain closed beyond Step 2. The package also includes extensions to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, with further discretionary funding for Local Authorities.
Bingo clubs have accessed £44m of government support via the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme (£26.8m), Eat Out to Help Out (£600k), Business Rates Relief (£15.9m) and Grant funding (£1.6m). We are continuing to work with organisations in the land-based gambling sector to understand the impacts and how we may be able to support them.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the return of spectators to the indoor World Snooker Championship on 3 May 2021, whether a decisions has been made on attendance of spectators at the FA Vase final at Wembley Stadium on the same day.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Whilst we would like to offer as many businesses as possible the opportunity to take part in the pilot programme, unfortunately it is not logistically feasible at this stage to run a large number of pilot events. I fully recognise that in normal times, fans would cherish the opportunity to travel to Wembley Stadium to support their club’s participation in the FA Vase final, and I understand the disappointment with this not being possible this year. The return of crowds is our priority for all football clubs, and we look forward to being able to welcome back fans to clubs as soon as it is safe to do so.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the decision to allow fans inside the Crucible to watch the World Snooker Championship, if he will allow spectators back to grassroots football games in outdoor stadiums.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises the importance of spectators to competitive sport, and to football in particular, as our national game, from the grassroots to the Premier League.
We welcome the return of spectators at selected sporting events as part of the science-led Events Research Programme (ERP). The ERP is running a series of pilots in April and May to inform decisions around the safe removal of social distancing at Step 4 of the Roadmap. The pilots will be run across a range of settings, venues, and activities, including football games, so that findings will support the full reopening of similar settings across multiple sectors.
The government has published the ‘COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021’ setting out the roadmap out of the lockdown restrictions for England, and which explains how restrictions will be eased over time.
Step 2 of the Government's roadmap sets out that spectators are not permitted to attend sporting events taking place on private land, other than for safeguarding purposes for or providing care or assistance to a person with disabilities participating in an organised sporting event or activity. They should maintain social distance and not mix with other households. This does not prevent people from viewing recreational or organised sport that is taking place in a public space, e.g. a park, in groups of up to 6 people or 2 households.
Sporting events that are intended to attract spectators (including ticketed events), or events that are likely to attract a significant number of spectators (e.g. a major marathon) should not take place in a public space, or on private land, until Step 3.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
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 potential merits of classifying broadband as an essential utility.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Government believes that a fast, reliable broadband network is essential, which is why we are committed to ensuring nationwide gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible. We are making good progress towards this target, with around 1 in 3 UK premises now able to access a gigabit-capable connection according to the latest figures from Ofcom and ThinkBroadband.
With regards to classifying broadband as an essential utility, operators already have strong rights to support rollout of new fibre. We are proposing to further strengthen these rights following through the Telecoms Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill, which aims to make it easier for providers to connect tenanted properties where there are unresponsive landlords. Alongside this, we are committed to consulting on further reforms to the Electronic Communications Code, the statutory framework underpinning the rights of telecoms operators to deploy digital infrastructure on public and private land.
The Government will continue to take action to support gigabit rollout in other ways. For example, in harder to reach areas, we are investing £5 billion through our UK Gigabit Programme.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department plans to take to close to the digital poverty gap in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) the North East and (c) the UK.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In response to Covid-19, the Government and Ofcom agreed a set of commitments with the UK’s major broadband and mobile operators to support vulnerable consumers during the pandemic. In order to ensure that those in financial difficulty have access to the connectivity they need, there are currently social tariffs in place that provide low cost landline and broadband services for those on means-tested benefits, including BT Basic and Virgin's new service, Essential. Vodafone has also launched a mobile service providing unlimited data at low-cost to those receiving certain means-tested benefits.
In the slightly longer term, Ofcom is reviewing affordability issues in the communications market more generally, and intends to publish recommendations in the first half of this year. This will improve the evidence base of where households face difficulty, and inform any future Government interventions.
Public libraries are also a vital component in tackling the digital poverty gap. During 2019/20, South Tyneside’s eight static libraries had 96 electronic workstations available with internet access, providing 298,632 hours of available use of the People’s Network and with 74,449 hours recorded use of People’s Network. In addition, the libraries also recorded 129,983 hours of use of Public Access Wi-Fi. Of the eight libraries in South Tyneside, two are open during the current national lockdown, one of which is Jarrow Focus that is offering access to public computers for essential use on a strict appointment basis.
The current lockdown requires libraries to close, other than to provide specific services, such as order and collect or providing access to public PCs for essential services. In addition, home library services and school library services can still operate on a no-or low-contact basis. While the regulations enable library services to continue to provide certain services, it is up to local Councils to determine after appropriate risk assessments around safety of both users and people working in libraries whether these services can and will be provided.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding has been allocated to the live comedy industry as part of his Department's coronavirus arts funding support package.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Secretary of State provided a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. Live comedy is a much loved part of the British cultural landscape. Comedy venues and organisations are eligible for support through the package.
The Culture Recovery Fund will provide targeted support to organisations in the cultural and heritage sectors. The Fund is being delivered by Arts Council England, the British Film Institute, Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, who are currently considering applications. Announcements about allocations will be made in the coming weeks.
The Live Comedy Association has attended regular ministerially-chaired roundtables that seek to ensure Creative Industries sectors are being assisted as effectively as possible.
We will continue to work with the comedy sector to understand the difficulties the industry faces and help it access support available to address challenges.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2020 to Question 61607 on leisure: Coronvirus, whether a potential date of reopening can be provided to business owners of (a) soft play centres, (b) trampoline parks and (c) other leisure facilities for planning purposes.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active and the Government is committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so. The government has announced that indoor fitness and dance studios, and indoor gyms and sports venues/facilities would remain closed, but since 4 July other indoor facilities, including some indoor games, recreation and entertainment venues have reopened.
The Secretary of State has established a task force to work with the sport and leisure sector to help them become COVID-secure and re-open as soon as possible. As with all aspects of the Government’s response to COVID-19, we will be guided by public health considerations to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when (a) soft play centres, (b) trampoline parks and (c) other leisure facilities will be allowed to reopen during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active and the Government is committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so. The government has announced that indoor fitness and dance studios, and indoor gyms and sports venues/facilities would remain closed but from 4 July other indoor facilities, including indoor games, recreation and entertainment venues would reopen.
The Secretary of State has established a task force with the sport and leisure sector to help them become Covid-secure and re-open as soon as possible.As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.