Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Levitt on 2 March (HL Dec col 1066), what milestones they have established for the joint departmental team tasked with developing the delivery plan for online and offline pornography parity to ensure that the plan is published within six months of the Crime and Policing Bill receiving Royal Assent.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises that there is a clear and urgent need for greater parity between the treatment of harmful pornography online and offline. Following Baroness Bertin’s independent review, a joint team, formed by the Home Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ministry of Justice, and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will examine the evidence to inform the Government’s approach to pornography policy, including consideration of how best to achieve parity between online and offline pornography. This evidence will include the effectiveness of existing regulatory regimes, such as the on-demand programme services regulatory framework. The Government has committed to publishing a delivery plan within six months of the Crime and Policing Bill receiving Royal Assent, and further information regarding the delivery plan will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Levitt on 2 March (HL Deb col 1066), what assessment they have made of the existing regulatory framework for on-demand programme services as a model to deliver regulatory parity between online and offline pornography.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises that there is a clear and urgent need for greater parity between the treatment of harmful pornography online and offline. Following Baroness Bertin’s independent review, a joint team, formed by the Home Office, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Ministry of Justice, and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will examine the evidence to inform the Government’s approach to pornography policy, including consideration of how best to achieve parity between online and offline pornography. This evidence will include the effectiveness of existing regulatory regimes, such as the on-demand programme services regulatory framework. The Government has committed to publishing a delivery plan within six months of the Crime and Policing Bill receiving Royal Assent, and further information regarding the delivery plan will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery on competition and consumer prices in the UK streaming market, on investment in UK film and TV productions, and on the viability of the UK cinema sector.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is aware that Netflix has submitted a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming assets as part of an ongoing acquisition process. As the bidding process is ongoing and no transaction has been finalised, it would not be appropriate to provide comment further on this individual case.
As set out in our Creative Industries Sector Plan, the Government recognises that convergence in the TV and streaming market is leading to greater consolidation as companies seek economies of scale. Should any proposed transaction progress, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) would be responsible for examining implications for competition and consumers. The Government has committed to asking the CMA, working with Ofcom, to set out how changes in the sector could be taken into account as part of any future assessment of the television and advertising markets.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much money from the public purse the Government has spent on delivering the commitments made in the Loneliness Strategy entitled, A connected society: a strategy for tackling loneliness. Click save
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The cross-government loneliness strategy, launched in October 2018, contained 60 new commitments from nine government departments. It included a range of new policies as well as threading consideration of loneliness through a wide range of government’s work , such as expanding social prescribing and public messaging on loneliness.
Alongside the policy commitments made in the strategy, the Building Connections Fund launched in 2018 totalled £11.5million, made up of government, Big Lottery Fund and Co-op Foundation funding. It funds 126 projects.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Government has spent from the public purse on initiatives to tackle loneliness and social isolation in 2018-19. Click save
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The cross-government loneliness strategy, launched in October 2018, contained 60 new commitments from nine government departments. It included a range of new policies as well as threading consideration of loneliness through a wide range of government’s work , such as expanding social prescribing and public messaging on loneliness.
Alongside the policy commitments made in the strategy, the Building Connections Fund launched in 2018 totalled £11.5million, made up of government, Big Lottery Fund and Co-op Foundation funding. It funds 126 projects.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on what date he plans to take steps to introduce legal responsibilities for social media companies in relation to harmful content in the event that those companies do not take voluntary action.
Answered by Margot James
A joint DCMS-Home Office White Paper will be published shortly, setting out a range of legislative and non-legislative measures to tackle online harms, including clear responsibilities for tech companies to keep their users safe online.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what fines have been imposed on companies for promoting and marketing infant formula milk in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Margot James
Broadcast and non-broadcast advertising are governed by a system of co-regulation and self-regulation respectively, overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The Advertising Standards Authority does not impose fines, but it can refer those advertising or promoting products to other bodies for the further action, such as Trading Standards.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
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 consumption patterns of 5 to 15 year olds as a result of advertising aimed a children on (a) television, (b) Facebook, (c) YouTube and (d) Google.
Answered by Margot James
As part of the Childhood Obesity Plan, the Government is investing millions in the National Institute for Health Research Obesity Policy Research Unit to look at evidence on how all forms of marketing (including broadcast and online) affect children’s food preferences and consumption to help inform further thinking on this. The OPRU will begin publishing their findings later this year.
We also recently announced the Digital Charter, which aims to make the UK the safest place to be online. As you will have seen from the recently published Internet Safety Strategy, as part of the Digital Charter’s work programme, Government will work with regulators, platforms and advertising companies to ensure that the principles that govern advertising in traditional media – such as preventing companies targeting unsuitable advertisements at children – also apply and are enforced online.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made in implementing recommendation 4 of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
To date, DCMS, through the Life Chances Fund, has committed funding of up to £10 million to four projects that combat drug and alcohol dependency – this is in addition to funding from 23 local commissioners, who will provide £27 million to the four projects. DCMS has worked closely with Public Health England to ensure that projects are integrated into the wider care landscape.
Asked by: Baroness Berger (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made in implementing recommendation 4 of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
To date, DCMS, through the Life Chances Fund, has committed funding of up to £10 million to four projects that combat drug and alcohol dependency – this is in addition to funding from 23 local commissioners, who will provide £27 million to the four projects. DCMS has worked closely with Public Health England to ensure that projects are integrated into the wider care landscape.