Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment has he made of effect of online gambling on vulnerable gamblers.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
All operators providing gambling facilities to consumers in Great Britain must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and comply with licence conditions, which include the protection of vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling. Operators are required to prevent underage gambling, to intervene when a customer shows signs of being at risk of harm and to offer the facility to self-exclude. Online operators must also offer a ‘time out’ facility and can make other tools available to help players manage their gambling, such as setting time or spend limits.
In May last year the Government published its response to the Consultation on proposals for changes to Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures, which set out a comprehensive package to strengthen protections across all forms of gambling, including online. Next month, the Gambling Commission will bring in new rules requiring operators to complete age and identity verification before consumers can deposit money and gamble, or play free-to-play demo games.
The Gambling Commission is also currently consulting on proposals to strengthen the requirement for operators to interact with consumers who may be experiencing gambling related harm. They are also reviewing whether gambling online with credit cards should be restricted, and will explore the potential consequences of doing so.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of local festivals on the growth of local tourism.
Answered by Michael Ellis
VisitBritain research shows that in 2016, over one million of the UK’s inbound visitors come here with attending a festival in mind, spending nearly £1.2bn during their visit.
In addition, the Arts Council has carried out research into the benefits of local events on the community and economy. For example, the SO Festival in East Lindsey is estimated to have increased footfall from 30,000 to 83,000. The Grinagog Festival in Torquay submitted a report for their 2018 festival estimating that there was £150,000 direct economic impact based on 2,400 paying customers.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the amount of funding allocated from the public purse to (a) fibre broadband installation and (b) mobile phone signal installations to improve digital connectivity in Gloucester.
Answered by Margot James
Government has invested heavily in digital connectivity in Gloucester through its Superfast programme, which has invested over £34m across Gloucestershire, Hereford, and South Gloucestershire. The majority of this investment has supported fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) connections, with some fibre to the premise (FTTP) connections installed in harder to reach areas.
We received an expression of interest from Gloucester City Council in 2017 for the Local Full Fibre Network programme’s Challenge Fund, which is designed to fund locally-led public connectivity projects that have the potential to leverage commercial investment in full fibre broadband connections. Local bodies were invited to submit formal bids, and funding was allocated to 13 successful bidders that were announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement in March 2018. We expect the next round of funding to open in summer 2018. We did not receive a bid from Gloucester for the first wave of funding, so we would welcome a bid from them for this next round.
We are also encouraging fibre broadband rollout through our Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. Small to medium sized businesses can claim a voucher worth up to £3,000 and residents can claim a voucher worth up to £500 as part of a group project. Businesses and local community groups interested in requesting a voucher can find details of suppliers in their local area on our website at https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/. So far in Gloucester there has been a total of 11 vouchers requested, so we would welcome further uptake of the scheme.
On mobile connectivity, the Government does not provide direct funding. Our approach is to deliver regulatory reforms that make it easier to roll out mobile infrastructure across the UK. That is why we have reformed the Electronic Communications Code, to encourage investment in the rollout of digital infrastructure by making deployment cheaper. The reforms came into force on 28 December 2017, and this will help expand current and future digital networks. We have also reformed mobile planning laws in England in November 2016, which provided new rights, for example, to build taller masts.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how her Department monitors the Football Association's effectiveness in maintaining participation numbers of people playing football; and what account her Department takes of such numbers in future funding decisions.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Sport England use the Active People Survey to monitor participation.
In May 2016, Sport England published its new strategy, 'Towards an Active Nation' that sets out how future investment in grassroots sport will be made. It includes an investment guide to all National Governing Bodies (NGB) for the 2017-21 period.Previous track record of delivery against targets in the 2013-2017 funding cycle will be part of that assessment. The NGB investment guide is available on Sport England’s website: https://www.sportengland.org/our-work/national-governing-bodies/investment-guide/
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to undertake any further action to prevent corruption within football.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The integrity of sport is absolutely paramount, and the new UK Sports Governance code published last month - part of our 'Sporting Future' strategy - is clear that we expect the highest standards of governance and transparency from all our sports governing bodies that want to receive public funding in future. Among the requirements is that organisations have strong leadership in place, with the right checks and balances to minimise the likelihood of integrity issues arising.