Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to provide financial support to arts and cultural organisations.
Answered by John Whittingdale
HM Government recognises the great value of the UK’s world-leading arts and cultural sectors, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has a strong record of support for organisations in this space.
Arts Council England are spending £444 million annually on a record 985 organisations in their National Portfolio, which was enabled by a total increase of over £43 million in Arts Council Funding across the most recent Spending Review period.
We are also investing more than £200 million through the Cultural Investment Fund over this Spending Review period, and the £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund supported around 5,000 organisations. The extension to the higher rate of cultural tax reliefs secured at Spring Budget 2023 is estimated to be worth £350 million over the five year forecast period.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) parliamentary scrutiny is upheld and (b) personal data and personal health data is protected.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on Monday 18 July 2022. Following the election of the new leader of the Conservative Party, business managers have agreed that the government will not move the Second Reading and other motions relating to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill to allow ministers to further consider the Bill. Once resumed, Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise it fully as per parliamentary procedure.
The Bill will maintain high standards of protection for personal data, including sensitive healthcare data. At the same time, it will reform the most complex and burdensome parts of the data protection legislation which can impede responsible data use.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a mandatory levy on gambling companies to fund support for people with gambling addictions.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s Review of the Gambling Act called for evidence on how best to recoup the regulatory and societal costs of problem gambling. We will publish a white paper outlining our proposals for reform and vision for the sector in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with Spotify to help ensure that anti-Semitic content on that platform is swiftly removed.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society. The UK is taking robust action to tackle harmful online content, including antisemitism. Tech companies may already be held liable for illegal third party content that they host if they are aware of it and fail to remove it expeditiously. Tech companies that publish illegal content are already liable for it.
We also introduced the Online Safety Bill to Parliament on 17 March 2022 and it passed its second reading in the House of Commons on 19 April.
The Bill will give online companies, such as Spotify, new duties of care for user-generated content that they host on their service. Companies will have duties to prevent the proliferation of illegal content, including illegal hate speech, on their platform, and ensure that children who use their services are not exposed to harmful or inappropriate content. They will also be required to have effective and accessible mechanisms for users and affected persons to easily report concerns and seek redress.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of existing legislation on gambling in protecting those at risk from gambling-related harm.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is conducting a wide-ranging and evidence-led Review of the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age. This includes ensuring we have the right protections in place to prevent vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited. We are considering the evidence carefully and will publish a White Paper in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reinstating the Young Audiences Content Fund.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The pilot Young Audiences Content Fund was allocated Licence Fee underspend to test a new way of financing public service TV content for a three-year period. This three-year period concluded on 31 March 2022. As planned a full evaluation will now take place to determine the impact of the Young Audiences Content Fund on the children’s television industry and the provision and plurality of public service content for young audiences across the UK.
The potential for any further investment of public funding will be assessed against the Fund evaluation and alongside future public service broadcasting needs.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential financial public losses as a result of the proposed changes to the Gambling Act.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Gambling Act Review is wide-ranging and aims to ensure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age. We will publish a white paper setting out our conclusions and next steps in the coming months. Appropriate consideration of impacts is being made at all stages.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that there are adequate age-related controls in place for people purchasing Non-Fungible Tokens in video games.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government is committed to ensuring that video games are enjoyed safely and consumers are empowered to make informed decisions. Video game ratings are mandatory under UK law for physical products. The Games Rating Authority - which is part of the Video Standards Council - rates games using the Pan European Games Information (PEGI) system. In addition to age classifications, PEGI ratings also include content descriptors to ensure buyers are informed about games at the point of purchase, including whether a title contains 'in-game purchases', such as Non-Fungible Tokens, loot boxes and other in-game items.
We will continue to work with industry and other relevant stakeholders to understand the impact of new in-game technologies.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of short-stay educational visits to the UK from EU schools; and what steps she is taking to encourage more visits from EU schools to the UK.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the government’s Tourism Recovery Plan, we are committed to supporting the tourism industry’s return to pre-pandemic levels across England, including tourism for educational purposes.
So far, the government has provided over £35 billion in support to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors over the course of the pandemic in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
The continuing desirability of English language skills drives the UK’s soft power on the world stage. The Tourism Recovery Plan recognises educational travel as an important part of the visitor economy and highlights the 2021 updates to the International Education Strategy, which sets out how we will promote English Language Training in the UK.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing a compensation scheme in order to grant financial redress to customers of Football Index.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government appreciates the significant impact that the collapse of the novel gambling product Football Index had on former customers. BetIndex, the company which operated Football Index, went into liquidation on 5 November. The process is continuing and it is likely that this will result in some amounts being reimbursed to creditors. There is no compensation scheme for losses caused by a gambling firm ceasing to operate and the government does not think it would be appropriate to use public funds for these purposes.