Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her officials have had with their counterparts at the Treasury on the actions of the Financial Conduct Authority with regards to its regulation of BetIndex Limited.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport worked closely with their counterparts at the Treasury to discuss the collapse of BetIndex, the role of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in this case, the independent review conducted by Malcolm Sheehan QC and the lessons learnt that were identified by the review.
Following the publication of the review, the Gambling Commission updated its framework for risk based regulation so that product novelty is properly considered alongside other factors in determining the level of scrutiny an operator is placed under.
The review also clearly states that the FCA’s concluded position was that no part of Football Index fell within the FCA’s remit on legal grounds. Only one company is currently regulated by both the Gambling Commission and the FCA. The Commission continues to be vigilant about emerging products and operators and, under the terms of the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the FCA, identify and highlight the potential need for its involvement wherever necessary.
The FCA and the Gambling Commission strengthened their Memorandum of Understanding in response to Mr Sheehan’s recommendations in the independent review, including establishing new escalation routes and commitments on timeliness of responses to ensure regulatory impasses are identified and overcome quickly. The FCA has additionally nominated an Executive Director to oversee its relationship with the Commission.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether Ministers in her Department have met officials at the Gambling Commission in respect of the Review of the Regulation of BetIndex Limited.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The first piece of correspondence from the Gambling Commission alerting DCMS to the BetIndex Limited case was an email to officials on the 10th of March 2021.
Since then ministers and officials have had a number of meetings with the Gambling Commission on the case, the independent review, and lessons learnt. Records of ministerial meetings are published quarterly and are available on gov.uk.
Officials at the Advertising Standards Authority and DCMS have discussed the Betindex case periodically since the company’s collapse in March 2021, but there has been no written correspondence on it.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has received correspondence from the Advertising Standards Authority in respect of the activities of BetIndex Limited.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The first piece of correspondence from the Gambling Commission alerting DCMS to the BetIndex Limited case was an email to officials on the 10th of March 2021.
Since then ministers and officials have had a number of meetings with the Gambling Commission on the case, the independent review, and lessons learnt. Records of ministerial meetings are published quarterly and are available on gov.uk.
Officials at the Advertising Standards Authority and DCMS have discussed the Betindex case periodically since the company’s collapse in March 2021, but there has been no written correspondence on it.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings she has attended on the review of the regulation of BetIndex Limited.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The first piece of correspondence from the Gambling Commission alerting DCMS to the BetIndex Limited case was an email to officials on the 10th of March 2021.
Since then ministers and officials have had a number of meetings with the Gambling Commission on the case, the independent review, and lessons learnt. Records of ministerial meetings are published quarterly and are available on gov.uk.
Officials at the Advertising Standards Authority and DCMS have discussed the Betindex case periodically since the company’s collapse in March 2021, but there has been no written correspondence on it.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department first received correspondence from the Gambling Commission on its investigation into Football Index.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The first piece of correspondence from the Gambling Commission alerting DCMS to the BetIndex Limited case was an email to officials on the 10th of March 2021.
Since then ministers and officials have had a number of meetings with the Gambling Commission on the case, the independent review, and lessons learnt. Records of ministerial meetings are published quarterly and are available on gov.uk.
Officials at the Advertising Standards Authority and DCMS have discussed the Betindex case periodically since the company’s collapse in March 2021, but there has been no written correspondence on it.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 is taking to help ensure that those responsible for the collapse of Football Index are held to account.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Gambling Commission has revoked the licence of Football Index’s operator, BetIndex. It has also referred it to the Insolvency Service to consider whether directors breached fraud or insolvency laws.
The Insolvency Service investigates allegations of Directors misconduct and they can conduct criminal investigations against those suspected of committing criminal offences.
Senior members of the company have also surrendered their Personal Management Licences.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment has she made of the levels of online abuse of school staff.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The recent increase in online abuse towards school staff is unacceptable. Under the draft Online Safety Bill, companies in scope will need to minimise and remove illegal content including criminal online abuse.
Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults. These companies will have to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable on their platforms and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently.
If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including online abuse. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Education and (b) officials in the Department of Education on tackling online abuse of teachers.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The recent increase in online abuse towards school staff is unacceptable. Under the draft Online Safety Bill, companies in scope will need to minimise and remove illegal content including criminal online abuse.
Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults. These companies will have to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable on their platforms and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently.
If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including online abuse. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 has taken to tackle online abuse of school staff.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The recent increase in online abuse towards school staff is unacceptable. Under the draft Online Safety Bill, companies in scope will need to minimise and remove illegal content including criminal online abuse.
Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults. These companies will have to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable on their platforms and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently.
If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including online abuse. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 support tennis clubs during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity providers and facilities are at the heart of our communities, and play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active.
Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support, which many sport clubs have benefited from. An income scheme announced in July by the Secretary of State for Local Government, aims to support local authorities who have incurred irrecoverable loss of income from sales, fees and charge which they had reasonably budgeted for. On 22 October, the Government announced a £100m support fund for local authority leisure centres. In addition, Sport England have provided over £220million as a package of support to help the sport and physical activity sector through this crisis. Part of this figure is the Community Emergency Fund of £35 million specifically to help community clubs and local physical activity organisations through the pandemic.
We are continuing to work with organisations to understand what they need and how we may be able to support them.