Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 support required by the arts sector following the rise in the number of positive omicron covid-19 cases.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
DCMS is committed to supporting arts and culture across the country. This commitment is evident in the Government’s recent Spending Round, where it was announced that Arts Council England will be receiving over £375 million of government funding in 2021/22.
In November 2021 we also announced that 925 arts, heritage and cultural organisations would benefit from the third round of the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF). In total, over £1.5 billion has now been allocated from the CRF which has helped to save around 5,000 individual organisations and sites, including funding allocated to the DCMS sponsored national cultural institutions. This constitutes the largest ever public investment in the arts in UK history.
The third round of CRF is still open for applications, providing vital ongoing support for the cultural, heritage and creative sectors. £30 million from the Culture Recovery Fund is being made newly available for organisations as part of the Chancellor's £1 billion support package, and this funding will be used to double the budget for the Emergency Resource Support strand of CRF which has been extended in order to meet the demand from across the cultural sector.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she last met the General Secretary of the Musician’s Union.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
I regularly meet with a wide range of representatives of the music industry, including the Musicians' Union. I met the General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union earlier this month.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress she has made on supporting touring musicians to continue to work in Europe.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This government is working hard to help touring musicians work in Europe. That is why we have spoken to every EU Member State about the importance of touring. From these discussions, 21 out of 27 Member States have now confirmed they offer visa and work permit free routes for musicians and creative professionals, including Spain which introduced a new visa exemption after extensive lobbying from the sector and this government.
We are working with the remaining 6 Member States that do not allow any visa or permit free touring, to encourage them to make touring easier. We want all our European colleagues to be able to enjoy the economic and cultural benefits that UK touring artists bring, as we do from EU creative performers who can tour here easily.
We have also helped to provide clarity on many other issues, and arrangements in some areas are much more workable than previously reported. For example, accompanied portable musical instruments may not require a carnet, and ‘splitter vans’ are not subject to EU cabotage rules. We recognise challenges remain around touring, and we are continuing to work closely with the industry to help musicians and performers resume touring with confidence.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on her plans to publish a white paper on the Gambling Review.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
DCMS officials have met Welsh Government officials to discuss the Gambling Act Review and ministers have exchanged letters. Submissions to our call for evidence which were particularly pertinent to Wales have been shared on request, with the permission of the respondent. The Government plans to publish a white paper setting out next steps in the coming months and will continue to engage with the Welsh Government.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps she has taken to help protect children in Newport West constituency from online harms.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Protecting children online is a priority for the government. In May 2021, we published the draft Online Safety Bill, which places duties on platforms to protect their users from harmful content and activity. The strongest protections in the legislation are for children. Services which are likely to be accessed by children will have to protect children from inappropriate and harmful content like pornography, and behaviour such as bullying. The regulator, Ofcom, will be able to take enforcement action against companies that fail to comply.
Ahead of online safety legislation, the UK’s regulatory regime for video sharing platforms requires UK-established platforms to take appropriate measures to protect children from harmful material. In addition, the Information Commissioner’s Age Appropriate Design Code, which came into force in September 2021, provides stronger protections for children’s personal data.
The government also recognises that it is important that children and parents are supported to stay safe online. In July 2021, we published the Online Media Literacy Strategy. This supports the empowerment of users, including young people, with the skills and knowledge they need to make safe and informed decisions online, whilst making the most of all the internet has to offer. In June 2021, we also published Safety by Design guidance and a “One Stop Shop” on child online safety. These provide voluntary guidance on steps that platforms can take to design safer services and protect children.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 Ofcom’s proposed enforcement powers in the Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Ofcom will enforce the new online safety regime with tough powers to take action against companies breaching their duties, including substantial fines, requiring companies to take action and even blocking services in the most serious cases.
The Bill will also provide for Ofcom to pursue criminal action where a senior manager fails to ensure that their company complies with its information requirements.
We are confident these robust enforcement powers will push strong compliance, hold the tech sector to account and incentivise companies to go further in protecting people online.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to include provisions in the Online Safety Bill to extend to (a) WhatsApp and (b) one-to-one voice messages shared on social media platforms.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Online Safety Bill will apply to companies that allow users to post content online or to interact with each other, as well as search services. The new laws will apply to online instant messaging services, including WhatsApp and one-to-one voice messages on social media platforms.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what level of funding her Department plans to allocate to Ofcom to support the duties proposed for that organisation in the Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Through Spending Review 2021, over £110m has been allocated to the implementation of the online safety regime over the next three financial years (2022/23 - 2024/25). This will enable my Department to deliver the Online Safety Bill and will enable an independent regulator (Ofcom) to be established for the new regulatory framework which the Bill will put in place. It will also deliver a package of innovative online safety implementation measures which are required to implement the legislation and create the conditions for the legislation to be effective.
This outcome will ensure that Ofcom has the resources it needs to establish its online safety functions for the successful implementation of the online safety legislation.
Once the online safety regime is operational, Ofcom will be industry funded and therefore cost neutral to the government. Ofcom will be given powers to charge an annual fee to providers of a regulated service whose qualifying worldwide revenue meets a financial threshold. The fees charged to providers whose revenue is at or above the threshold will be differentiated and will be levied proportionately in order to recoup Ofcom’s annual operating costs.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has discussed the recommendations contained in the Report of the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance with the Welsh Government.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
My officials are in regular contact with their counterparts in the Welsh Government.
The Government welcomes the work of the Fan Led Review and will now consider its detailed recommendations ahead of providing a full Government response in Spring 2022. This will include discussion with the Devolved Administrations.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2021 to Question 75126 on UN Climate Conference 2021: Government, how many Ministers in her Department travelled to COP26 by airplane.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
No DCMS Ministers travelled to COP26 by aeroplane.