Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
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 implications for his policies of the Advertising Standards Authority’s decision that Internet Service Providers can advertise using the term fibre even when their network relies on copper and aluminium wiring.
Answered by Margot James
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK's independent regulator of advertising. It recently reviewed the use of the term ‘fibre’ to describe part-fibre and full-fibre broadband and concluded in November 2017 that the term 'fibre' is unlikely to mislead consumers as currently used in the advertising of part-fibre broadband services. Permission for judicial review of this ASA's decision has been granted by the Administrative Court. In June, the Administrative Court granted CityFibre permission to proceed with its Judicial Review of the ASA's decision.
On 23 May 2018, the ASA also implemented new guidance on broadband speeds advertising, stating speed claims should now be based on the download speeds available to at least 50% of customers at peak time, and no longer on 'up to' speeds available to at least 10% of customers. This is good news for consumers, who need clear, concise and accurate information in order to make an informed choice on their broadband, which is now a modern necessity. Ofcom has also updated its Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds recently.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
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 Government's UK Digital Strategy 2017, what progress he has made in ensuring that the advertising of full fibre broadband services is accurate and fair.
Answered by Margot James
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK's independent regulator of advertising. It recently reviewed the use of the term ‘fibre’ to describe part-fibre and full-fibre broadband and concluded in November 2017 that the term 'fibre' is unlikely to mislead consumers as currently used in the advertising of part-fibre broadband services. Permission for judicial review of this ASA's decision has been granted by the Administrative Court. In June, the Administrative Court granted CityFibre permission to proceed with its Judicial Review of the ASA's decision.
On 23 May 2018, the ASA also implemented new guidance on broadband speeds advertising, stating speed claims should now be based on the download speeds available to at least 50% of customers at peak time, and no longer on 'up to' speeds available to at least 10% of customers. This is good news for consumers, who need clear, concise and accurate information in order to make an informed choice on their broadband, which is now a modern necessity. Ofcom has also updated its Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds recently.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
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 help ensure that consumers are aware of the comparative benefits of full fibre broadband compared with connections which use copper or aluminium wiring.
Answered by Margot James
The government has set an ambitious target for 15 million premises to be connected to full fibre by 2025, with nationwide coverage by 2033. In July, we published our Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), which sets out the changes needed to make this happen, including ensuring that the consumer environment supports our full fibre ambitions. To help stimulate the full fibre broadband market, the government has set up the £200m Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) Challenge Fund, which is open for local bodies to bid into, and the £67m Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme for small businesses and local communities to contribute to the cost of fibre installation.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to introduce a ban on cold calling by claims management companies as part of the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We agree that more needs to be done to tackle the prevalence of nuisance calls across the UK. During Report Stage of the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill in the House of Lords, the Government announced an intention to bring forward an amendment to restrict cold-calling activities in relation to the claims management industry.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of progress on increasing the provision of access services on video on demand content; what further proposals his Department has to improve progress in that area; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The provision of access services on video on demand content has increased in recent years, according to the 2015 Authority for Television on Demand report which can be found here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/on-demand/access-european/AS_survey_report_2015.pdf. The evidence in this report is supported by dialogue with broadcasters, content providers and platform operators, who fed back to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in Autumn 2015.
Ofcom, the principle regulator for video on demand services, is reviewing how to improve the provision of access services on video on demand services.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what requirements are placed on sports stadia to provide wheelchair access.
Answered by David Evennett
The provisions in the Equality Act 2010 require providers of services to the public, such as a sports stadium, to make a ‘reasonable adjustment’ so that disabled people are not placed at a “substantial disadvantage” compared to non-disabled people, and this includes the provision of wheelchair access.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the number of spaces available for disabled people in music venues.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
We believe that everyone should have equal access to arts and culture - having a disability should not be a barrier to enjoying Britain's awe-inspiring cultural treasures. That is why we are working with venues and organisations representing disabled people to identify barriers to access, while at the same time seeing how we can share examples of best practice and what more cultural venues need to do to be accessible to people with disabilities. We support the work of Attitude is Everything, which works with audiences, artists and the music industry to improve deaf and disabled people’s access to live events. I also recently held a roundtable meeting with Justin Tomlinson, Minister for Disabled People, to look at access to cultural venues and events for disabled people.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has held with the Senet Group on gambling addiction; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I have had several meetings with groups and individuals concerned about the negative effects of gambling, and have made clear to the industry that it must continue to demonstrate it is taking action to mitigate the risk ofgambling related harm.
Last year, the Governmentannounced a range of player protection measures including a £2 million programme funded by industry to promote responsible gambling, and the Senet group formed in 2014 promote responsible gambling standards, have overseen a range of measures, including a commitment from its members who cover around 80% of Britishlicensedbetting offices - todedicate 20% of shop window advertising to responsible gambling messages, and a TV campaign earlier the year to educate people about the risks of problem gambling.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will use advertising to highlight the negative effects of gambling.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I have had several meetings with groups and individuals concerned about the negative effects of gambling, and have made clear to the industry that it must continue to demonstrate it is taking action to mitigate the risk ofgambling related harm.
Last year, the Governmentannounced a range of player protection measures including a £2 million programme funded by industry to promote responsible gambling, and the Senet group formed in 2014 promote responsible gambling standards, have overseen a range of measures, including a commitment from its members who cover around 80% of Britishlicensedbetting offices - todedicate 20% of shop window advertising to responsible gambling messages, and a TV campaign earlier the year to educate people about the risks of problem gambling.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will encourage gambling organisations to share information with each other to help identify people with gambling addictions.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I welcome the gambling industry's efforts to identify those customers vulnerable to gambling related harm. I also encourage all gambling operators to make information available to the Responsible Gambling Trust to aid their research into problem gambling.