Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 representatives of (a) live music venues and (b) theatres on Government support since the publication of Government guidance on the transmission of the Omicron covid-19 variant on 8 December 2021.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government remains committed to working closely and collaboratively with all our sectors whilst we mitigate the risks of the coronavirus pandemic. Ministers meet regularly with representatives from the music and performance arts sectors to discuss the impacts of Covid-19. A ministerial roundtable was held on 17 December, which included attendees from HM Treasury, to listen to and understand the challenges faced by our sectors at this time.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will bring forward proposals to strengthen age verification for legal pornography in the Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The strongest protections in the draft Online Safety Bill, published in May 2021, are for children. Where pornography sites host user generated content or facilitate online user interactions (including video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming), they will be in scope of the Online Safety Bill.
The online safety regime will capture the most visited pornography sites, social media platforms, video-sharing sites, forums and via image or video search engines. Companies will be required to protect children from harmful content such as online pornography, or face enforcement action by the regulator, which could include significant fines or, in the most egregious cases, Ofcom can apply for access to be restricted in the UK.
The Government recognises the concerns that have been raised about protecting children from online pornography on services which do not currently fall within the scope of the Bill. The Government will use the draft Bill’s pre-legislative scrutiny to explore ways to provide wider protections for children from online pornography, including on sites that do not fall within scope of the duty of care.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to celebrate the recent achievements of the England football team.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The England team enjoyed a magnificent run in Euro 2020 and I once again pass on my huge congratulations to the team for their work on and off the pitch.
We continue to work closely with the FA on ensuring their players get the appropriate recognition, and recognise that they are already focused on qualification for the Qatar World Cup next year.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What plans he has to help charities to support the recovery of the civil society sector from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Matt Warman
This Government has provided a multi-billion-pound package of support for Britain's charities to continue their vital work and mitigate the risks created by the pandemic.
Charities continue to benefit from the extension of cross-economy support, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
We continue to monitor sector health closely. Government is working with charity sector representatives to shape a future programme of work to support a strong and resilient charity sector.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 (a) social media, (b) gaming and (c) e-sports companies on cross-platform online harms risks; and what plans he has to tackle those risks in the proposed online safety Bill.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We have published the interim codes alongside the full government response to the Online Harms White Paper to provide companies with our expectations of what they should be doing to address Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and terrorist content. The interim codes are voluntary and will enable companies to take swift action in tackling the most serious of online harms before the regulator is established.
We engaged extensively with industry stakeholders, civil society organisations and non-government organisations in the development of the interim codes.
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders on a variety of issues, including cross-platform online harms risks. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website. The Online Safety Bill, which will be ready this year, will require all in scope companies to put in place systems and processes to keep their users safe.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 (a) gaming companies, (b) e-sports companies and (c) gaming ancillary chat platforms on (i) online harms and (ii) those companies' plans to improve (A) user safety and (B) child protection in line with the Interim Codes of Practice on online safety, published on 15 December 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We have published the interim codes alongside the full government response to the Online Harms White Paper to provide companies with our expectations of what they should be doing to address Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and terrorist content. The interim codes are voluntary and will enable companies to take swift action in tackling the most serious of online harms before the regulator is established.
We engaged extensively with industry stakeholders, civil society organisations and non-government organisations in the development of the interim codes.
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders on a variety of issues, including cross-platform online harms risks. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website. The Online Safety Bill, which will be ready this year, will require all in scope companies to put in place systems and processes to keep their users safe.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps he has taken to regulate online rental companies that accept bookings in cities that are subject to stay at home orders.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Guest accommodation providers such as hotels, B&Bs, short term lets and caravan parks may remain open for the specific reasons set out in law, including where guests are unable to return to their main residence, use that guest accommodation as their main residence, need accommodation while moving house, are self-isolating as required by law, or would otherwise be made homeless as a result of the accommodation closing.
As such, accommodation providers have not been required to stop accepting bookings under the current national restrictions, nor have the online platforms that facilitate those bookings.
Accommodation businesses should take all reasonable steps to encourage guests to adhere to government restrictions, including informing guests of restrictions when taking bookings and communicating to all customers. We expect people to act responsibly and in line with the law. Accommodation businesses should not intentionally facilitate bookings that do not adhere to government restrictions. Those not complying with these responsibilities may be at risk of the premises being closed.