Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty to allow trustees of Charities time off from work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government hugely values the hundreds of thousands of people who give up their time to act as trustees across the country. We do not have any plans to introduce a statutory duty for trustees to be given time off from work at this time. However, as set out in the Civil Society Strategy, we are keen to work with partners in the charity sector to consider different ways to strengthen trusteeship.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
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 plans to take to support legacy giving to raise more funds for good causes.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
As outlined in the Civil Society Strategy, this Government aims to ensure that it is as easy and compelling as possible for everyone to give to the causes they most care about. In recognition of the importance of legacy giving, the Government offers a reduced rate of inheritance tax for individuals leaving charitable gifts. We also strongly support the Institute of Fundraising’s Remember a Charity campaign, for example The Minister for Sport and Civil Society recently took direct action to encourage more legacy giving, urging solicitors to join the campaign and discuss leaving a gift with their clients.
We plan to continue this support and to work with other organisations to raise awareness of legacy giving and the incentives to leave a gift in a will.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to his August 2018 Civil Society Strategy, what plans the Government has to support legacy giving.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
As outlined in the Civil Society Strategy, this Government aims to ensure that it is as easy and compelling as possible for everyone to give to the causes they most care about. In recognition of the importance of legacy giving, the Government offers a reduced rate of inheritance tax for individuals leaving charitable gifts. We also strongly support the Institute of Fundraising’s Remember a Charity campaign, for example The Minister for Sport and Civil Society recently took direct action to encourage more legacy giving, urging solicitors to join the campaign and discuss leaving a gift with their clients.
We plan to continue this support and to work with other organisations to raise awareness of legacy giving and the incentives to leave a gift in a will.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to sign up to the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Answered by Michael Ellis
It is necessary to carefully prioritise resources towards those Conventions that will have the most impact on the safeguarding of our heritage, such as the ratification of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property undertaken last year. However, the Government fully recognises the contribution that the UK’s oral traditions, social practices and festive events make to the country’s cultural fabric, and continues to encourage communities to celebrate these practices, keeping them alive for future generations.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the Government plans to publish the report relating to the funding of Welsh language channel S4C.
Answered by Margot James
We published the S4C independent review, 'Building an S4C for the future' on 29 March, alongside the government's response.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to announce the allocation of funding by the Independent Dormant Assets Commission.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The independent Dormant Assets Commission reported to Government on the feasibility of expanding the current dormant assets scheme to include a wider range of dormant financial assets in March 2017. The Government is considering the Commission’s report and will publish its response in due course.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
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 committing a proportion of the funding from the Independent Dormant Assets Commission to prepare charities for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The independent Dormant Assets Commission reported to Government on the feasibility of expanding the current dormant assets scheme to include a wider range of dormant financial assets in March 2017. The Government is considering the Commission’s report and will publish its response in due course.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the telephone helpline for small businesses on the General Data Protection Regulation, run by the Information Commissioner's Office, will be open to small charities.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Yes. The phone service is aimed at people running small businesses or charities and recognises the particular problems they face getting ready for the new data protection regime. There are already resources on the Information Commissioner's Office website (ico.org.uk) to help smaller organisations to prepare for the data protection regime.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
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 extend her Department's support for smaller charities to include training on data protection before the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation in May 2018.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Small charities and SMEs can make use of the ICO's advisory visit service which provide organisations with practical advice on improving their data protection practices. Through an advisory visit charities will be able to benefit from the ICO's knowledge and expertise to identify what they are doing well and where they need to improve. The ICO has also: launched a helpline aimed at small organisations; updated its SME toolkit to include GDPR requirements; and begun working on simplifying its 12-step GDPR preparation guidance.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time staff in her Department have been seconded from (i) businesses and (ii) charities.
Answered by Matt Hancock
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Parliament is dissolved.