Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
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 effect of the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021 on women’s elite level football.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
I have regular discussions with the Football Association about the impact of COVID-19 on elite level football, including on women's elite football. Last year we also put in place an exemption for elite sport to continue behind closed doors has allowed elite level women’s football competitions like the Women’s Super League to continue.
Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support, which many women’s sport clubs have benefited from. The £300m Sports Winter Survival Package also aims to protect the immediate futures of major spectator sports in England over the winter period, including women’s football.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on individual’s data privacy of Facebook moving UK users on to US privacy agreements in 2021; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Whittingdale
On 15th December, Facebook publicly announced that from next year Facebook Inc in the US rather than Facebook Ireland will be the service provider responsible for UK users’ personal data.
At the end of the Transition Period, any online service provider dealing with UK users' personal data will still be subject to the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation. The legislation will, therefore, continue to apply to Facebook's treatment of personal data of UK users when those users are served from the US.
The UK is committed to high data protection standards and we are confident that the UK’s data protection laws provide appropriate protection for UK users.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on online harms.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is firmly committed to making the UK the safest place to be online, and DCMS and the Home Office are working at pace to introduce this legislation. We will publish a Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation later this year. This will include more detailed proposals on online harms regulation and will be released alongside interim voluntary codes on tackling online terrorist and child sexual exploitation and abuse content and activity. The Full Government Response will be followed by legislation, which will be ready next year.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to improve mental health support for veterans.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The Government is taking a number of measures to improve mental health support for veterans across the UK. From the beginning of service in the Armed Forces, personnel now undergo ‘through-life’ psychological resilience training, and upon leaving they have access to the Defence Transition Service (DTS), launched in October 2019. The DTS provides support for Service leavers and families who are the most likely to face challenges during transition to civilian life, including an impact on their mental health.
Wherever they live in the UK, all veterans are able to receive specialist mental health support if they need it. As healthcare is a devolved matter, further questions regarding Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should be addressed to the relevant devolved administration.
As well as the statutory services delivered by the NHS, the Government provides funding to a range of charity and third sector organisations, through the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and, most recently, a £6 million emergency COVID-19 Impact Fund. This funding has supported fantastic organisations across the four nations to deliver services to support the mental and physical wellbeing of veterans.
We are also investing in research, to improve our understanding of mental health amongst serving and ex-service personnel. This includes a recent study looking at the impact of COVID-19 on veterans and a long term veterans study examining a range of mental health and wellbeing factors; both of these are led by Kings College. A further two studies will contribute to improving the data and understanding around suicide; the first examining the cause of death, including suicide in members of the Armed Forces who have served since 2001 and a further study looking at the events in the 12 months leading up to known suicides in the last five years of anyone from the Armed Forces community.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department classifies professional (performance) wrestling as a sport or performance art for the purposes of observing covid-19 guidelines.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
For the purposes of observing Covid-19 guidelines, we advise participants and spectators of this form of wrestling to refer to both the Performance Arts Guidance (for managing rehearsals, training and audiences), and the Phased Return of Sport and Recreation Guidance (for guidance related to physical activity).
Professional Activity, such as professional wrestling, is permitted in line with Stage 4 of the performing arts roadmap within venues that are able to host such activities in line with Covid secure guidance. From 14 September, venues such as theatres, concert halls and other entertainment venues that host such events will need to ensure they are Covid secure in line with the relevant guidance, and that groups within the audience are limited to six. Venues will also need to ensure that groups are kept separate from one another to ensure they do not mix and do not exceed the new legal limits and that they adhere to new legal requirements around track and trace.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what guidance his Department has published on the safe operation of professional wrestling training schools during the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
For the purposes of observing Covid-19 guidelines, we advise participants and spectators of this form of wrestling to refer to both the Performance Arts Guidance (for managing rehearsals, training and audiences), and the Phased Return of Sport and Recreation Guidance (for guidance related to physical activity).
Professional Activity, such as professional wrestling, is permitted in line with Stage 4 of the performing arts roadmap within venues that are able to host such activities in line with Covid secure guidance. From 14 September, venues such as theatres, concert halls and other entertainment venues that host such events will need to ensure they are Covid secure in line with the relevant guidance, and that groups within the audience are limited to six. Venues will also need to ensure that groups are kept separate from one another to ensure they do not mix and do not exceed the new legal limits and that they adhere to new legal requirements around track and trace.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether professional wrestling matches and events are permitted under lockdown restrictions for performance art and theatre during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
For the purposes of observing Covid-19 guidelines, we advise participants and spectators of this form of wrestling to refer to both the Performance Arts Guidance (for managing rehearsals, training and audiences), and the Phased Return of Sport and Recreation Guidance (for guidance related to physical activity).
Professional Activity, such as professional wrestling, is permitted in line with Stage 4 of the performing arts roadmap within venues that are able to host such activities in line with Covid secure guidance. From 14 September, venues such as theatres, concert halls and other entertainment venues that host such events will need to ensure they are Covid secure in line with the relevant guidance, and that groups within the audience are limited to six. Venues will also need to ensure that groups are kept separate from one another to ensure they do not mix and do not exceed the new legal limits and that they adhere to new legal requirements around track and trace.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether professional wrestling matches and events are currently permitted to take place during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
For the purposes of observing Covid-19 guidelines, we advise participants and spectators of this form of wrestling to refer to both the Performance Arts Guidance (for managing rehearsals, training and audiences), and the Phased Return of Sport and Recreation Guidance (for guidance related to physical activity).
Professional Activity, such as professional wrestling, is permitted in line with Stage 4 of the performing arts roadmap within venues that are able to host such activities in line with Covid secure guidance. From 14 September, venues such as theatres, concert halls and other entertainment venues that host such events will need to ensure they are Covid secure in line with the relevant guidance, and that groups within the audience are limited to six. Venues will also need to ensure that groups are kept separate from one another to ensure they do not mix and do not exceed the new legal limits and that they adhere to new legal requirements around track and trace.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential effect of the implementation of covid-19 track and trace systems on the (a) protection and (b) use of personal data by businesses in the hospitality sector.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Department of Health and Social Care has been working closely with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to ensure that the development of test and trace systems, including customer, visitor and staff logs comply with data protection legislation. The ICO has published user-friendly guidance for organisations to ensure they notify individuals that their data is being collected; and that any information collected is limited to what is necessary, is not used for other purposes, is held securely and deleted after 21 days when no longer needed.
The guidance can be viewed on the ICO's website at: https://ico.org.uk/global/data-protection-and-coronavirus-information-hub/contact-tracing-protecting-customer-and-visitor-details/