Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) Premiership Rugby Limited and (b) the Rugby Football Union on the governance of rugby clubs.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The stewardship of rugby union in England is the responsibility of the Rugby Football Union, as the National Governing Body for the sport. The Government expects good governance from all our sports bodies, as set out in the sports governance code. Government ministers and officials have regular meetings with sports governing bodies to discuss a wide range of issues, including the stewardship of their sport.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the dangers of advertising cosmetic procedures on social media.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Advertising in the UK is overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the industry’s independent regulator, which for online advertising enforces the Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) through a system of self-regulation. The CAP Code incorporates all relevant legislation and sets standards for accuracy and honesty to which advertisers must adhere, including specific conditions on advertising to children, causing offence and social responsibility. This system operates independently of government.
The ASA has published guidance to advertisers on how it would be likely to interpret the CAP Code when considering complaints relating to adverts promoting cosmetic procedures. This guidance stresses the burden of social responsibility that the Code places on advertisers, including the importance of avoiding trivialising the advertised procedures, exploiting insecurities, employing exaggerated or unrealistic claims, and targeting vulnerable groups.
Separately to this, the government is reviewing how online advertising is regulated in the UK, looking at how well the current regime is equipped to tackle the challenges posed by developments in online advertising. Although this work will not directly address issues relating to specific rules or sectors, it will consider cross-cutting challenges with potential to impact the wider market. A call for evidence on online advertising was published last month.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to sanction search engine companies that do not remove websites that promote suicide.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government published the initial response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation on 12 February 2020. This confirmed that the Government is developing legislation on online harms to establish a new duty of care on companies towards their users, overseen by an independent regulator. Companies in scope will not be required to remove specific items of legal content; however, they will be required to put in place systems and processes to deal with harmful content, and in particular, to minimise the risk of young people and vulnerable users encountering harm online.
The duty of care will apply to companies that provide services which facilitate the sharing of user generated content or user interactions. Requirements will differ according to the service offered and will be proportionate to the size and capabilities of the platform, alongside the risk to users on each platform. Final details regarding companies and services in scope will be published in the full Government response later this year.
To ensure compliance, the regulator will have the power to issue warnings, notices and fines. We are considering the responses to the consultation on senior management liability and business disruption measures, such as ISP blocking, and will set out our final policy position in the full Government response.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to (a) remove and (b) limit access by young people to websites which promote suicide.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The government is committed to making the UK the safest place in the world to go online. We are developing world-leading laws to introduce a new duty of care on online companies towards their users. The duty of care will be overseen by an independent regulator who will set clear standards and have strong enforcement powers to deal with non-compliance.
Government has also formed a partnership of suicide prevention experts funded by social media companies to support people and improve research. This work will create an evidence base around suicide and self-harm content online and produce best practice guidelines and standards for industry on how to respond to harmful content online.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to bring forward legislation to hold to account the management of social media companies that do not take reasonable steps to identify and respond to child abuse on their platforms.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
In the Queen’s speech on December 19 2019, the Government confirmed plans to develop legislation to improve internet safety. This is a complex and difficult task and we are working hard to get the proposals right. DCMS and the Home Office are working at pace to commence the legislative process and introduce a Bill once Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department monitors the cash held by its subsidiaries in offshore bank accounts; and how frequently those subsidiaries report those balances to his Department.
Answered by John Whittingdale
DCMS monitors the commercial bank balances of its Arm’s-Length Bodies (ALBs) held outside of the Government Banking Service (GBS) via quarterly returns and this is reported to HM Treasury. The returns include any cash held in offshore accounts.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the level of (a) harassment and (b) discrimination in the music sector.
Answered by Nigel Adams
No such assessment has been undertaken. This government believes that harassment and discrimination are unacceptable - whether in the music industry or any other sector. Everyone has the right to feel safe at work and people can only thrive when they operate in a respectful and tolerant environment so that they can make the most of their talents.
We welcome the work undertaken by the Incorporated Society of Musicians, the Musicians Union and others within the sector to help address this issue through offering support, guidance and monitoring.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, under (a) which scheme and (b) what criteria the company Hacker House Ltd was awarded a grant of £100,000 in January 2019.
Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes
In February 2019, following an open competition, Hacker House Limited was awarded grant funding under the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund. The Fund is designed to provide grant funding to organisations working to increase the number and diversity of individuals pursuing a career in the cyber security profession and encourages a market-led approach to sustainable growth of the cyber retraining ecosystem.All applications were assessed against criteria outlined in guidance documentation available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-security-skills-immediate-impact-fund. The criteria included demonstration of an effective and sustainable approach to train and place individuals into UK cyber security employment.Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, by what date his Department plans to have brought forward legislative proposals to extend the scope of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to cover relationships between sports coaches and 16-17 year olds in their care.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
We continue to work with my colleagues at the Ministry of Justice, who are responsible for the Sexual Offences Act 2003, to ensure that sports coaches are included as a ‘position of trust’. The safeguarding of young people is one of my top priorities, and I want to see this legislative change happen as soon as possible.