Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
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 representations to Snap Inc. about the data protection and privacy implications of the Snap Map feature available to users of the Snapchat service.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is responsible for the protection of personal data and the right to privacy. The Secretary of State and I also met with the Information Commissioner last week to discuss data protection. The Government understands the concerns that have been raised and have discussed Snap Map with the ICO.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
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 child protection implications of the Snap Map service available to users of Snapchat; and if she will take steps to ensure that children and vulnerable people who use that service have their location data protected from unofficial third parties.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is responsible for the protection of personal data and the right to privacy. The Secretary of State and I also met with the Information Commissioner last week to discuss data protection. The Government understands the concerns that have been raised and have discussed Snap Map with the ICO.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the Information Commissioner's Office on the data protection and privacy implications of the Snap Map feature available to users of the Snapchat service.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is responsible for the protection of personal data and the right to privacy. The Secretary of State and I also met with the Information Commissioner last week to discuss data protection. The Government understands the concerns that have been raised and have discussed Snap Map with the ICO.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that buildings in the North East on the National Heritage List for England are properly maintained.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Historic England maintains a national Heritage at Risk Register that includes details of all Grade I and II* listed buildings at risk, plus details of Grade II listed buildings at risk in London and Grade II listed places of worship at risk outside London. In relation to buildings on the Register, Historic England operates a grant scheme for project development and urgent structural repairs, and provides advice to owners, developers and local authorities on changes, plus other sources of funding and advice. Such sources include the Heritage Lottery Fund, which has awarded over £90 million towards projects in the North East primarily focused on listed buildings. These projects typically focus on repair and redevelopment, but can also include funding for other activities such as engagement which help ensure the long term sustainability of a project.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to lay provisions for the new Horseracing Betting Levy Scheme before Parliament.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Horserace Betting Levy Regulations 2017 were laid before Parliament on 7th March 2017 and can be viewed via the following link: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2017/9780111155530/introduction
The regulations will ensure a level playing field amongst bookmakers based in Britain and those offshore while ensuring a fair return to the sport.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to amend Ofcom's duties to include the regulation of social media platforms; and if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the non-imposition of a general duty to monitor in Article 15 of E-Commerce Directive 2000/31/EC as it relates to the means by which social media platforms might be expected to monitor abusive content.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Social media companies are already subject to a variety of different regulations and we have no plans to amend Ofcom's duties to regulate in this area. Government expects online industries to ensure that they have relevant safeguards and processes in place, including access restrictions, for children and young people who use their services.
A decision will be made in due course regarding any assessment of the adequacy of the non-imposition of a general duty to monitor in Article 15 of E-Commerce Directive 2000/31/EC of the eCommerce Directive.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to review the adequacy of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 in so far as they relate to social media platforms after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Matt Hancock
A decision will be made in due course.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2016 to Question 48756, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that its expectations for social media providers to have robust processes in place to deal with abusive content are met.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Government continues to engage intensively with industry, including major social media companies, and charities through the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) a multi-stakeholder forum representing over 200 organisations with an interest in internet safety. UKCCIS has published a guide for providers of social media and interactive services to help make their platforms safer for children and young people under 18. UKCCIS is working to ensure this guide influences policy and practice by online service providers both within and outside the UK. Government expects industry to review and improve its child internet safety provisions as technology changes.
Leading providers report on their online safety practices voluntarily as part of the safety framework of the ICT Coalition for Children Online: http://ictcoalition.org/
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate she has made of the number of library closures in each of the last six years.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport monitors proposed changes to library service provision throughout England. The Department does not maintain detail on the number of public libraries closed each calendar year.
Asked by: Anna Turley (Labour (Co-op) - Redcar)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings Ministers of her Department have had with social media companies to discuss harmful online content since May 2015.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Department for Culture, Media and Sport Ministers regularly meet a wide range of stakeholders, including social media companies, to discuss a number of issues including those affecting children and young people on the internet.
Details of Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are available via the Department’s transparency returns, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/search?q=DCMS+ministerial+meetings.