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 role that physical education and school sport can play in promoting mental wellbeing amongst children and young people.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Physical education and school sport is vital in promoting mental wellbeing amongst children and young people. The recent publication of data from the Active Lives: Children and Young People survey confirms that active children are happier: the most active children report a mean happiness score of 7.5 (out of 10), compared to 6.8 for those who are less active. Benefits include building confidence, managing anxiety and depression, and increasing self-esteem, cognitive skills and improving learning and attainment.
In December last year the Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education published Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper, which highlighted how important physical activity is for good mental health and wellbeing. Furthermore, the cross-government sport strategy, Sporting Future, sets mental wellbeing as one of its five key outcomes.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2017 to Question 116539, on Offences against children: sports, when the Government plans to extend the definition of a position of trust to include sports coaches.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Proposals are being developed to extend the definition of a ‘position of trust’ in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, to bring into that definition sports coaches who hold a position of trust in relation to a child aged 16 or 17 under their care. We are working to finalise our proposals in early 2018 and will have a clearer view of timing once we have done so.
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, when her Department plans to announce its proposed review of fixed odds betting terminals.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Government announced a Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures, including FOBTs, on 24 October 2016. We expect to publish our findings in spring 2017.
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, how many apprenticeships have been created in her Department in each region in each of the last five years; and how many participants in those apprenticeships subsequently secured a job within the Civil Service.
Answered by Matt Hancock
In light of the Government’s manifesto commitment to achieve three million new apprenticeship starts in England by the end of the Parliament, the Cabinet Office will be centrally collecting data on apprenticeships to allow the Civil Service to report on its contribution towards the national target.
DCMS employed four apprenticeships in the 2014 calendar year, five in 2015 and three in 2016 to date. All of these apprentices were recruited on permanent Civil Service contracts. Data on apprentices was separately recorded from 2014.
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 recent discussions he has had with Ofcom about the adequacy of their existing powers to implement gaining provider-led switching for all communications services.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I meet regularly with Ofcom. Ed Richards in his evidence to the Communications Committee on 18 November 2014 confirmed that Ofcom had the necessary power to deliver gaining provider led switching for mobile services. However the Regulator has stated that they will undertake a review of the consumer experience of switching to identify the most appropriate powers to use, to address consumer protection and competition issues. The Government will assist in this assessment and will work closely with Ofcom to identify any areas where its powers could be improved.
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, with reference to his Department's strategy paper Connectivity, Content and Consumers, what powers (a) his Department and (b) Ofcom have to implement the policy of establishing gaining provider led switching (i) for mobile and (ii) across other communications services.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Communications Act 2003 confers functions on Ofcom to make provisions about the regulation of the provision of electronic communications services. Section 45 of the Act gives Ofcom the power to set general conditions on service providers. Section 51 specifies that one of the reasons for imposing such conditions is to protect the interests of consumers of electronic communications services. These statutory powers apply to all electronic communication services and there is therefore no doubt that Ofcom has sufficient powers to make provision for a gaining provider led model for voice and data services switched between mobile network operators and voice and broadband services switched over the KCOM copper network.
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 recent conversation he has had with Ofcom on the introduction of a gaining provider-led switching system in the mobile sector.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
DCMS officials have frequent contact with Ofcom to take forward this work. I want the switching process to be as easy and straightforward as possible for consumers and I recognise that switching processes work better for consumers when only one call needs to be made for the switch to happen, to the gaining provider. Working with Ofcom, we will do everything we can to move towards a system of gaining-provider led switching across the board.
In July, Ofcom published a call for inputs (which closed in September) on switching providers of broadband, pay-TV, mobile voice and data services and bundled services, in order to gauge the impact of these processes on consumers’ experience and on competition. Ofcom is conducting further research and holding discussions with industry and consumer organisations. It will publish a document setting out its findings in the first half of 2015.
We set out our thinking on GPL switching in the Connectivity, Content and Consumers [CCC} Strategy Paper, published in July 2013. In December 2013 Ofcom announced that GPL switching would be mandated for broadband and fixed telephony over the Openreach network. Full implementation of this will be completed by June 2015. Since then, Ofcom has been assessing the consumer experience of switching mobile services, pay-TV and bundles of electronic communications services and will report in the first half of 2015, as I describe above.
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 his Department has taken to support the introduction of gaining provider-led switching systems since the publication of his Department's report, Connectivity, Content and Consumers in July 2013.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
DCMS officials have frequent contact with Ofcom to take forward this work. I want the switching process to be as easy and straightforward as possible for consumers and I recognise that switching processes work better for consumers when only one call needs to be made for the switch to happen, to the gaining provider. Working with Ofcom, we will do everything we can to move towards a system of gaining-provider led switching across the board.
In July, Ofcom published a call for inputs (which closed in September) on switching providers of broadband, pay-TV, mobile voice and data services and bundled services, in order to gauge the impact of these processes on consumers’ experience and on competition. Ofcom is conducting further research and holding discussions with industry and consumer organisations. It will publish a document setting out its findings in the first half of 2015.
We set out our thinking on GPL switching in the Connectivity, Content and Consumers [CCC} Strategy Paper, published in July 2013. In December 2013 Ofcom announced that GPL switching would be mandated for broadband and fixed telephony over the Openreach network. Full implementation of this will be completed by June 2015. Since then, Ofcom has been assessing the consumer experience of switching mobile services, pay-TV and bundles of electronic communications services and will report in the first half of 2015, as I describe above.
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 recent assessment he has made of the potential effect on consumers of the implementation of a gaining provider-led switching system in the mobile sector.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
DCMS officials have frequent contact with Ofcom to take forward this work. I want the switching process to be as easy and straightforward as possible for consumers and I recognise that switching processes work better for consumers when only one call needs to be made for the switch to happen, to the gaining provider. Working with Ofcom, we will do everything we can to move towards a system of gaining-provider led switching across the board.
In July, Ofcom published a call for inputs (which closed in September) on switching providers of broadband, pay-TV, mobile voice and data services and bundled services, in order to gauge the impact of these processes on consumers’ experience and on competition. Ofcom is conducting further research and holding discussions with industry and consumer organisations. It will publish a document setting out its findings in the first half of 2015.
We set out our thinking on GPL switching in the Connectivity, Content and Consumers [CCC} Strategy Paper, published in July 2013. In December 2013 Ofcom announced that GPL switching would be mandated for broadband and fixed telephony over the Openreach network. Full implementation of this will be completed by June 2015. Since then, Ofcom has been assessing the consumer experience of switching mobile services, pay-TV and bundles of electronic communications services and will report in the first half of 2015, as I describe above.
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, if his Department will co-operate with the Department for Communities and Local Government over potential actions to reduce the costs associated with planning regulations and other barriers in relation to the rollout of high-speed broadband.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
DCMS worked closely with Communities and Local Government, industry and other interested parties to design and implement in 2013 a significant and substantial package of planning relaxations in England. The changes support the roll out of fixed line high-speed broadband in protected areas*, and high-speed mobile broadband (4G) in protected and unprotected areas by removing the need to seek planning permission for specified developments. This year, joint working with Communities and Local Government has continued, together with house builders and communications providers, to develop an action plan to ensure that new developments have access to superfast broadband.
*(National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, World Heritage Site, Norfolk and Suffolk Broads and Conservation Areas but not Sites of Special Scientific Interest)