Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to The Taylor Review: Sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals published on 20 December 2017, when she plans to respond the recommendations of that review; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Following the publication of the Taylor Review, my Department responded to the Review’s recommendations by working with Historic England to explore a new model of funding and advice through two pilot projects in Manchester and Suffolk. The pilots tested the recommendations of the Review and an evaluation of their impact was published here. My officials continue to work closely with key parties to understand and respond to issues affecting our ecclesiatical heritage.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What recent discussions she has had with representatives of the UK film industry on that sector's compliance with health and safety legislation.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The Government is dedicated to improving the creative industries, upskilling individuals, and promoting health and safety.
My department recognises the importance of the film industry’s compliance with relevant health and safety legislation and we engage regularly with the sector, including through the British Film Institute.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether online pornography operators based outside of the UK will be required to meet the requirement to provide a duty of care as proposed in the Online Harms White Paper Initial Consultation Response.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We published our Online Harms Initial Consultation Response in February this year. Under the new regulatory framework, the duty of care will apply to all companies that provide services which facilitate the sharing of user generated content or user interactions. Where pornography sites have such functionalities (including video and image sharing, commenting and live streaming) they will be subject to the duty of care.
The duty of care will apply to all companies who provide services to UK users. Noting the particularly serious nature of some of the harms in scope and the global nature of many online services, the White Paper proposed that there should be a level playing field between those companies that have a legal presence in the UK, and those that operate from overseas.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps online pornography operators must take to protect children from harm under the proposals in the Online Harms White Paper Initial Consultation Response.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Our Online Harms proposals will deliver a higher level of protection for children than for the typical adult user. As we set out in the initial response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation on 12 February, we expect companies to use a proportionate range of tools, including age assurance and age verification technologies, to prevent children accessing age-inappropriate content such as online pornography, and to protect them from other harms.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the final Government response to the Online Harms Consultation responses will be published.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is firmly committed to making the UK the safest place to be online, and we are working at pace on our proposals. We will publish a full government response later this year.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care tackling childhood obesity through broadcast restrictions on junk food.
Answered by Margot James
There is a clear need to address childhood obesity on health and social justice grounds and this government is committed to tackling the issue and supporting people in making healthy choices.
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with his ministers and Cabinet colleagues on a number of issues pertaining to broadcasting, including advertising regulation.
The UK currently places strong restrictions on the advertising of foods high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) in broadcast media. These state that HFSS products may not be advertised in children's media, or during programmes of which children make up over 25 per cent of the audience. The Committees of Advertising Practice regularly review and update the Advertising Codes to ensure they reflect the best available evidence of the impact of advertising on the public.
Our public health priorities are kept under review as we remain committed to ensuring that the UK has a robust approach.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department operates a ban the box employment policy in respect of ex-offender job applicants with unspent convictions; and how many employees of her Department have unspent convictions.
Answered by Matt Hancock
DCMS is committed to offering all applicants equality of opportunity to ensure that we attract and retain candidates with the most talent and potential. To this end, the DCMS recruitment process does not require applicants to declare unspent criminal convictions at the initial recruitment stage. Applicants are asked to declare unspent criminal convictions as part of basic employment checks when a provisional offer of employment has been made. Decisions concerning appointment to a post where an individual has a conviction history are made on a case-by-case basis.
The department does not retain details centrally that would allow us to identify employees with unspent convictions so the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he expects superfast broadband to be fully rolled out in (a) England and (b) Central Bedfordshire.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
90% of the UK, including Central Bedfordshire will be able to receive superfast broadband by early 2016, rising to 95% by 2017.