Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking with Ofcom to protect young women and girls from damaging diet and weight-loss adverts on social media.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is responsible for regulating the creative content, media placement and audience targeting of advertising in the UK. The Advertising Codes which it administers contain dedicated rules for adverts relating to weight control or reduction, including prohibiting such adverts from being directed at or containing anything likely to appeal particularly to under-18s or those for whom weight reduction would produce a potentially harmful body weight. The ASA has banned a number of influencer posts promoting prescription-only weight loss injections, and also ran a call for evidence last year on advertising giving rise to potential body image concerns.
The Online Safety Act will require all user-to-user and search services accessed by children to put in place systems and processes designed to prevent children from encountering user-generated content, including advertising, that is harmful to them. Content that promotes, encourages or provides instructions for eating disorders has been designated as a type of ‘priority’ content harmful to children under the Act. The Act also requires providers to put in place age-appropriate protections from any other content, even where this has not been designated as ‘priority’ harmful content, that risks causing significant harm to an appreciable number of children.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the implications for its policies of the financial sustainability of the regional press industry.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government is committed to supporting local and regional newspapers as vital pillars of communities and local democracy. They play an essential role in holding power to account, keeping the public informed of local issues and providing reliable, high-quality information.
We are working to support journalism and local newsrooms to ensure the sustainability of this vital industry. This includes our new digital markets regime, which will help rebalance the relationship between the most powerful platforms and those who rely on them – including press publishers. This will make an important contribution to the sustainability of the press, including at local level.
Additionally, our support for the sector has included the delivery of the £2 million Future News Fund; the zero rating of VAT on e-newspapers; the extension of a 2017 business rates relief on local newspaper office space until 2025; the publication of the Online Media Literacy Strategy; and the BBC also supports the sector directly, through the £8m it spends each year on the Local News Partnership, including the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has taken recent steps to help support the financial sustainability of the regional press industry.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government is committed to supporting local and regional newspapers as vital pillars of communities and local democracy. They play an essential role in holding power to account, keeping the public informed of local issues and providing reliable, high-quality information.
We are working to support journalism and local newsrooms to ensure the sustainability of this vital industry. This includes our new digital markets regime, which will help rebalance the relationship between the most powerful platforms and those who rely on them – including press publishers. This will make an important contribution to the sustainability of the press, including at local level.
Additionally, our support for the sector has included the delivery of the £2 million Future News Fund; the zero rating of VAT on e-newspapers; the extension of a 2017 business rates relief on local newspaper office space until 2025; the publication of the Online Media Literacy Strategy; and the BBC also supports the sector directly, through the £8m it spends each year on the Local News Partnership, including the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will increase the number of grant schemes aimed at capacity building for third sector organisations.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This government is providing significant investment and support to Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations. For example, in March we announced a package of over £100 million to support charities and community organisations in England with cost of living pressures, and over this spending review period we are investing over £500 million in youth services in England.
Alongside this we are also providing targeted support that will build capacity across the VCSE sector. For example, we are delivering one-to-one business support and peer learning for early stage social enterprises in disadvantaged areas through the £4.1 million Social Enterprise Boost Fund. Similarly, the £900,000 VCSE Contract Readiness Programme is boosting the capacity of VCSE organisations in England to better compete for government contracts.
In addition, we recently announced further support for the youth sector. We have allocated £250,000 through the Local Youth Partnerships Fund to support the set up of additional local youth partnerships to boost the range, quality, accountability and sustainability of frontline services for young people through greater local coordination and cooperation. We are also providing core funding for 8 regional youth work units in England to improve their practices and ensure a consistent minimum level of regional leadership to develop and support the delivery of youth services. Finally, in order to further build the youth sector capacity, we have also announced £800,000 of new funding to provide bursaries for 500 people who would otherwise be unable to afford to undertake youth work qualifications. This builds on over 2,000 bursaries funded to date.
The department remains in regular dialogue with key VCSE sector stakeholders to monitor the health of the sector and to identify shared priorities.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has held discussions with television production companies on mental health support for reality television (a) contestants and (b) production staff.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government has been clear that all broadcasters and production companies have a responsibility to the mental health and wellbeing of both participants and viewers, and must ensure that they have appropriate levels of support in place.
It is an employer's duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of all their employees and other people who might be affected by their work activities. In 2019, following a rise in complaints about the mental health and wellbeing of programme participants, Ofcom launched a review of their protections for people who appear on television. New Ofcom rules to protect the wellbeing of people who appear on television have now been in place since 5 April 2021.
