Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate she has made of the contribution to economic growth of the video games industry; and what steps the Government is taking to support the UK video games industry.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK’s video games sector and we recognise that video games bring economic, cultural and social benefits across the UK. The video games industry trade body Ukie has estimated the value of the consumer games market at £7.16 billion in 2021, more than doubling in value since 2013.
As part of a wider package to support the growth of the creative industries, the Government is delivering an £8 million expansion of the UK Games Fund. This will provide valuable support to early stage game development businesses and talented graduates throughout the UK. In addition, the Video Games Tax Relief continues to make the UK one of the leading destinations in the world for making video games. The Video Games Tax Relief has supported £5.1 billion of UK expenditure on 1,940 games since its introduction in 2014.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 54 of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) report of 6 November 2018 entitled Investigation into the use of data analytics in political campaigns, what the status is of the ICO's investigation into the (a) Liberal Democrats' sale of electoral data to Open Britain and (b) use of personal data by the Remain side of the EU referendum campaign.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The ICO took advice from the Electoral Commission on the matter of the Liberal Democrats. As a result this case was referred to the Metropolitan Police on 26 October 2018 as the issues fell outside the jurisdiction of the ICO. The Metropolitan Police later confirmed that they were unable to consider the matter any further.
The ICO’s wider investigations of several organisations on both the remain and the leave side of the UK’s referendum about membership of the EU has now concluded. The ICO identified no significant breaches of the privacy and electronic marketing regulations and data protection legislation that met the threshold for formal regulatory action. Where an organisation has continued in operation, the ICO has provided advice and guidance to support better future compliance with the rules.
The ICO will shortly publish a report of audits on the main political parties.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the strength of Stoke-on-Trent's bid to be UK City of Culture 2021.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Stoke-on-Trent's bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 was assessed by an independent judging panel, chaired by Phil Redmond, along with the ten other bids to host the title. The bid was assessed as strong and was shortlisted on that basis. The panel reconvened on 6-7 December 2017 for the final stage of the selection process and recommended that Coventry should be awarded the title of UK City of Culture 2021. The unsuccessful bid teams will receive detailed feedback on their bids to help inform and shape their future cultural plans.