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.
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 his policy is on the regulation of third-party sellers on online marketplaces; and whether he plans to include those sellers in the forthcoming online harms legislation.
Answered by Matt Warman
Consumer protections already apply to online traders operating directly or as a third party through a platform.
The Online Harms White Paper sets out the Government's plan to establish a statutory duty of care to make companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users and tackle harm caused by content or activity on their services. We have consulted on our proposals for the new duty of care to apply to companies and other bodies that allow users to share or discover user-generated content or interact with each other online.
Companies in scope of the regulatory framework will be held to account for tackling a broad range of harmful and illegal content or activity on their services. However, where there is already an effective regulatory framework, this will be excluded from scope to avoid duplication.
The Online Harms White Paper consultation closed on 1 July. The Government will publish its response later this year.
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, whether his Department plans to take steps to prevent organisations from making a profit on Gift Aid claims when they receive a donation.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Charities Act 1992 requires all professional fundraisers, including online fundraising platforms, to inform potential donors of their fees and charges.
The Fundraising Regulator strengthened its Code of Fundraising Practice in June 2018 to clarify what is expected of online fundraising platforms in terms of their transparency.
Improved transparency requirements enable potential donors to make informed choices about their giving.
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 the National Emergencies Trust will be established; which organisation will provide the fundraising platform for that trust; and what the criteria his Department used to make that decision.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The charity sector has developed proposals to establish a new charity, the National Emergencies Trust. Its purpose would be to co-ordinate charitable fundraising and distribution in response to a major incident. The proposed charity would be independent from Government, and questions relating to how the charity would operate would be for the charity itself, once established.