Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps he has taken to support charities in Newport West to help them recover from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Matt Warman
Government recognises the dedicated charities and volunteers who have played a huge role in the national effort against coronavirus. From supporting the NHS, delivering food, tackling loneliness and social isolation and much more, they have delivered vital work throughout this pandemic.
That is why we provided an unprecedented multi-billion-pound package of support for charities and other civil society organisations and secured an exemption from the Covid-19 restrictions for essential volunteering.
Examples of DCMS funding awarded to registered charities in Newport West include:
£1,900 to St David’s Foundation Hospice Care
£2,934 to Sparkle (South Wales) Limited
£2,000 to Pillgwenlly Millennium Trust Limited
£20,000 to Faith Christian Center UK
For more information on grants awarded, please see the COVID-19 Grants Tracker published by 360 Giving.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps he has taken to support tourism businesses experiencing labour shortages in (a) Newport West and (b) Wales.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government understands that the tourism sector is currently facing significant skills gaps in some of England's most popular destinations. As stated in the Tourism Recovery Plan, we recognise the importance of building back better post-Covid with a more resilient tourism industry, employing more UK nationals in year-round quality jobs.
There is a significant amount of activity being undertaken by the government on skills which benefits the tourism industry. For example, the National Skills Fund represents a £2.5 billion investment in helping adults to gain the skills they need to improve their job prospects, while the Kickstart Scheme is providing funding to create hundreds of thousands of new job opportunities for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit.
We will continue to work closely with the industry-led Hospitality and Tourism Skills Board on a coordinated approach towards recruitment, retention and upskilling of the workforce.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to support touring musicians in Newport West to continue to work in Europe.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This government recognises the importance of the UK’s creative and cultural industries, not only to the economy and international reputation of the United Kingdom, but also to the wellbeing and enrichment of its people. We want musicians and performers to be able to tour abroad easily.
In order to support this, our focus is now on bilateral engagement with Member States, who are principally responsible for deciding the rules governing what work UK visitors can undertake in the EU. This is why we have spoken to every Member State. From those extensive discussions,19 out of 27 Member States have confirmed that UK musicians and performers do not require visas or work permits for some short term touring. Travellers should always check what requirements they need to fulfil with the EU Member State they are travelling to, and that is why we are working closely with Member States to ensure their guidance is clear and accessible.
We have also developed sector specific ‘landing pages’ for GOV.UK, aimed at the creative sectors, which will allow cultural and creative professionals to easily locate and access guidance that is relevant to them. From these pages, general business traveller summaries can be accessed, which provide enhanced guidance on EU Member State immigration systems for GOV.UK, and include sector-specific rules that feature on Member State websites.
We are now actively engaging with those remaining EU Member States that do not allow visas or work permit free touring, and calling on them to align their arrangements with the UK’s generous rules, which allow creative professionals to tour here easily. Formal approaches have been made, DCMS ministers will be actively involved, and we are working closely with the sector to amplify each other’s lobbying efforts.
We recognise challenges remain around touring, and we are continuing to work closely with the industry. We want to ensure that as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, touring can resume and our world-leading creative and cultural artists can continue to travel widely, learning their craft, growing their audiences and showing the best of British creativity to the world.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
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 Australia and New Zealand withdrawing from the Rugby League World Cup.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government was extremely disappointed by the decision to postpone this year’s Rugby League World Cup, but recognises that this was the inevitable result of a number of factors outside of the organisers’ control, including the decision of the Australian and New Zealand teams not to participate. DCMS continues to work closely with the Rugby League World Cup organisers, as they now work towards the rescheduled tournament which will be held between Saturday 15 October – Saturday 19 November 2022.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of Black and ethnic minority staff employed in his Department.
Answered by John Whittingdale
As of 01/08/2021 367 of 1917 employed Civil Servants in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport identify as black or another ethnic minority (19.1%). The percentage of staff who declare their ethnicity in the organisation is 91.2% so the actual number may be higher.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on his Department's rates of recycling of plastic, paper, metal and other products; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We continually review the waste generated on our estate and work with our commercial colleagues on circular economy principles to reduce the amount of waste that arrives on our sites. Where we can’t avoid this we work with our suppliers to move any waste we generate up the waste hierarchy.
Further information on Greening Government Commitments can be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/883779/ggc-annual-report-2018-2019.pdf
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
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 cost to the public purse of his Department's energy usage in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department’s energy is supplied by HMRC, from whom DCMS leases office space. The department has no buildings of its own.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with Mobile phone operators on the re-introduction of roaming charges for people in (a) Newport West constituency and (b) the UK travelling to the EU.
Answered by Matt Warman
Ministers have regular discussions with senior representatives of mobile operators on a range of issues, including on the issue of mobile roaming.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the steps he is taking to protect people from online harms and misinformation in (a) Newport West constituency, (b) Wales and (c) the UK.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The government has now published the draft Online Safety Bill. The new regulatory framework will hold platforms to account for tackling harmful content and behaviours online. Platforms will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content, and do more to protect children from being exposed to harmful content. The biggest social media companies will need to set out in clear terms and conditions what is acceptable on their services and enforce those terms and conditions consistently and transparently.
The Bill will also require companies to prevent the proliferation of illegal disinformation and misinformation online, and the biggest tech companies will have duties on legal disinformation and misinformation content that may cause significant physical or psychological harm to adults, such as anti-vaccination content and falsehoods about COVID-19.
Internet law and regulation is a reserved policy area, and we intend for this law to apply across the UK. My officials have been working closely with officials in the Devolved Administrations, including in the Welsh Government, throughout the development of our proposals, and will continue to engage throughout the legislative process.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
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 impact of the re-introduction of roaming charges when travelling to the EU on Newport West constituents.
Answered by Matt Warman
As the UK is no longer a member of the EU, and therefore no longer part of the Roam Like At Home arrangement, UK mobile operators are able to reintroduce roaming surcharges for travel to the EU.
The Government will consider any announcements made by mobile operators where changes are being made to their current EU roaming charges and will consider all available steps to ensure British consumers are treated fairly when travelling. We advise that consumers check with their operators before travelling.