Sport: Women on Governing Bodies

Debate between Baroness Jowell and Lord Ashton of Hyde

Thursday 6th April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jowell (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister reflect on the progress achieved in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics in increasing participation, particularly among girls in school? I therefore invite him to take the opportunity of the Athletics World Championships, which will be held in London this summer, to declare once again the Government’s support and commitment to increasing participation in sport among schoolchildren, with a very particular focus on boosting participation among young girls.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

Again, I agree entirely with that. Key to our strategy is getting people involved in sport, but also activity in general, not just sport. We definitely want to include children at a younger age. As I said the other day, we have included children down to the age of five. We want to get all children and young people involved in activity.

Digital Technology: Skilled Workforce

Debate between Baroness Jowell and Lord Ashton of Hyde

Monday 27th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I am aware of the enterprise investment scheme. It is one of the ways that we can promote start-up companies. It is more risky, but there are advantages to it, so I take my noble friend’s point.

[Baroness Jowell (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister pay particular attention to the unrealised potential and contribution to our digital economy of thousands of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds? The highest barrier to entry and to the realisation of their ambitions to set up their own business is having somewhere from where they can operate—business premises. Will the Minister undertake to convene a meeting of Ministers in other departments—the Department of Health, DCLG and so forth—that are overseeing an increasing number of empty buildings that could provide office space for these young people to realise their ambitions and potential?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

The noble Baroness is right to address those issues. One of the things we are doing as part of the digital strategy is to convene the digital skills partnership, and my department will be leading. That will bring other parts of government together in addition to businesses, national and local charities and local authorities to make sure that we address digital skills in a more collaborative way and that digital skills are better co-ordinated and targeted more effectively.

Gambling: Young People

Debate between Baroness Jowell and Lord Ashton of Hyde

Thursday 12th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I cannot say now because the gambling review is looking at just that matter. The point of the review is to look at these things and provide recommendations. The call for evidence has just been completed, and we will be consulting on that call for evidence soon.

[Baroness Jowell (Lab)]

My Lords, I hope the Minister will accept that the Gambling Act 2005, which I was responsible for as the then Secretary of State, gave us one of the most highly regulated gambling regimes in the world. Gambling changes rapidly, though, and, as the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans made clear, young people can gamble in the privacy of their own rooms on smartphones. Many of the new gambling products know no borders, which creates a regulatory challenge. Therefore, in the context of the gambling review, will the Minister undertake to look at ways of increasing the regulation of those forms of ambient gambling that we can control—specifically, gambling and betting shops on the high street—and ensure that a regulatory review is undertaken not only of the speed of play and the number of machines but also of the planning consent that has led to the outbreak of betting shops, driven by the availability of these machines on high streets across the country?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I congratulate the noble Baroness on her achievement with the Gambling Act. However, things have not stayed the same since then; for example, the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 brought all gambling websites that provide gambling to British subjects, including foreign websites, under the licensing regime. We realise that this is a fast-moving environment, and the Gambling Commission monitors it on a continuing basis. As I said, we will not hesitate to take action if it is required. However, our statutory adviser has said that age verification is working well.