Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what (a) financial and (b) other support his Department has provided to the greyhound racing sector as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Greyhound racing, as part of the leisure industry, is eligible to access the help announced by the Chancellor on 17 March. This set out a business rates holiday for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, irrespective of rateable value, so that all eligible businesses will pay no business rates for 12 months. On 18 March, MHCLG published guidance for local authorities on the application of the relief.
In addition, the government has announced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, through which all UK employers will be able to access support to continue paying part of their employees’ salary for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis. Furthermore, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme provides loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank, backed by an 80% government guarantee.
Officials continue to be in regular communication with the Greyhound Board of Great Britain to understand the needs of the sector during this time and ensure they are aware of central government guidance as we work towards the resumption of greyhound racing.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens 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 his Department’s list of identified online harms and the groups at risk from each of them.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government published the initial response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation on 12 February 2020. This confirmed that the Government is developing legislation on online harms to establish a new duty of care on online companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Companies will be expected to ensure higher levels of protection for children than for the typical adult user.
The White Paper provided an indicative list of online harms that in-scope companies would be expected to address. That list was not exhaustive or fixed. Online harms legislation will need to be sufficiently flexible, so that it is responsive to emerging technologies and forms of harmful content and behaviour, while at the same time providing sufficient certainty to companies. The White Paper also excluded some types of harm from scope, including harm to companies and harm arising from a breach of data protection legislation or cyber-security. Further information on the duty of care and harm to be addressed will be provided in the Full Government Response to the White Paper consultation.