Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent representations she has made to the Treasury on (a) taxation levels and (b) regulatory burdens within the gambling industry.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ministers and officials regularly engage with counterparts in HM Treasury about gambling duties. DCMS has shared information with HM Treasury relating to the wider regulatory context for the gambling industry, including recent regulatory changes resulting from the white paper.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 proposed football regulator on the average price of a premiership football game ticket.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The impact assessment for the Football Governance Bill estimates that the cost of regulation for all 5 divisions in scope of the regime will be between £103 million and £149 million, over a ten-year period. The Government does not believe that these costs will justify increases in ticket prices as they will be distributed proportionately across clubs over a significant period of time.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 an increase in gambling levies on pools operators.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in the government’s consultation response, the statutory gambling levy will be charged at a set rate for all holders of a Gambling Commission licence, ranging from 1.1% to 0.1% of Gross Gambling Yield (GGY). Remote and non-remote pool betting operators will be charged the levy at the lowest rate of 0.1%. We will conduct a formal review of the statutory levy system within five years where the structure and effectiveness of the system, including levy rates, will be assessed and any necessary adjustments made to ensure we are achieving our objectives and impacts are proportionate.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many permanent civil servants in her Department had their contract of employment terminated as a result of poor performance in the (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25 financial years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
From 1st April 2022 - 31st March 2025 there were seven dismissals. Of this total there were less than five poor performance dismissals that occurred between April 2023- March 2024.
We are unable to provide the precise number of poor performance dismissals because this would constitute a breach of the Data Protection Act, this is because the information relates to someone other than the data subjects and the risk of individuals becoming identifiable where case numbers are 5 or less.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many households in receipt of Universal Credit are liable to pay the BBC License Fee.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The payment of the Licence Fee is administered directly by TV Licensing, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not hold data on the number of households in receipt of Universal Credit that are liable to pay for the BBC Licence Fee.
The BBC offers a number of concessions on the Licence Fee, including free TV licences for over-75s who are in receipt of pension credit; discounts for people who are registered blind or severely sight impaired; and discounts for people living in qualifying accommodation for residential care who are disabled or over 60 years old.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 increases to betting levies on the horseracing industry.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the contribution made by horseracing to our regional economies and national cultural life. We are committed to bolstering and protecting this contribution and continue to engage with racing stakeholders on such matters to ensure a secure, sustainable future for the sport.
Future proposals on Gambling Levies are a matter for HMT, and we would encourage all interested parties to engage with ongoing consultations on the matter, which runs until the 21st of July. Should legislative changes come about following this consultation, we expect them to be accompanied by tax and impact notes from HMT, as is standard practice.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 increases to betting levies on employment within the horseracing industry.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the contribution made by horseracing to our regional economies and national cultural life. We are committed to bolstering and protecting this contribution and continue to engage with racing stakeholders on such matters to ensure a secure, sustainable future for the sport.
Future proposals on Gambling Levies are a matter for HMT, and we would encourage all interested parties to engage with ongoing consultations on the matter, which runs until the 21st of July. Should legislative changes come about following this consultation, we expect them to be accompanied by tax and impact notes from HMT, as is standard practice.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 Football Governance Bill on the financial health of non premier league football clubs.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Clubs across the football pyramid have suffered from the consequences of reckless spending, unmanaged debts and poor ownership. That is why the government has introduced the Football Governance Bill which aims to improve the financial sustainability of all clubs in scope, including clubs outside the Premier League, by addressing these key issues, improving the systemic financial resilience of the whole football pyramid.
This Bill will take a proportionate and light touch approach to regulation to avoid undue burden and has been designed through extensive consultation with clubs across the football pyramid.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 financial impact of the Football Governance Bill on the (a) administrative and (b) compliance activities of English football clubs.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Regulator will work with clubs to ensure the new regulatory regime is light touch and streamlined. The government’s impact assessment estimates compliance costs to be between £22.8 million and £46.1million over ten years.
The largest clubs in scope are expected to experience an increase of between 0.5 full-time equivalents (FTE) and 2.5 FTE, depending on existing levels of compliance. We anticipate the smallest clubs in scope are expected to experience a total increase of between 0.1 FTE and 0.5 FTE, depending on existing levels of compliance.
Regulation will improve the financial sustainability of clubs and the same assessment estimated that the benefit of regulation would far offset the cost.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an estimate of moving the BBC to a commercial subscription-based model on costs to the public purse.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The BBC is a vital British asset and makes a huge contribution to lives up and down the country. This government firmly believes that the unique obligations placed on the BBC demand continued, sustainable public funding to support its vital work.
The Government is keeping an open mind about the future of the licence fee, and the forthcoming Charter Review will provide an essential opportunity to consider the best possible funding model to set the BBC up for success long into the future. We will provide more details in due course.