Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on the Gambling Act Review; and when she plans to publish the Gambling Review White Paper.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 June to Question UIN 13827.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will provide redress to the people affected by the collapse of BetIndex Limited, the operators of Football Index.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 February to Question UIN 112706.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 it her policy to provide redress to the people affected by the collapse of BetIndex Ltd, the operators 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. We recognise the frustration and anger that this situation has caused and the hardship that some people have suffered as a result. However, 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.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on the Gambling Act Review; and when she plans to publish the Gambling Review white paper.
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 weeks.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 extending the scope for criminal sanctions in the Online Safety Bill where there is a consistent failure by tech companies to meet the required safety duties; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government published the draft Online Safety Bill in May for pre-legislative scrutiny, which is due to report in December. As set out in the Bill, Ofcom will have robust enforcement powers to deliver a culture of compliance, deter companies from breaching the rules and hold them to account if they do. These will include criminal sanctions for senior managers.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 introducing a named persons scheme in the Online Safety Bill to deliver a culture of compliance to the regulation; what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of such schemes in other sectors; and if she will publish any such assessment.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government published the draft Online Safety Bill in May for pre-legislative scrutiny, which is due to report in December. As set out in the Bill, Ofcom will have robust enforcement powers to deliver a culture of compliance, deter companies from breaching the rules and hold them to account if they do. These will include criminal sanctions for senior managers.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to include provisions on regulation of the comments sections of online newspaper websites in the Online Safety Bill announced in the Queen's Speech..
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The comment sections of online newspaper websites will not be in scope of the Online Safety Bill. The Bill was published in draft on 12 May. The draft Bill exempts from its scope comments and reviews on articles, products and services published directly by a company on its own website. This includes ‘below the line’ comments on news publishers’ sites.
Please note that anyone concerned by material published on a news website’s comment section can complain directly to the publisher or to the relevant independent self regulator. The majority of traditional publishers - including 95% of national newspapers by circulation - are members of The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). A number of smaller publishers have joined The Independent Monitor for the Press (IMPRESS).
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 Foreign Secretary on the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 and its implications for the Government's policies on online harms.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues, on a range of issues, including online harms policy.
The government has set out its proposals for a new regulatory framework to tackle online harms in the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper, published on 15 December 2020.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 tackle the disproportionate effect of digital poverty on BAME communities in Luton.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In response to Covid-19, the Government and Ofcom agreed a set of commitments with the UK’s major broadband and mobile operators to support vulnerable consumers during the pandemic, including supporting those in debt, and providing new and generous landline and mobile offers, such as free or low cost mobile data boosts.
Furthemore, there are currently social tariffs in place that provide low cost landline and broadband services for those on means-tested state benefits, including BT Basic and KCOM’s flex packages. In addition, in November 2020, Virgin Media launched a new low-cost broadband service for its customers in receipt of Universal Credit.
Public libraries are also a vital component in tackling digital exclusion. During 2019/20, Luton’s six static libraries had 96 electronic workstations available with internet access, providing 246,610 hours of available use of the People’s Network and with 67,235 hours recorded use of People’s Network.
As part of over £300 million invested to support access to remote education and online social care, over one million laptops and tablets have been secured for disadvantaged children and young people. This figure includes 500,000 that have already been delivered since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Government has also introduced new essential digital skills qualifications (EDSQs) based on new national standards for essential digital skills. Adults with no or low digital skills can study essential digital skills qualifications for free.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he (a) has had and (b) plans to have with Cabinet colleagues on preparation to counteract misinformation being spread (i) online and (ii) in traditional media on the distribution of a covid-19 vaccine.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including the spread of misinformation surrounding Covid-19. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
The Government is committed to ensuring that information people access about Covid-19 is accurate. We continue to work closely with social media platforms to help them identify and take action against incorrect claims about the virus in line with their terms and conditions. This includes anti-vaccination narratives that could endanger people's health.
In May 2020, Ofcom published specific guidance on Covid-19 content and expects broadcasters to be alert to the potential for harm to audiences. The government is also committed to independent self-regulation of the press. The majority of traditional publishers are members of independent press regulators which issue codes of conduct on accuracy in news.