Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 effectiveness of the regulations in place to support problem gamblers.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Gambling operators providing facilities to customers in Great Britain must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and must abide by its player protection requirements. In response to the Covid outbreak, the Commission issued additional guidance for online operators to mandate increased customer interactions, a ban on direct marketing of bonus offers or promotions to customers showing signs of vulnerability, and a ban on operators allowing customers to reverse decisions to withdraw winnings. Data published by the Gambling Commission in November found that since the first national lockdown began, the majority (86%) of those surveyed had gambled the same amount or less than they had previously.
Support and treatment services for people experiencing gambling problems have remained available throughout the Covid 19 period. These include the National Gambling Helpline and counselling services delivered by GamCare and other third sector providers, the NHS specialist gambling clinic in London and the NHS Northern Gambling Service. In April the Gambling Commission directed £8.8 million of regulatory settlement funds to commissioning charity GambleAware to support third sector treatment provision during Covid 19. Other avenues for support such as gambling self exclusion tools and opt-in gambling transaction blocks with banks have also remained available throughout the pandemic.
The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. The Review will be wide-ranging and evidence led, and aims to make sure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age. The Call for Evidence will be open for 16 weeks until 31 March 2021, and further detail, including how to make a contribution, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-gambling-act-2005-terms-of-reference-and-call-for-evidence/review-of-the-gambling-act-2005-terms-of-reference-and-call-for-evidence.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Lancashire of 24 August 2020 on communication he has had with BT on BT workers' contracts and redundancies.
Answered by John Whittingdale
I apologise for the delay in responding to the issues the Hon. Member has raised. The department with the policy remit will reply on each matter shortly.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Lancashire of 10 July 2020 to the Prime Minister on a Maritime Coastal Powerhouse Minister, which was transferred to his Department for answer.
Answered by John Whittingdale
I apologise for the delay in responding to the issues the Hon. Member has raised. The department with the policy remit will reply on each matter shortly.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Lancashire of 12 August 2020 on the Roman Fort in Burscough.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A response was issued to the Hon Member on 6th November.
May I apologise for the delay in responding to the issues the hon. Member has raised.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to respond to the letter of 13 August 2020 from the hon. Member for West Lancashire, on subtitling on third party platforms.
Answered by John Whittingdale
A response was sent to the Hon Member on 5th October.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support community sport groups during the covid-19 lockdown to ensure that they can resume activity once it is safe to do so.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active and the Government is committed to reopening facilities as soon as it is safe to do so. The government has announced that indoor fitness and dance studios, and indoor gyms and sports venues/facilities would remain closed but from 4 July other indoor other indoor facilities, including indoor games, recreation and entertainment venues would reopen.
As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.
Sport England has also announced £210 million of funding to help sport and physical activity organisations deal with the short and long term effects of the pandemic.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to tackle loneliness among people aged over 75 who cannot afford a TV licence from June 2020 and are not eligible for pension credit.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The future of the over 75 licence fee concession is the responsibility of the BBC from June 2020. This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.
The Government is disappointed with the BBC's decision to restrict the over 75 licence fee concession to only those in receipt of pension credit. We recognise the value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe they should be funded by the BBC.
In 2018 this government published the world's first government loneliness strategy and appointed the world's first minister with responsibility for tackling loneliness. In January 2020 we published our first annual report, highlighting the progress made so far.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking with the BBC to ensure the continuation of the provision of free TV licences for people aged over 75.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The future of the over 75 licence fee concession is the responsibility of the BBC from June 2020. This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.
The Government is disappointed with the BBC's decision to restrict the over 75 licence fee concession to only those in receipt of pension credit. We recognise the value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe they should be funded by the BBC.
In 2018 this government published the world's first government loneliness strategy and appointed the world's first minister with responsibility for tackling loneliness. In January 2020 we published our first annual report, highlighting the progress made so far.