Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with Ministers in the Department for Education of the role of industrial cultural heritage in attracting young people into STEM subjects.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s industrial heritage is a vital part of our nation's rich history and cultural life, and His Majesty’s Government has taken a number of steps to safeguard and promote our industrial heritage across the UK, including in the North East of England.
HM Government is committed to safeguarding our nation’s built heritage. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 includes protection for iconic assets of industrial and engineering accomplishment, including the Grade I listed High Level Bridge, the Grade II* listed Tyne Bridge, and the Grade II* listed Swing Bridge, which is also a Scheduled Monument.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested more than £610 million in industrial, maritime and transport heritage projects across the UK since 1994, including £40 million in the North East.
In 2019, DCMS invested £18.6 million in the National Railway Museum’s ‘Vision 2025’ project through the Government’s Cultural Investment Fund. This involves a major capital transformation of the National Railway Museum in York and Locomotion Museum in Shildon, County Durham, which will help to celebrate the North East's unique relationship with heritage rail.
HM Government is also investing £95 million across 65 High Street Heritage Action Zones to revitalise high streets and connect people with their local heritage. The Stockton and Darlington Railway Heritage Action Zone is a brilliant example, restoring 26 miles of historic railway, and developing a major industrial heritage attraction, in the run-up to the bicentenary of the first public steam rail journey between Stockton and Darlington in 1825.
Repairs Grants for Heritage at Risk, managed by Historic England, have restored a number of industrial heritage sites across the North East, including £250,000 towards the restoration of a Grade II* railway goods shed in Darlington, thought to be the oldest surviving one in the UK.
Beyond the North East, DCMS has invested in the restoration of other industrial heritage assets. In Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, Historic England is working with developers to revitalise old textile mills, transforming them into new homes, commercial spaces, and cultural hubs. Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have helped to reopen Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings – the first iron-framed building in the world – as a new workspace and community asset, with its conservation providing work placements, training and hands-on experience in heritage preservation and construction skills.
DCMS is working more broadly to promote the UK’s industrial heritage. Our sponsored museums and arm’s-length bodies are playing a key role in engaging young people with our industrial cultural heritage, and encouraging them into STEM pathways. This includes the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, inspiring future engineers with its focus on how Britain’s industrial heritage changed the world. This is supported by the work of the four other Science Museum sites and the Natural History Museum.
Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme supports primary and secondary schools to engage children with their local industrial heritage and to consider possible future career paths.
DCMS, in partnership with DfE, is developing the Cultural Education Plan, which will aim to support career progression pathways, and tackle disparities in opportunity and outcomes for children and young people within the cultural and creative sectors. This includes improving engagement in our heritage sectors and industrial heritage.
Industrial heritage is also fundamental for tourism and our local visitor economy, especially in the North East. The Government is currently developing the Destination Development Partnership, which includes working with partners across the North East to improve the region's visitor economy.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what (a) programmes and (b) bodies her Department provides funding to for the promotion of the UK's industrial heritage.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s industrial heritage is a vital part of our nation's rich history and cultural life, and His Majesty’s Government has taken a number of steps to safeguard and promote our industrial heritage across the UK, including in the North East of England.
HM Government is committed to safeguarding our nation’s built heritage. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 includes protection for iconic assets of industrial and engineering accomplishment, including the Grade I listed High Level Bridge, the Grade II* listed Tyne Bridge, and the Grade II* listed Swing Bridge, which is also a Scheduled Monument.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested more than £610 million in industrial, maritime and transport heritage projects across the UK since 1994, including £40 million in the North East.
In 2019, DCMS invested £18.6 million in the National Railway Museum’s ‘Vision 2025’ project through the Government’s Cultural Investment Fund. This involves a major capital transformation of the National Railway Museum in York and Locomotion Museum in Shildon, County Durham, which will help to celebrate the North East's unique relationship with heritage rail.
HM Government is also investing £95 million across 65 High Street Heritage Action Zones to revitalise high streets and connect people with their local heritage. The Stockton and Darlington Railway Heritage Action Zone is a brilliant example, restoring 26 miles of historic railway, and developing a major industrial heritage attraction, in the run-up to the bicentenary of the first public steam rail journey between Stockton and Darlington in 1825.
Repairs Grants for Heritage at Risk, managed by Historic England, have restored a number of industrial heritage sites across the North East, including £250,000 towards the restoration of a Grade II* railway goods shed in Darlington, thought to be the oldest surviving one in the UK.
Beyond the North East, DCMS has invested in the restoration of other industrial heritage assets. In Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, Historic England is working with developers to revitalise old textile mills, transforming them into new homes, commercial spaces, and cultural hubs. Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have helped to reopen Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings – the first iron-framed building in the world – as a new workspace and community asset, with its conservation providing work placements, training and hands-on experience in heritage preservation and construction skills.