In addition, the government is keen that the creative industries maintain momentum in improving working practices. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) hosted a creative industries-wide roundtable on welfare issues in June 2021, at which a number of factors were identified as contributing towards instances of bullying, harassment and discrimination (BHD) in the creative industries. Work on the BHD agenda has been led by Creative UK and has resulted in industry establishing the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) to address these issues. It is well supported by the Broadcast TV sector, who provided seed funding for the CIISA. Further information about the scope and work of the CIISA can be found on their website.
Additionally, work is being done to improve job quality for all those working in the creative industries. The Good Work Review, published in February 2023 by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, was co-funded by DCMS and is the first sectoral deep dive of its kind into job quality and working practice in the creative industries. As part of the Creative Industries Sector Vision the government has committed, together with industry, to set out an action plan to assess the recommendations of this review.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 time taken to reach a decision on local television licensing renewal on (a) local TV stations and (b) their partnerships with (i) funders and (ii) universities.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the important contribution and impact that local TV services make to our broadcasting ecosystem and for those across the UK, particularly in their role disseminating relevant news and engaging with local communities.
In the Broadcasting White Paper, we announced our intention to make changes to the local TV licensing regime to enable the renewal of the local TV multiplex licence – which would otherwise expire in November 2025 – until 2034. We committed to consulting on the conditions for renewal of the multiplex licence, and on our approach to the renewal or relicensing of the 34 local TV services that broadcast from it and whose licences also expire in November 2025.
The Government understands the desire of the sector for clarity on this important issue and intends to publish the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the BBC on its future support for BBC Local Radio.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is disappointed that the BBC is planning to reduce parts of its local radio output. I met with the BBC and expressed our shared concerns in this House. I made clear that it must continue to provide distinctive and genuinely local radio services, with content that represents communities from all corners of the UK.
Ultimately, the BBC is editorially and operationally independent, and it is for them to decide how to deliver its services. However, I expect them to consider the views of this House when they make the decision over whether to proceed.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of wheelchair accessibility in sports grounds; and whether her Department has plans to improve disabled access to sports facilities.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises there are barriers which exist and prevent some people from participating in sport and physical activity, including access to sports grounds and facilities. We want to remain at the forefront of equality and continue to do all that we can to tackle these.
We work closely with our arm’s length bodies, Sport England and UK Sport, and sector partners to encourage sport bodies to make sport and facilities more accessible. Sport England is developing a new plan called ‘Accessible and Inclusive Sports Facilities’ that will be published this year.
The Government expects all sports and all clubs to take the necessary action to fulfil their legal obligation under the Equality Act of 2010 to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage when accessing sports venues. With the support of Level Playing Field, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) developed the Accessible Stadia document and Accessible Stadia Supplementary Guidance as a benchmark of good practice for new and existing sports grounds. It offers practical, clear solutions that will help deliver high-quality grounds with facilities and services that are accessible, inclusive and welcoming for all.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of her Department’s funding for youth programmes is provided to programmes in the Midlands.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
DCMS provides funding for a range of youth programmes benefitting young people in the Midlands and right across England, such as the National Citizen Service (NCS). DCMS recently announced a new National Youth Guarantee, ensuring that by 2025, every young person in England will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer.
The Youth Investment Fund, however, is a geographically targeted fund levelling up access to youth services in those areas that need it most. Ministerial decisions regarding which areas would be eligible to apply were taken on the basis of high quality, robust and publicly available data. The eligible areas and a detailed explanation of the methodology is available on the GOV.UK website here.
19 upper tier local authorities across the East and West Midlands qualify in whole or part for support from YIF, covering over 350,000 young people between the ages of 11-18.
It is not possible to assess the proportion of this investment that will be awarded to these Midlands areas as applications for Phase 1 of the fund are currently being reviewed and Phase 2 of the fund will open later this year.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support her Department will provide to local authorities for the delivery of youth services in the next two years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to allocate funding to youth services in line with local need. This is funded from the Local Government settlement, which was over £12 billion this year. DCMS are currently reviewing the statutory duty and its associated guidance to assess the effectiveness after a call for responses from key youth stakeholders.
The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people. It is this government’s commitment that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. This will be supported by a three year £560 million investment in youth services through the National Youth Guarantee.