Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support for Heritage Railways in the UK her Department and HM Treasury have agreed since 8 April 2020.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We recognise the extremely difficult circumstances which heritage and tourism businesses, including heritage railways, are currently facing across the country as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. To assist in mitigating this impact, the Chancellor has announced an extensive financial support package for business and workers in the current economic emergency. The Heritage Alliance, of which the Heritage Railway Association is a member, is represented at weekly Ministerial teleconferences with DCMS, in order to communicate members’ issues and concerns to Government to help us to seek solutions and mitigations.
Heritage railways may wish to apply for further support from the Heritage Emergency Fund, a £50million scheme launched by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support the heritage sector through the Covid-19 pandemic. They may also want to approach Historic England, who have announced a £2million programme of grants for smaller, specialist organisations and projects.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding the Government has allocated to television broadcasting services in Irish and in Ulster-Scots under the (a) Irish Language Broadcasting Fund and (b) Ulster-Scots Broadcasting Fund.
Answered by Margot James
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport currently provides £3m for the Irish Language Broadcast Fund and £1m for the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund each year.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress her Department has made with social media platforms on a voluntary code of practice for online (a) abuse and (b) hate crime.
Answered by Margot James
The Internet Safety Strategy consultation closed on the 7 December and we are currently reviewing responses. We received a wide range of views from industry, charities, academia and others. These will help shape our Government response to the consultation which we will be publishing in the Spring.
The Prime Minister confirmed plans to bring forward the code of practice in her speech on the 6 February. The aim of the code of practice is to prevent abusive behaviour online, introduce more effective reporting mechanisms to tackle bullying or harmful content, and give better guidance for users to identify and report illegal content. The Government will be outlining more detail on the code of practice in the spring, as part of the Government response to the strategy.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many responses his Department received to its consultation, Internet safety strategy green paper.
Answered by Margot James
The Internet Safety Strategy consultation closed on the 7 December and we are currently reviewing responses. We received a wide range of views from industry, charities, academia and others. These will help shape our Government response to the consultation which we will be publishing in the Spring.
The Prime Minister confirmed plans to bring forward the code of practice in her speech on the 6 February. The aim of the code of practice is to prevent abusive behaviour online, introduce more effective reporting mechanisms to tackle bullying or harmful content, and give better guidance for users to identify and report illegal content. The Government will be outlining more detail on the code of practice in the spring, as part of the Government response to the strategy.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many responses to his Department's consultation, Internet Safety strategy green paper supported a voluntary code of practice for Social Media Platforms to tackle online (a) abuse and (b) hate crime content.
Answered by Margot James
The Internet Safety Strategy consultation closed on the 7 December and we are currently reviewing responses. We received a wide range of views from industry, charities, academia and others. These will help shape our Government response to the consultation which we will be publishing in the Spring.
The Prime Minister confirmed plans to bring forward the code of practice in her speech on the 6 February. The aim of the code of practice is to prevent abusive behaviour online, introduce more effective reporting mechanisms to tackle bullying or harmful content, and give better guidance for users to identify and report illegal content. The Government will be outlining more detail on the code of practice in the spring, as part of the Government response to the strategy.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 Digital Economy Act 2017, what guidance her Department has issued to providers of online social media platforms on their obligations to (a) report and (b) cooperate with the police on instances of serious digital abuse.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), which the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport co-chairs, published a practical guide for providers of social media and interactive services. The guide has examples of good practice to encourage businesses to think about "safety by design",including advice on informing the police of illegal content and co-operating with law enforcement requests to remove such content.
The guide can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/uk-council-for-child-internet-safety-ukccis
Additionally, we are introducing a code of practice for social media providers, as required by the Digital Economy Act, which will set out guidance about what social media providers should do in relation to harmful conduct on their platforms. The code of practice will include guidance on arrangements for notification by users; the process for dealing with notifications; terms and conditions in relation to these arrangements and processes; and, the giving information to the public about the action providers take against harmful behaviour. We are consulting on how to proceed with this as part of the Internet Safety Strategy and aim to publish the code in 2018.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has for the code of practice for online social media platforms to apply to conduct which involves threats of violence and terrorism.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are consulting on introducing a social media code of practice as part of the Internet Safety Strategy which was published on 11 October.
As laid out in the Digital Economy Act 2017, the code will seek to ensure that providers offer adequate online safety policies, introduce minimum standards and metrics and ensure regular review and monitoring. The code will not cover unlawful content or conduct, such as terrorist material or threats of violence, which the legal framework already addresses.
Government will continue to consult with stakeholders in the tech industry on the details of the code of practice before its introduction in 2018.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to commence consultation on the code of practice for online social media platforms.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are consulting on introducing a social media code of practice as part of the Internet Safety Strategy which was published on 11 October.
As laid out in the Digital Economy Act 2017, the code will seek to ensure that providers offer adequate online safety policies, introduce minimum standards and metrics and ensure regular review and monitoring. The code will not cover unlawful content or conduct, such as terrorist material or threats of violence, which the legal framework already addresses.
Government will continue to consult with stakeholders in the tech industry on the details of the code of practice before its introduction in 2018.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what guidance her Department plans to give on criteria to be used by online social media platforms when applying the code of practice to determine whether an abusive or threatening incident has reached the criminal threshold.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are consulting on introducing a social media code of practice as part of the Internet Safety Strategy which was published on 11 October.
As laid out in the Digital Economy Act 2017, the code will seek to ensure that providers offer adequate online safety policies, introduce minimum standards and metrics and ensure regular review and monitoring. The code will not cover unlawful content or conduct, such as terrorist material or threats of violence, which the legal framework already addresses.
Government will continue to consult with stakeholders in the tech industry on the details of the code of practice before its introduction in 2018.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whom her Department plans to consult before introducing the code of practice for online social media platforms.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are consulting on introducing a social media code of practice as part of the Internet Safety Strategy which was published on 11 October.
As laid out in the Digital Economy Act 2017, the code will seek to ensure that providers offer adequate online safety policies, introduce minimum standards and metrics and ensure regular review and monitoring. The code will not cover unlawful content or conduct, such as terrorist material or threats of violence, which the legal framework already addresses.
Government will continue to consult with stakeholders in the tech industry on the details of the code of practice before its introduction in 2018.