DCMS is working more broadly to promote the UK’s industrial heritage. Our sponsored museums and arm’s-length bodies are playing a key role in engaging young people with our industrial cultural heritage, and encouraging them into STEM pathways. This includes the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, inspiring future engineers with its focus on how Britain’s industrial heritage changed the world. This is supported by the work of the four other Science Museum sites and the Natural History Museum.
Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme supports primary and secondary schools to engage children with their local industrial heritage and to consider possible future career paths.
DCMS, in partnership with DfE, is developing the Cultural Education Plan, which will aim to support career progression pathways, and tackle disparities in opportunity and outcomes for children and young people within the cultural and creative sectors. This includes improving engagement in our heritage sectors and industrial heritage.
Industrial heritage is also fundamental for tourism and our local visitor economy, especially in the North East. The Government is currently developing the Destination Development Partnership, which includes working with partners across the North East to improve the region's visitor economy.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to promote the UK's industrial heritage (a) in the North East and (b) across the UK.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s industrial heritage is a vital part of our nation's rich history and cultural life, and His Majesty’s Government has taken a number of steps to safeguard and promote our industrial heritage across the UK, including in the North East of England.
HM Government is committed to safeguarding our nation’s built heritage. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 includes protection for iconic assets of industrial and engineering accomplishment, including the Grade I listed High Level Bridge, the Grade II* listed Tyne Bridge, and the Grade II* listed Swing Bridge, which is also a Scheduled Monument.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested more than £610 million in industrial, maritime and transport heritage projects across the UK since 1994, including £40 million in the North East.
In 2019, DCMS invested £18.6 million in the National Railway Museum’s ‘Vision 2025’ project through the Government’s Cultural Investment Fund. This involves a major capital transformation of the National Railway Museum in York and Locomotion Museum in Shildon, County Durham, which will help to celebrate the North East's unique relationship with heritage rail.
HM Government is also investing £95 million across 65 High Street Heritage Action Zones to revitalise high streets and connect people with their local heritage. The Stockton and Darlington Railway Heritage Action Zone is a brilliant example, restoring 26 miles of historic railway, and developing a major industrial heritage attraction, in the run-up to the bicentenary of the first public steam rail journey between Stockton and Darlington in 1825.
Repairs Grants for Heritage at Risk, managed by Historic England, have restored a number of industrial heritage sites across the North East, including £250,000 towards the restoration of a Grade II* railway goods shed in Darlington, thought to be the oldest surviving one in the UK.
Beyond the North East, DCMS has invested in the restoration of other industrial heritage assets. In Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, Historic England is working with developers to revitalise old textile mills, transforming them into new homes, commercial spaces, and cultural hubs. Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund have helped to reopen Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings – the first iron-framed building in the world – as a new workspace and community asset, with its conservation providing work placements, training and hands-on experience in heritage preservation and construction skills.
DCMS is working more broadly to promote the UK’s industrial heritage. Our sponsored museums and arm’s-length bodies are playing a key role in engaging young people with our industrial cultural heritage, and encouraging them into STEM pathways. This includes the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, inspiring future engineers with its focus on how Britain’s industrial heritage changed the world. This is supported by the work of the four other Science Museum sites and the Natural History Museum.
Historic England’s Heritage Schools programme supports primary and secondary schools to engage children with their local industrial heritage and to consider possible future career paths.
DCMS, in partnership with DfE, is developing the Cultural Education Plan, which will aim to support career progression pathways, and tackle disparities in opportunity and outcomes for children and young people within the cultural and creative sectors. This includes improving engagement in our heritage sectors and industrial heritage.
Industrial heritage is also fundamental for tourism and our local visitor economy, especially in the North East. The Government is currently developing the Destination Development Partnership, which includes working with partners across the North East to improve the region's visitor economy.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made a recent estimate of the percentage share that Amazon Web Service holds of the market in which it operates; and if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the (a) size and (b) openness to competition of the the market in which that company operates.
Answered by Paul Scully
It is for the CMA as the UK’s independent competition authority to investigate specific markets and the behaviour of specific companies.
As part of the Autumn Statement last year, the Chancellor announced the government will legislate in this Parliamentary session for a new pro-competition regime for digital markets. The Digital Markets Unit (DMU), within the CMA, will oversee and enforce the new regime.
The new regime will address the far-reaching power of the most powerful tech firms. While new technologies are delivering huge value to consumers and businesses, a small number of firms exert immense control across strategically critical services online. The new tools will deliver fast, highly targeted action to make markets more contestable and level the playing field for UK tech firms.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to help prevent the coding of social media algorithms which create and increase racially prejudiced stereotypes.
Answered by Paul Scully
Under the Online Safety Bill, all platforms will need to undertake risk assessments for illegal content and content that is harmful to children. This will ensure they understand the risks associated with their services, including in relation to their algorithms. They will then need to put in place proportionate systems and processes to mitigate these risks.
