Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 increase in the National Living wage announced by the Government on 31 December 2019, what discussions she is having with private sector companies undertaking facility management work for her Department to ensure that the cost of wage increases for their employees are not passed on to her Department.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Facilities Management is provided to DCMS through arrangements with other government departments. DCMS therefore has no discussions with such private sector companies about cost increases.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of staff in her Department would receive an increase in their salary in the event that their hourly pay rate was (a) £8.72, (b) £9.30 and (c) £10.
Answered by Nigel Adams
No members of staff in DCMS would receive an increase in salary.
This government is comitted to paying people a decent living wage, which is being addressed through the statutory National Living Wage. In April 2020, the National Living Wage increases to £8.72 per hour. By 2024 the National Living Wage will rise to £10.50 per hour, reaching 66% of median UK earnings. The scope will be expanded to everyone aged 21 and over and is expected to benefit over 4 million low paid workers.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that pop-up adverts in mobile gaming apps for children are age appropriate.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Advertising in the UK is regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the industry’s independent regulator, which for online advertising enforces the Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) through a system of self-regulation. The CAP Code incorporates all relevant legislation, and sets standards for accuracy and honesty to which advertisers must adhere, including specific conditions on advertising to children, causing offence and social responsibility.
The ASA has issued guidance to advertisers (https://www.asa.org.uk/resource/children-age-restricted-ads-online.html) on using data and targeting tools to minimise children’s exposure to age restricted or age inappropriate advertising online, including in mobile gaming apps, in order to ensure compliance with the CAP Code.
Last year the government also announced its intention to review how online advertising is regulated in the UK, looking at how well the current regime is equipped to tackle the challenges posed by developments in the market.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will introduce a 9pm watershed on advertising of junk food products on (a) TV and (b) on-demand services.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
We want to reduce children’s exposure to advertising for products high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS), so have consulted on introducing a 9pm watershed on TV and similar protection online (including around on-demand services), as well as other possible options. Despite strict restrictions already being in place to prohibit HFSS product advertising around children’s programming, and similar protection online, evidence suggests children are still exposed to significant levels of HFSS advertising across the media they engage with most.
There is no lead option in our consultation and we will be led by the evidence in determining the way forward. The consultation closed last month, and is available to view at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/further-advertising-restrictions-for-products-high-in-fat-salt-and-sugar. We are carefully considering responses and will respond as soon as possible.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to safeguard children against exposure to gambling opportunities associated with (a) in-app and (b) in-game purchases on gaming consoles and mobile devices.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Protecting children and the vulnerable from being harmed or exploited by gambling is a core objective of the Gambling Commission, as the regulator for gambling in Great Britain, and a priority for the government. There are also strong protections in place for children who play video games.
The Pan European Game Information (PEGI) ratings system used to classify video games, will not award ratings to products that allow gambling, significantly restricting their ability to be sold in the UK. Where a game contains elements that could teach or encourage gambling like behaviour, it will be awarded a minimum PEGI 12 rating and will also have a gambling pictogram label applied to alert parents to the content.
Additionally, most video games and mobile platforms come with a range of parental control tools that can include allowing parents to block games based on PEGI age ratings, disable in-game purchases and monitor and place limits on use. PEGI provides more information here https://pegi.info/parental-controls.
Where licensed online gambling is offered, operators are required to verify the age of a consumer before they can deposit money and gamble, or access free-to-play demo games.
The Gambling Commission has strong powers and has shown it will take action where there are breaches of the rules - in 2017, it successfully prosecuted the FutGalaxy website for offering illegal gambling with in-game items – known as skins gambling.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 24 June to Question 265492: BBC, what his policy is on funding public service broadcasting in the (a) North East of England and (b) Easington constituency.
Answered by Margot James
Public service broadcasting is funded either through the licence fee for the BBC; or through commercial activities of the commercial public service broadcasters, such as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
Public service broadcasters hold a responsibility to ensure that they serve audiences across all parts of the UK and all demographics. The Government continues to encourage all broadcasters to consider what more they can do to increase investment and strengthen their appeal to audiences across the nations and regions, including in the North East of England.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make representations to the BBC on increasing spending and investment in (a) the regions and (b) Easington constituency.
Answered by Margot James
The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from government and the government cannot intervene in the BBC’s day-to-day operations.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 representatives of the BBC on the over-75s TV licence and the report from Frontier Economics to the Corporation that found only 11 per cent of the poorest tenth households would continue to receive a free licence under the BBC’s means-test plan.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
I meet with the BBC regularly to discuss a range of issues, including the over 75 licence fee concession. The future of the age-related licence fee concession was entirely a matter for the BBC and it has decided to continue the concession only for those who are aged 75 and above and in receipt of Pension Credit from June 2020.
I am disappointed with this decision and the Government expects the BBC to look at further ways to support older people.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 support local cricket clubs to promote the participation of girls in that sport.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Sport England have invested £9 million in the England and Wales Cricket Board for the period 2017/21. A proportion of this investment will be used to drive the participation of girls’ cricket, for example developing flexible cricket formats to strengthen the pathway from absolute beginner through to performance level, and investing in coaching, officiating and sports science & medicine.
It is important that girls have access to the right sporting opportunities, both in and out of school. This is something government committed to tackle in the Sporting Future strategy, and which will be addressed through the new School Sport and Activity Action Plan.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding from the public purse has been made available to cricket clubs in the Easington constituency to support the development of girls cricket in the most recent period for which information is available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Sport England invested £5,000 in 2010/11 into Sunderland AFC Foundation for Easington Football Development and Multi Sports Coaching, which included cricket. This funding was part of the Sportsmatch programme.