To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Gambling: Children
Friday 9th February 2024

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an estimate of the number of underage people that use (a) gambling apps and (b) online gambling.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Gambling Commission’s ‘Young People and Gambling’ report has measured gambling behaviour in children since 2014. The latest edition for 2023 can be found here.


Written Question
Sanitary Protection: VAT
Friday 28th April 2023

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding from the Tampon Tax Fund has been allocated to (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last two years.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

In 2020/21 and 2021/22, the Tampon Tax Fund was allocated between each administration using the Barnett formula.

2020/21

2021/22

England

£11,995,000 (inc £150k administration costs )

£9,000,000 (inc £150k administration costs )

Wales

£905,000

£675,000

Scotland

£1,570,000

£1,181,250

Northern Ireland

£530,000

£393,750

Total

£15,000,000

£11,250,000


Written Question
Sanitary Protection: VAT
Friday 28th April 2023

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications from groups and organisations in Northern Ireland for funding from the Tampon Tax Fund have been received in each of the last two years; and how many and what proportion of those applications were successful.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The 2021/22 round of the Tampon Tax Fund (TTF) received six applications from organisations delivering solely in Northern Ireland. Of these, two did not meet eligibility criteria. Of the remaining four, one bid was successful in being awarded funding.

There were no applications to the 2020/21 round of Tampon Tax funding from organisations delivering solely in Northern Ireland.

The minimum application threshold was also reduced for the 2021/22 round of TTF to £350,000 specifically to enable more bids from organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.


Written Question
Media
Monday 24th October 2022

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress her Department has made on bringing forward a Media Bill.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Media Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech in May 2022. The Government will introduce this legislation when Parliamentary time allows.


Written Question
Internet: Suicide
Tuesday 19th April 2022

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether instructions on how to take your own life will be considered illegal content that assists suicide in the new online safety regime.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Encouraging or assisting suicide is illegal. Any website publishing illegal suicide content is already breaking the law.

Under the Online Safety Bill, all platforms in scope will need to tackle and remove illegal material online.


Written Question
Social Media: Harassment
Monday 17th January 2022

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions officials in her Department have had with representatives of social media platforms on tackling the use of anonymous accounts to abuse people.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Officials have regular meetings and discussions with social media platforms on a range of issues, including the use of anonymous accounts.

The Online Safety Bill will require companies in scope to manage the risk of online anonymous abuse. Companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content and prevent children from harmful abuse. Major platforms will also need to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable for adult users on their services and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently. This applies whether a user is anonymous or not.

If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.

The draft Bill has been subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee which reported its recommendations on 14 December. We are considering the Committee’s report and will introduce the Bill as soon as possible.


Written Question
Sports: Autism
Wednesday 1st December 2021

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage and promote participation in sport by children and young people with autism.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

As set out in the government’s recent autism strategy (“The National Strategy for Autistic Children, Young People and Adults: 2021 to 2026”), the government is working to enable more people, including autistic children and young people, to be physically active.

Sport England, the government arm’s length body for community sport, launched its new strategy, “Uniting the Movement”, in January 2021. In line with this, they are working to tackle the inequalities and barriers that exist within sport and physical activity, and to unlock the benefits of being active for everyone, regardless of background or ability. As part of this effort, Sport England will be working with key partners to engage autistic people at all levels and in all forms of sport and physical activity, including across volunteering and coaching.

The Department for Education also recently announced funding for “Inclusion 2024”, being led by the Youth Sport Trust, which will improve physical education and school sport for young people with special educational needs and disabilities in thousands of schools across England.


Written Question
Tiktok
Thursday 18th November 2021

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what representations her Department has made to TikTok, the social networking service, in relation to videos posted on that platform that target teachers with abuse; and what steps she plans to take in the Online Safety Bill to help tackle that issue.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Online abuse is unacceptable and the government is liaising with TikTok on how it is protecting its users in this matter.

Under the draft Online Safety Bill, companies in scope will need to minimise and remove illegal content including criminal online abuse targeted at teachers.

Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults.These companies will have to set out clearly what legal content is acceptable on their platforms and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently.

If platforms fail in their duties under the Bill, they will face tough enforcement action including fines of up to 10% of global annual qualifying turnover.


Written Question
Children: Protection
Monday 27th September 2021

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to strengthen child protection measures in the draft Online Safety Bill.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The strongest protections in the draft Online Safety Bill are for children. Services in scope will need to prove children are not accessing their service, or they will need to conduct a child safety risk assessment and provide safety measures for child users. Those safety measures will protect children from inappropriate and harmful content.


Written Question
Football
Friday 28th May 2021

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has had discussions with representatives of any of the English football clubs who signed up to the European Super League since the announcement of the formation of that league on 19 April 2021.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Neither DCMS Ministers nor officials have had discussions with representatives of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City or Manchester United football clubs since the European Super League (ESL) announcement.

After the announcement, I spoke briefly with a representative of Tottenham Hotspur and discussed the possibility of a meeting with the 6 clubs to allow them to express their position on the ESL. That meeting did not take place though and I have had no further contact with the clubs on this matter.

The full list of Ministerial meetings can be found on gov.uk.