Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets her Department has for staff recruitment.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
In line with the wider Civil Service, DCMS does not have recruitment targets for EDI, but is committed to represent the diversity of the UK population.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the total cost was of providing translation services in her Department in the last year.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS does not hold information to the level of detail requested within its finance system or procurement system.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the BBC Board on impartiality in their coverage.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Under its Royal Charter, the BBC has a duty to provide accurate and impartial news and information. This responsibility is particularly important when it comes to coverage of highly sensitive issues. Ofcom, as the BBC’s independent regulator, is responsible for holding the BBC to account on its duties on due impartiality.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what additional support her Department is providing to churches, in the context of the decrease in funding for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As well as the continuing Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, the Secretary of State has recently announced £15 million of additional funding for Heritage at Risk, building on Historic England's existing Repair Grants for Heritage at Risk programme.
Alongside this, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has committed to investing around £100m between 2023 and 2026 to support places of worship, including churches.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision to end the National Citizen Service on the number of (a) volunteering and (b) training opportunities available to young people.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
NCS programmes will continue to be delivered as planned up until March 2025. The new youth strategy will guide our transition over the next year, and we are committed to supporting young people throughout this process to mitigate any adverse impacts of the closure of NCS. Our priority is co-producing this new strategy with young people to understand how we can best support them moving forward. While the strategy is being developed, there are opportunities available for young people to access training and volunteering opportunities through other DCMS funded programmes such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the #iwill fund. Next financial year, we are increasing the total funding for other DCMS youth programmes which support young people’s access to opportunities, including volunteering and training opportunities, as well as local authorities’ capacity to provide an impactful offer for young people.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason she has decided to end the National Citizen Service.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
NCS has enabled over a million young people to connect across backgrounds, build confidence, and gain vital life and work skills. However, the challenges young people face today are vastly different from when NCS was created. The world has changed and, as the Secretary of State set out to the House on 12 November, we need a youth strategy and youth organisations that reflects that. We are moving away from one-size-fits all approaches and bringing power back to young people and their communities.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many pensioners have been prosecuted for non-payment of the TV Licence fee in each of the last three years.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The requirement to hold, and pay for, a TV Licence is set out in the Communications Act 2003 and the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004.
The Ministry of Justice currently publishes the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes for the non-payment of TV licence fees annually as part of their criminal justice statistics quarterly publications, which can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly
Figures for each year since 2005 up to 2022 are available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool, and can be found in the following dataset:
To view the relevant figures in these tables, select ‘191A Television licence evasion’ in the Offence filter. These figures can be refined further by age to identify an age range of 70+, it is impossible to provide the data for 'pensioners' as that is a diverse group that cannot be filtered purely by age.
The data for individuals aged 70+ are the following:
2022 - 260 proceeded against & 217 sentenced
2021 - 238 proceeded against & 207 sentenced
2020 - 329 proceeded against & 288 sentenced
Alternative data does also show no Over 75s have been prosecuted and that none of the prosecutions have resulted in custodial sentences.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Gambling Commission has made an assessment of Entain UK's compliance with online gambling advertising rules.
Answered by Paul Scully
I am unable to comment on specific cases of regulatory action taken by the Gambling Commission. However, I have provided some overarching information on online advertising rules contained in the Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).
Licensed operators are required to ensure that advertising of gambling products and services is undertaken in a socially responsible manner and complies with the UK Advertising Codes issued by the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) and administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). As part of its investigation into Entain Group’s regulatory failures, the Gambling Commission made an assessment of its general compliance with the LCCP, which identified anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures, as reflected in the published press statement. Further detail can be found on the Commission’s website.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether Entain has paid the £17 million fine imposed on it by the UK Gambling Commission in August 2022 for anti-money laundering failures.
Answered by Paul Scully
I am unable to comment on specific cases of regulatory action taken by the Gambling Commission. However, I have provided some overarching information on regulatory settlements.
Regulatory settlements are a possible outcome of Gambling Commission enforcement action, and this may include the operator paying a financial amount for socially responsible purposes. The Commission’s process for the approval of destinations of regulatory settlements ensures that only projects that meet the criteria are able to receive funds. When a project is approved, it is matched with outstanding funds and payment is arranged swiftly, with funds being ringfenced pending the payment. More information on the current process and destinations is available at the Gambling Commission’s website.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to improve the quality of mobile phone signal in (a) Ashfield and (b) Eastwood.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Government is committed to extending good quality 4G mobile coverage to 95% of the UK landmass. The Government’s existing 5G ambition for the majority of the population to have access to a 5G signal by 2027 has been delivered five years early through ‘basic’ (non-standalone) 5G.
We have already made reforms to the planning system to support the deployment of 5G and help extend mobile coverage. The changes, which came into force on 4 April 2022, enable operators to upgrade existing sites for 5G and share infrastructure to improve mobile coverage. And the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill, currently before Parliament, amends the Electronic Communications Code to encourage faster and more collaborative negotiations for the installation and maintenance of telecoms equipment.
The Government is developing a Wireless Infrastructure Strategy to set out a strategic framework for the development, deployment and adoption of 5G and future networks.