Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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) UEFA and (b) the Football Association of Wales over the staging of Wales’ Euro 2020 games in Azerbaijan and Italy.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
I have spoken to a number of sports governing bodies to ensure they are aware of the latest position from Government and guidance from the health authorities.
We will continue this dialogue and update the relevant stakeholders immediately should advice from the public health authorities change at any point and I know my counterparts in devolved authorities have similarly close engagement. Anyone wishing to travel to Azerbaijan or Italy should consult the foreign travel advice provided by the FCO.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has plans to enable BT to charge more for Openreach network broadband connections in rural areas than in urban areas in order to subsidise the cost of high-speed fibre broadband.
Answered by Margot James
We have no plans to introduce legislation which would allow BT/Openreach to charge rural consumers more than urban consumers to subsidise their full fibre broadband connections.
The Government is already supporting rural broadband connectivity in a number of ways. Our £1.8 billion superfast broadband programme has achieved its target of 95% superfast coverage across the UK. In our Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), we set a target to go further and ensure that 15 million premises can connect to gigabit capable, full fibre broadband by 2025 with nationwide coverage by 2033. We are already investing to make that happen, stimulating the market through the £278 million Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme and the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. The FTIR was clear that the Government would also support full fibre broadband in less commercial areas of the country, likely to be around 10% of UK premises, so that no areas are systematically left behind. To start this, the 2018 Budget announced £200 million for the Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme.
Ministers meet regularly with Ofcom to discuss a range of issues. Ofcom is currently consulting on its initial proposals for promoting competition and investment in fibre networks across the country including in less commercial, rural areas of the UK.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has plans to enable BT to levy upfront charges on consumers accessing Openreach network broadband connections in order to subsidise the cost of high-speed fibre broadband.
Answered by Margot James
We have no plans to introduce legislation which would allow BT/Openreach to charge rural consumers more than urban consumers to subsidise their full fibre broadband connections.
The Government is already supporting rural broadband connectivity in a number of ways. Our £1.8 billion superfast broadband programme has achieved its target of 95% superfast coverage across the UK. In our Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), we set a target to go further and ensure that 15 million premises can connect to gigabit capable, full fibre broadband by 2025 with nationwide coverage by 2033. We are already investing to make that happen, stimulating the market through the £278 million Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme and the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. The FTIR was clear that the Government would also support full fibre broadband in less commercial areas of the country, likely to be around 10% of UK premises, so that no areas are systematically left behind. To start this, the 2018 Budget announced £200 million for the Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme.
Ministers meet regularly with Ofcom to discuss a range of issues. Ofcom is currently consulting on its initial proposals for promoting competition and investment in fibre networks across the country including in less commercial, rural areas of the UK.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent representations he has received from representatives of Ofcom on the funding of high-speed fibre broadband infrastructure in rural areas.
Answered by Margot James
We have no plans to introduce legislation which would allow BT/Openreach to charge rural consumers more than urban consumers to subsidise their full fibre broadband connections.
The Government is already supporting rural broadband connectivity in a number of ways. Our £1.8 billion superfast broadband programme has achieved its target of 95% superfast coverage across the UK. In our Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), we set a target to go further and ensure that 15 million premises can connect to gigabit capable, full fibre broadband by 2025 with nationwide coverage by 2033. We are already investing to make that happen, stimulating the market through the £278 million Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme and the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. The FTIR was clear that the Government would also support full fibre broadband in less commercial areas of the country, likely to be around 10% of UK premises, so that no areas are systematically left behind. To start this, the 2018 Budget announced £200 million for the Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme.
Ministers meet regularly with Ofcom to discuss a range of issues. Ofcom is currently consulting on its initial proposals for promoting competition and investment in fibre networks across the country including in less commercial, rural areas of the UK.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
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 potential merits of age-gaming applications that replicate gambling activities in order to stop children accessing such applications.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The government's Internet Safety Strategy considers options for working with the online video games industry to improve video gaming safety. The government is committed to working with industry and others to promote awareness and understanding of parental controls and advice on safe video gaming.
We are committed to ensuring that consumers are properly protected and that children’s vulnerability and inexperience is not exploited in commercial practices related to in-app purchases. We welcomed the Competition and Market Authority’s investigation and subsequent guidance for games publishers setting out what they need to do to comply with the relevant consumer protection regulations. Additionally, in June 2015 the Authority published advice for parents and carers on children’s use of online and app-based games, setting out what steps to take to control the additional features a child can purchase in online and app-based games.
The Gambling Commission issued a discussion paper in 2015 regarding regulation of social video games which received a number of responses from industry, academia and other interested parties. The Commission concluded, in March 2017, that there is no compelling reason to impose additional regulation on social video games given that it is subject to extensive consumer protection legislation. The Commission continue to monitor developments within the social casino sector gathering evidence from a variety of sources, and working in partnership with the industry and other regulators.
The Gambling Commission’s expert advisers, the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board, are also examining the wider relationship between children and gambling.
The VSC Rating Board is our designated body for classifying video games and applies the Europe-wide PEGI ratings to video games supplied in the UK. The PEGI criteria currently makes provision for games depicting simulations of traditional gambling and such games would generally attract a minimum PEGI 12. However, the VSC Rating Board is discussing these issues with the PEGI Council and its Experts Group to determine whether any changes to the PEGI criteria need to be made.