Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of organisations in the cultural sector on eligibility for access to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The government has announced unprecedented support for business, workers and the self-employed during this national emergency. We will continue to support the cultural sector through the financial measures announced, including loans tailored to the needs of businesses large and small.
Alongside this, DCMS continues to engage with the sector extensively in order to best understand the challenges faced, to hear how and where they are benefitting from support measures and to consider additional support that may be needed.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many organisations in the cultural sector have used the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The government has announced unprecedented support for business, workers and the self-employed during this national emergency. We will continue to support the cultural sector through the financial measures announced, including loans tailored to the needs of businesses large and small.
Alongside this, DCMS continues to engage with the sector extensively in order to best understand the challenges faced, to hear how and where they are benefitting from support measures and to consider additional support that may be needed.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions his Department has had with cultural organisations on their potential role in supporting vulnerable adults (a) during and (b) after the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This department continues to emphasise the important role arts and culture plays in health and wellbeing. I am keen that the sector reopens as soon as it is safe to do so, and this is in part to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to engage with and participate in cultural activities, which we know has significant health and wellbeing benefits.
My officials, together with DCMS arms length bodies, have spoken to over fifty organisations in the last two weeks to better understand what specific programmes they offer, and are looking to offer, with the aim of supporting social outcomes such as supporting vulnerable adults. For example, a number of library services across the country have been systematically ringing all their vulnerable users to ensure they are OK and to maintain some form of friendly human contact.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the permanent closure of long-standing cultural institutions which are financially affected by the covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We recognise that these are incredibly challenging times for cultural institutions and the Government will continue to support these organisations through the unprecedented financial measures we have announced. DCMS has worked closely with its arm’s-length bodies to deliver tailored support packages at speed, including the £160m Emergency Funding Package announced by Arts Council England, made possible by Government funding.
Alongside this, DCMS continues to engage with the sector extensively in order to best understand the challenges faced. We are working closely with the Arts Council to consider the additional support that may be needed to support the long-term recovery of the sector.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with internet providers to examine how to ensure isolated or disadvantaged families are able to access essential online services and help during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Matt Warman
The telecoms sector has undertaken a significant amount of work over recent years to prepare for a pandemic. DCMS is working closely with the main broadband providers to ensure the network remains stable and continues to have sufficient capacity for the increases in home-working and remote learning the country has seen as a part of its response to Covid-19.
My Department has brokered an agreement with the telecoms sector to ensure vulnerable consumers have access to critical services online. More details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-agrees-measures-with-telecoms-companies-to-support-vulnerable-consumers-through-covid-19.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish its response to the consultation on digital identity that closed on 15 September 2019.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Department intends to publish its response to the Digital Identity Call for Evidence in Spring 2020.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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 Cabinet colleagues on progressing the Government's plans for the Online Harms Bill.
Answered by Matt Warman
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including the proposed legislation on online safety. As the Prime Minister said in Prime Minister’s Questions on the 15th January, it was discussed at Cabinet in January.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to include steps to tackle Islamophobia in the forthcoming online harms Bill.
Answered by Matt Warman
Anti-Muslim hatred is completely unacceptable and has no place in our society. The Online Harms White Paper will establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Companies will be held to account for tackling harms occurring on their platforms, including hate crime. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has the cross-government lead on countering anti-Muslim hatred, and we will continue to work with them closely on this policy. The Secretary of State is looking to bring forward online harms legislation as quickly as possible
We are also ensuring that the criminal law is fit for purpose to deal with online harms. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport and the Ministry of Justice have now engaged the Law Commission on a second phase of their review of abusive and offensive online communications. The Law Commission will review existing communications offences and make specific recommendations about options for legal reform in a final report in 2021.The Law Commission is also looking into the adequacy of protection offered by hate crime legislation. This strand of work is expected to report in 2021.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is for bringing forward legislative proposals on online harms.
Answered by Matt Warman
We plan to publish the Government response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation before the end of the year. We will then introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government plans to take through the Online Harms Bill to tackle Islamophobia.
Answered by Matt Warman
Islamophobia is completely unacceptable and has no place in our society. The Online Harms White Paper sets out our plans for world-leading legislation to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online, by making companies more responsible for their users’ safety online. We will establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Companies will be held to account for tackling a comprehensive set of online harms, and hate crime is one of the harms in scope of these proposals. We will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which has the cross-government lead on countering Islamophobia, as this policy is developed.
It is also important that the criminal law is fit for purpose to deal with online harms. The Law Commission has recently started the second phase of its review of abusive and offensive online communications, which will review existing communications offences and make specific recommendations about options for legal reform in a final report in 2021. In parallel, the Law Commission is looking into the adequacy of protection offered by hate crime legislation, and this strand of work is expected to report in 2020.