Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
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 debate entitled The fight for a level playing field – ending discrimination against women in sport, which took place at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 13 October 2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to supporting women's sport at every opportunity - pushing for greater participation, employment, commercial opportunities and visibility in the media. We appreciate the increased focus the Council of Europe has given to all these aspects.
There is no place for discrimination anywhere, it is completely unacceptable. There are some fantastic initiatives that exist to encourage women to take up sport and physical activity, for example Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, which has already inspired millions of women and girls to get active regardless of shape, size and ability. The Code for Sports Governance also requires national governing bodies to agree a diversity and inclusion action plan (DIAP) with Sport England and UK Sport. It is important that we make progress in the wider culture of sport to ensure women’s sport is treated equally to men’s at all levels.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
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 implications for her policies of the debate which took place at the Council of Europe on 23 June 2022 entitled The control of online communication: a threat to media pluralism, freedom of information and human dignity.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government is committed to being one of the safest countries to be online and we recognise the wider international debates taking place to address online safety. This includes the work of the Council of Europe, in particular the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, noting that recommendations will go to the Committee of Ministers in due course for appropriate review.
The UK continues efforts to tackle online harm through our Online Safety Bill, and to do so in a way that defends freedom of expression and pluralism online, protecting people’s rights to participate in society and engage in robust debate online. We remain committed to a pluralistic media landscape, where people can access information from a range of sources in order to form their opinions.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
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 implications for her policies of the debate entitled For an assessment of the means and provisions to combat children's exposure to pornographic content, which took place at the Council of Europe on 25 April 2022.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government shares the concerns raised by the Council of Europe about the impact of children’s exposure to pornography online.
The Online Safety Bill provides protection for children from online pornography. Services in scope of the Bill that host or publish pornography, including pornography sites, social media, video sharing platforms and forums will be required to protect children from this content.
The Government continues to engage with international partners, including through multilateral organisations such as the Council of Europe, to lead global discussions and build consensus around our approaches to tackling online harms.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the debate that took place at the Council of Europe between 24 and 28 January 2022 on sports policies in times of crisis.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government recognises the crucial work of the Council of Europe and in particular the PACE in this sphere, noting that recommendations will go to the Committee of Ministers in due course for appropriate review.
The Government recognises the important role that sport and physical activity plays, and took action to support the sport sector during Covid as a time of crisis. This is demonstrated by the £600 million Sport Survival Package set up in November 2020 as a result of restrictions on crowd capacities.
Furthermore, the £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund has supported local authority leisure centres to recover and reopen during the pandemic. This is in addition to more than £6 billion of unringfenced funding that has also been given to local authorities since the start of the pandemic to allocate in line with local needs which includes leisure facilities.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the debate that took place at the Council of Europe between 24 and 28 January 2022 on football governance.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to reforming football governance, and recognises the crucial work of the Council of Europe and in particular the PACE in this sphere, noting that recommendations will go to the Committee of Ministers in due course for appropriate review.
The Government recognises the need for the long-term financial sustainability of football clubs, particularly those in the lower leagues. That is why we have welcomed the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance and have endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.
The Government is working at pace to review the report in full, including detailed consideration of the recommendations made on improving financial stability and the governance of football clubs across the game, as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in the Spring.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
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 implications for her policies of the conclusions of the debate entitled Role of the media in times of crisis which occurred at the Council of Europe between 24 and 28 January 2022; and whether she plans to take steps in response to that debate.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This Government recognises the vital role of the media in supporting our communities and our democracy through the provision of reliable and high-quality information. The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the value of accurate information and trusted news sources in times of crisis. We are currently considering the conclusions of the Council of Europe debate, which rightly highlighted the importance of a strong, pluralistic, and independent media ecosystem in times of crisis.
We recognise the crucial work of the Council of Europe and in particular the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in this sphere, noting that recommendations will go to the Committee of Ministers in due course for appropriate review.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to tackle antisemitism online, including on social media.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Services in scope of the draft Online Safety Bill will need to protect users from illegal abuse, including illegal antisemitic abuse. Services in scope which are likely to be accessed by children will need to protect them from harmful or inappropriate content.
Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults. These companies will have to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable on their platforms and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently. If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.
The draft Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported its recommendations on 14 December. We are considering the Committee’s report and will introduce the Bill as soon as possible.