Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to reintroduce a safeguarding database for children.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Keeping children safe is a priority for this government. Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is taking a range of steps to improve safeguarding. We are introducing a new information sharing duty, making provision for a Single Unique Identifier, strengthening the role of education in local safeguarding arrangements and introducing multi-agency child protection teams.

There are presently no plans to re-introduce a national safeguarding database for children.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the enforcement by the Gambling Commission of legislation on preventing unlicensed online gambling operators from being advertised by Premier League football clubs.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Gambling Commission has been clear that sports organisations must diligently and continuously ensure that they are not advertising illegal gambling. Under current rules, sports organisations who engage in sponsoring and advertising arrangements with unlicensed gambling operators are at serious risk of committing the offence of advertising unlawful gambling under Section 330 of the Gambling Act 2005. The Commission has warned relevant club officials that they may be liable to prosecution and, if convicted, face a fine, imprisonment or both if they promote unlicensed gambling businesses that transact with consumers in Great Britain. Sports organisations engaging in such arrangements with an unlicensed brand must ensure that online gambling activity for that unlicensed brand is blocked and inaccessible to consumers in Great Britain.

In such instances, the Commission will seek assurance from clubs that they have carried out due diligence on their gambling partners and that consumers in Great Britain cannot transact with the unlicensed websites. The Commission will also take steps to independently verify effective blocking measures are in place.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Alex Ballinger; Aphra Brandreth; Phil Brickell