Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure the Gambling Commission has sufficient resources to implement the proposals in the Gambling White Paper.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government recognises that, while millions of people gamble online without experiencing problems, for some it becomes an addiction with serious consequences. The Gambling White Paper outlines a range of proportionate measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm.
The Government is working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure it has the necessary resources to regulate the industry effectively, as set out in our review of the Gambling Act. Further detailed consultations on a number of the measures set out in the Review will ensure we have a clear understanding of any new requirements that will be placed on the Commission and we will work with it to understand what changes may be needed.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her Department's planned timetable is for concluding its assessment of building financial education and capability as an additional aspect to the financial inclusion cause in the Dormant Assets Scheme.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Dormant Assets Scheme has unlocked £145 million to support financial inclusion initiatives in England to date and earlier this year, the government announced that £76 million of dormant assets funding would be allocated to support those struggling with the cost of living. This includes £45 million for financial inclusion initiatives like the provision of no-interest loans to vulnerable people.
Following the consultation on the English portion of dormant assets funding, the Government is continuing to explore how financial education and capability can be supported in the future.
The government aims to publish a statement of intent in due course to announce the proportions of funding this government intends to allocate to the four causes, including financial inclusion and capability.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is takings to include (a) financial education and (b) capability in the allocation of the dormant assets identified by the Dormant Assets Act 2022; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Dormant Assets Scheme has unlocked £145 million to support financial inclusion initiatives in England to date and earlier this year, the government announced that £76 million of dormant assets funding would be allocated to support those struggling with the cost of living. This includes £45 million for financial inclusion initiatives like the provision of no-interest loans to vulnerable people.
Following the consultation on the English portion of dormant assets funding, the Government is continuing to explore how financial education and capability can be supported in the future.
The government aims to publish a statement of intent in due course to announce the proportions of funding this government intends to allocate to the four causes, including financial inclusion and capability.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will set out a timeline for the Online Safety Bill; and whether that timeline will allow for the outcomes of the Government’s public consultation on banning conversion therapy practices to inform the Bill.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill by Parliament is underway, and we expect the Joint Committee to report with their recommendations by 10 December.
The Bill remains a priority for DCMS and the Home Office, and we will introduce the Bill as soon as possible after we have considered the recommendations made by the Joint Committee.
The conversion therapy consultation is open until 10 December. The government will then publish its response to the consultation in the new year. Legislation to ban conversion therapy is being prepared for Spring 2022.
The government is considering how best to tackle the promotion of conversion therapy online through the Online Safety Bill and associated work.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
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 is taking to support LGBTQ+ inclusion in British sport.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion, which is at the heart of our strategy ‘Sporting Future’. Our aim is to help the sport sector be more inclusive and welcoming to its spectators, participants and workforce, including LGBTQ+ people.
Sport England, our arm’s length body for grassroots sport in England, launched their new ten year strategy Uniting the Movement (UoM) in January 2021. As part of that, they held a number of focus groups and interviews to ensure LGBTQ+ people are given as many opportunities and as much support to get active as people with other protected characteristics. These efforts include a combination of research, insight, and funding for specific LGBTQ+ projects and organisations. The Sport England’s Active Lives Survey also captures data on LGBTQ+ people’s physical activity levels biannually.
Additionally, as part of the forthcoming update for the Code of Sport Governance, sports receiving the most funding will be required to agree a diversity and inclusion action plan with Sport England and UK Sport, which will be published and updated annually. This will further support LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport across the nation.
We will continue to work closely with our arm’s length bodies, sports national governing bodies, and sector partners, to ensure inclusion for LGBTQ+ people is present at grassroots sport all the way through to elite sport.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether adult gaming centres are classified as non-essential retail under covid-19 guidance; and whether those centres will reopen once the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has published guidance to help businesses understand how to make workplaces Covid-secure and help tackle the spread of the virus. Adult Gaming Centres should follow the shops and branches guidance in addition to Bacta’s specific guidance for FECs and AGCs to ensure they can operate as safely as possible when they are open.
The shops and branches workplace guidance was intended as guidance for those businesses on how they could operate safely when the regulations permitted them to do so after the first national lockdown and beyond. It does not have a direct bearing on the timing for reopening of the businesses included in the guidance.
As announced by the Prime Minister, we intend to publish our plan for taking the country out of lockdown in the last week of February. That plan will depend on the continued success of our vaccination programme, and on a sustained reduction in Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will allow competitive ice skaters who are over 18 and who are not elite athletes to access ice rinks to train when the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021 ends.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus.
On Monday 4 January the Prime Minister announced a national lockdown and instructed people to stay at home to control the virus, protect the NHS and save lives. The National Restrictions are designed to get the R rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions. Therefore, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, including ice rinks, must close.
Previously, outdoor skating rinks could stay open across all tiers and indoor skating rinks could open in Tiers 1 and 2. Ice rinks were closed in tier 3 and 4 as they are primarily used for the purpose of entertainment. This is consistent with other venues used for entertainment purposes across the economy which were also closed. To allow those who need to access ice rinks, in tier three, exemptions were made for sport for educational purposes, people with disabilities, supervised activity for under-18s and elite athletes.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will hold discussions with the TV Licensing Authority on the (a) the time taken to process cheque payments from people over 75 and (b) issuing reminder letters to people who have already paid for their TV licence.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC and TV Licensing are responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee, not the government.
The government is therefore not involved in how TV Licensing processes payments, including cheques, or how and when it issues reminder letters.
However, the government expects TV Licensing to collect the licence fee in an efficient and proportionate manner, and to ensure particularly sensitive handling for those aged 75 and over who may be affected by the BBC’s changes to the over 75 concession.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing grants to churches and other places of worship which face potential closure as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Listed places of worship represent some of the nation’s finest heritage. The Government recognises the very significant impact that Covid-19 has had on places of worship to continue to operate and on the ability of congregations to maintain them.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has announced significant cross-sector support to deal with the impacts and aid recovery. This includes a £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund announced earlier this year aimed at helping key cultural and heritage organisations, including listed places of worship. The Fund has and will continue to provide grants to cover operating costs, support organisations become financially viable again and finance stalled capital projects. In addition, many places of worship have been eligible for other Covid-19 funding schemes including the emergency grant schemes run by Historic England and the National Lottery earlier this year.
The Government is committed to supporting places of worship and will continue to monitor both the impacts of the pandemic and the wider challenges that places of worship face.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support the Government will provide to charities who are responding to the covid-19 outbreak but are unlikely to benefit from the support schemes announced to date.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government is aware that the coronavirus outbreak has caused a series of economic challenges to charities at a time where they are seeing an increased demand. The £750m funding package announced by the Chancellor is specifically aimed at supporting those who need to continue providing their services as part of the national coronavirus response.
£360 million will be directly allocated by government departments to charities providing key services and supporting vulnerable people during the crisis.
A further £310m will be granted to charities through the National Lottery Communities Fund (NLCF) in England and £60m via the Devolved Administrations. We expect the application system for the National Lottery Community Fund grant pot in England to be operational shortly.
Unfortunately, we cannot match every pound of funding charities expected to receive this year. Many charities will have to assess whether they can access cross-cutting support measures announced by HM Treasury. This includes the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; access to a Business Interruption Loan, and schemes to defer VAT bills to the end of June, and pay no business rates for charity shops next year.