Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what factors the Events Research Programme will consider in producing a roadmap for the reopening of the events industry; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Events Research Programme (ERP), under the guidance of Chief Advisors Nicholas Hytner and Davd Ross, is aimed at providing key scientific data on how small and large-scale events could be permitted to safely reopen in line with the Prime Minister's roadmap out of lockdown. The Chief Advisers will oversee the programme, reporting into the Prime Minister and will co-chair a small, advisory Senior Steering Board. There will also be a Joint Programme Board working across government to inform policy development and a Science Board to provide scientific assurance across the programme. Pilots, due to start in April, will investigate how a combination of testing and non-pharmaceutical interventions can be employed to allow venues to open safely. It is anticipated that findings will be reported to the Prime Minister at the end of May, to feed into wider discussions around Step 4 of the lockdown restrictions.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish data on the rates of covid-19 infection in (a) professional and (b) grassroots sport in the period prior to the January 2021 national covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We do not hold data on the rates of COVID-19 infection in professional and grassroots sport.
Government has published overarching guidance for grassroots sport but does not publish guidance for individual sports. It is for the National Governing Body of the sport to consider the steps that would need to be taken, and the conditions that would need to be met, for their activity to resume. The National Governing Body should also publish relevant guidance.
Professional sports have put in place sport specific protocols in line with our guidance for covid secure return of training and competition. Where appropriate to those protocols, this includes regular testing, such as in Premier League football. Many have chosen to publish their testing info for transparency, and, where appropriate, results are reported locally.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make it his policy to introduce financial penalties for companies that allow misinformation about vaccines to be spread on their platforms; and if he will set up a taskforce to tackle online vaccine misinformation.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government takes the issue of misinformation and disinformation very seriously and is working closely with social media platforms to help them identify and take action to remove incorrect claims about the virus, particularly around the potential Covid-19 vaccine in line with their revised terms and conditions, and to promote authoritative sources of information.
The Cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit was stood up on 5 March 2020, bringing together cross-Government monitoring and analysis capabilities. Its primary function is to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and the reach of disinformation and misinformation linked to Covid-19, and to work with partners to stamp it out.
At a joint roundtable hosted by the DCMS and DHSC Secretaries of State in November, Social media platforms agreed to continue to work with public health bodies to ensure that authoritative messages about vaccine safety reach as many people as possible; to commit to swifter responses to flagged content and to commit to the principle that no user or company should directly profit from COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation. This work is being taken forward through an ongoing counter-disinformation policy forum which brings together platforms, civil society organisations and academia.
The Online Harms White Paper highlighted disinformation as potentially being in scope of the regulatory framework, and set out a list of potential steps that platforms could take ahead of regulation. Further details about how the legislation and the regulator will tackle disinformation will be published in the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper. The regulator will have strong enforcement powers to deal with non-compliance, including the power to issue notices, warnings and fines.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had on additional specific financial support for rugby league clubs, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 1 May this year the Government announced that the Rugby Football League would receive a £16 million cash injection to safeguard the immediate future of the sport for the communities it serves. This emergency loan will help the sport deal with the extreme financial impact of COVID-19. We are continuing to engage with the Rugby Football League and other sporting bodies on the consequences of the decision not to reopen stadia to spectators on 1 October.
Government is also supporting rugby league through more than £11m of Sport England investment in the Rugby Football League over 2017-21 and investment of up to £10m in rugby league facilities to help drive a legacy from the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a statutory owners and directors test in football.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Football clubs are the heart of local communities, they have unique social value and many with a great history. It is vital they are protected.
The Government is committed to undertaking a fan led review of football governance, which will include consideration of the Owners’ and Directors’ test.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have with the GMB trade union on financial pressures and salary caps in Rugby League Super League due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has had no such discussions with the GMB trade union, but trade union attendance across a range of DCMS working groups was agreed with the TUC, with PFA and TUC attending the sport working group
The Government announced on 30 April that the Rugby Football League (RFL) will receive an emergency loan of up to £16 million to safeguard the immediate future of the sport for the communities it serves, and is continuing to work closely with the sport to understand the issues they face and discuss how we can support them further through this difficult time. The RFL is fully engaged with the process and is ensuring that the sport as a whole is aware of the assistance available and how to access support. It is a matter for individual clubs to pursue the support appropriate for their situation.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timeframe is for (a) brass bands and (b) choirs to restart (i) practising and (ii) performing as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Detailed guidance for the performing arts has been published on Gov.uk.
This guidance sets out the current Public Health England assessment that certain activities, including singing and playing brass instruments, carry a potentially higher risk of transmission and that participation in such activities requires particular attention to the risk involved. This position will be updated as the evidence base develops.
To help support the development of the evidence base, DCMS is working closely with SAGE and a number of specialists to examine the existing and emerging evidence to provide advice to guide the future development of policy and guidelines.