Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he is seeking a legally binding exemption from Export Administration Regulations or Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations for the sale of ARM from Softbank to Nvidia.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As provided in previous parliamentary responses, ARM is an important part of the UK's tech sector and makes a significant contribution to the UK economy. While acquisitions are primarily a commercial matter for the parties concerned, the Government monitors these closely. When a takeover may have a significant impact on the UK we will not hesitate to investigate further and take action. We are scrutinising the deal carefully to understand its impact on the UK. The Enterprise Act 2002 allows the government to call in transactions such as this. We will consider if and when it would be appropriate to do so.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the national security implications of the Nvidia/Softbank Arm deal.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues, on a range of issues. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
As you would expect, it would not be appropriate to comment on any national security concerns we may or may not have. However, we will be scrutinising the deal in close detail.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 with the Secretary of State for Defence on the acquisition of Arm by US company Nvidia.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues, on a range of issues. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
As you would expect, it would not be appropriate to comment on any national security concerns we may or may not have. However, we will be scrutinising the deal in close detail.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what mechanism he will use to make any post-offer undertakings provided by Nvidia with regards to Arm legally binding.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues, on a range of issues. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
As you would expect, it would not be appropriate to comment on any national security concerns we may or may not have. However, we will be scrutinising the deal in close detail.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on how many occasions he and his Department have had discussions with (a) Nvidia and (b) Arm on the sale of Arm from Softbank to Nvidia.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, on a variety of issues. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport what exemptions the Government has sought from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control regulation in order to ensure that UK companies are guaranteed access to their own products.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has not sought exemptions from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control regime.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to allow cultural organisations to continue producing approved socially-distanced music and theatre performances.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Professional Activity in line with Stage 4 of the performing arts roadmap can continue as it has done previously.
Venues such as theatres, concert halls and other entertainment venues that are already able to host larger numbers, and are Covid secure in line with the relevant guidance, will continue to be able to do so - as long as groups of more than one household are limited to six.
Venues will need to ensure that groups are kept separate from one another to ensure they do not mix and do not exceed the new legal limits. They will also need to adhere to new legal requirements around track and trace.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 9 September 2020 to Question 82137 on Data Protection: EU Law, what assessment he has made of the cost to businesses of accessing alternative legal mechanisms; and what plans the Government has in place to support businesses in accessing those mechanisms.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK is seeking data adequacy decisions from the EU under the GDPR and the Law Enforcement Directive (LED) and the EU’s adequacy assessment of the UK is underway. The UK remains confident that an adequacy agreement can be reached by the end of the transition period. However, we are taking sensible steps to prepare for a situation where this has not been achieved.
In such a scenario, organisations would be able to use alternative legal mechanisms to continue receiving personal data from the EU. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) are the most common legal safeguard and will be the relevant mitigation for most organisations.The implementation cost for SCCs would vary between different organisations, in part depending on the size of the business in question.
DCMS is working with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to ensure that all available guidance is simple, straightforward and actionable. The ICO has created an interactive SCCs tool for businesses to use and further guidance can be found on GOV.UK and the ICO’s website regarding steps organisations may be required to take relating to data protection and data flows by the end of the transition period.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will refer the Nvidia / SoftBank Arm deal to the Competition and Markets Authority under the 2002 Enterprise Act on national security grounds.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Enterprise Act 2002 allows the government to call in transactions such as this. We will consider if and when it would be appropriate to do so.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect on data adequacy negotiations with other trade partners of the agreement with the US on access to electronic data.
Answered by John Whittingdale
It is our intention to secure positive adequacy decisions from the EU to allow personal data to continue to flow freely from the EU/EEA to the UK. We are seeking positive adequacy decisions under both the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law Enforcement Directive (LED), before the end of the transition period.
We see the EU’s assessment process on data adequacy as technical and confirmatory of the reality that the UK is operating the same regulatory frameworks as the EU, and the UK considers it self-evidently in the interest of both sides to have adequacy decisions in place by the end of the year. No other third country's standards have ever been closer to the EU's.
The UK-US Data Access Agreement is a vital tool to facilitate law enforcement in the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of serious crime. This world-leading agreement will deliver on the people’s priorities by dramatically speeding up investigations and prosecutions of terrorists, child abusers and other serious criminals and ensuring children are protected faster.The Agreement includes significant data protection and privacy safeguards and is compatible with UK and EU data protection legislation and, therefore, is consistent with the UK seeking a positive adequacy decision from the EU.