Platforms will need to put in place systems and processes to prevent their users from encountering priority illegal content. This includes offences relating to racial hatred. Platforms that are likely to be accessed by children will also need to fulfil these duties in relation to harmful content and activity, including online abuse and harassment.
Where content does not meet the criminal threshold, Category 1 platforms will be required to provide all adult users with tools which provide them with greater control over the content that they see, if it is likely that users will encounter it on their service. These tools will specifically apply to content that is abusive, or incites hate, on the basis of race and religion. Should users decide to utilise these tools, they will either reduce the likelihood that they encounter such content, or will alert them to the nature of it.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the ease by which companies and organisations can switch from legacy IT infrastructure to cloud-based services and providers; and whether she is taking steps to help ensure the portability of data in such transitions.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
As outlined in the National Data Strategy, the Government is committed to unlocking the value of data in the economy. The development and increased adoption of standards, such as for data formats and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), is key to increasing data interoperability and innovation. We are working with a range of partners such as the British Standards Institute, Open Data Institute to support businesses to ensure that data is findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking with stakeholders to help take anti-Semitic conspiracy theories (a) on social media and (b) elsewhere online.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Online Safety Bill will apply to all companies that allow users to post content online or to interact with each other, as well as search services.
All companies in scope of the Bill will have duties to proactively tackle priority illegal content, including illegal anti-semitic content, and will need to prevent their services from being used to facilitate or commission these offences. They will also be required to swiftly remove other illegal content where there is a victim and it is flagged to them. In addition, Category 1 Service, which will include the largest social media companies, will need to ensure they properly enforce their terms of service, and provide adult users with tools to help them avoid content that is abusive or incites hatred on the basis of religion.
This means that the Bill will offer adult users a ‘triple shield’ of protection against anti-semitic content. Firstly, regulated services will need to take robust action against such content where it meets a criminal threshold. Secondly, Category 1 services will be required to take down anti-semitic content that is in breach of their own terms of service, and third, they must provide adults with greater controls over content they may not wish to see, reducing the risk that they encounter anti-semitic content.
Finally, the Online Safety Bill will require all services which are likely to be accessed by children to provide safety measures for child users. Those safety measures will need to protect children from inappropriate and harmful content and activity, including anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 13 December 2022 to Question 104206 on Social Media: Children, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of parents' rights of (a) access to and (b) ownership of their deceased children's digital profiles and posts on social media.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government recognises the difficulties that some bereaved parents have experienced when accessing their loved ones' data. The question of parental rights to access of children’s digital profiles and posts is complex, so we are considering this matter with the Ministry of Justice and social media organisations, before deciding on any next steps.
Currently, coroners have extensive powers under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 that allow them to require information for their inquests (which could include relevant digital data following the death of a child). Any party whom the coroner considers to have a sufficient interest in a coronial investigation, which may include bereaved parents, therefore has the right to receive documents and other evidence from the coroner which may be used in the inquest.
Outside of coronial investigations, some social media companies might act voluntarily to share certain information about the material a child was viewing with bereaved families. However, others may operate policies of non-disclosure to third parties (including parents), unless a user takes active steps to nominate a person who may access his or her account after they die or there is a legal obligation to disclose the data. Some social media users might be concerned about the thought of disclosing private information or other digital assets to third parties after their death, and so an automatic right of access is unlikely to be appropriate in every case. Additionally, companies may have to consider other legal issues when responding to data disclosure requests, for example the data protection rights of individuals that were in contact with the deceased person prior to their death.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 report by the Government Office for Science entitled Large-scale computing: the case for greater UK coordination, published in September 2021, whether her Department has taken recent steps to increase the UK's share of the global supercomputing capacity.
Answered by Paul Scully
In response to the 2021 report by the Government Office for Science (Large-scale computing: the case for greater UK coordination), the government launched an independent review into the future of compute in June 2022. The review will produce recommendations on the interventions required to ensure that the UK can fully exploit world-class compute infrastructure. It will contain an overview of the international advanced compute landscape and look at how the UK can collaborate internationally to strengthen its domestic compute ecosystem and promote the UKs international stance in tech and innovation. The Government will respond to the review after publication later this year.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 Answer of 22 January 2022 to Question 111571 on Football: Safety, what recent progress her Department has made on ensuring fan safety at football grounds; and if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of safety issues experienced by Newcastle United fans at Hillsborough on 7 January 2023.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The safety of spectators at sporting events is of the highest importance to His Majesty’s Government. We continue to work closely with the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA), clubs, governing bodies and local authorities to ensure that football fans can continue to enjoy the sport whilst attending matches safely.
The Football Association are currently investigating reports of overcrowding at the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough Stadium on 7 January 2023. The ultimate responsibility for the safety of spectators lies at all times with the ground management and the SGSA remains in contact with the club, Sheffield City Council and the Safety Advisory Group as the facts are established and any implications for safety management arrangements at Hillsborough are considered. We are in contact with the SGSA on this matter.