Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the proposed increase in the rate of employers' National Insurance contributions on (a) social enterprises and (b) voluntary and community sector organisations.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
At the recent Budget, the government took a number of difficult decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the foundations on public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability.
Ministers have met with representatives from the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector to discuss this issue and the department is aware of their concerns about the impacts of the increase to employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
The government recognises the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that more than half of businesses (including charities) with NICs liabilities will either gain or see no change next year.
We are also expanding eligibility of the Employment Allowance by removing the £100,000 eligibility threshold, to simplify and reform employer NICs so that all eligible employers now benefit. Businesses and charities will still be able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under 21s and under 25 apprentices, where eligible.
The Government publishes Tax Information and Impact Notes (TIINs) for tax policy changes, which give a clear explanation of the policy objective and an assessment of the impacts. The TIIN for the employer NICs changes was published on 13 November 2024.
Within the tax system, we provide support to charities through a range of reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs for charitable giving. More than £6 billion in charitable reliefs was provided to charities, Community Amateur Sports Clubs and their donors in 2023 to 2024. The biggest individual reliefs provided are Gift Aid at £1.6 billion and business rates relief at nearly £2.4 billion.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of any steps that were taken to protect deposited funds with Football Index whilst the Gambling Commission’s section 116 review was taking place.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Gambling Commission has suspended the licence of BetIndex Ltd, the operators of Football Index, and a live investigation is ongoing. The Secretary of State and I have met the Gambling Commission twice to receive urgent reports and are monitoring the situation very closely. Further information, including an update on the status of customer funds, can be found on the Commission’s website: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2021/BetIndex-update.aspx
It is a condition of a gambling operating licence that customers should be able to withdraw funds from their accounts. The Commission acted to suspend BetIndex’s licence on learning that the operator planned to freeze access to funds. Operators who hold customer funds must tell customers whether funds are protected in event of insolvency and the level of the protection offered. Football Index provides a medium level of customer funds protection, which means customer funds are kept in accounts separate from business accounts, and arrangements are made to ensure assets in the customer accounts are distributed to customers in the event of insolvency.
The government has launched a Review of the Gambling Act 2005 and has called for evidence on a range of issues across the sector, including the powers and resources of the Gambling Commission. The call for evidence closes on 31 March, and we will be led by the evidence received.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with the Gambling Commission on why traders were allowed to continue depositing funds with Football Index until just before trading was suspended on that platform and the notice of administration was released on 11 March 2021.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Gambling Commission has suspended the licence of BetIndex Ltd, the operators of Football Index, and a live investigation is ongoing. The Secretary of State and I have met the Gambling Commission twice to receive urgent reports and are monitoring the situation very closely. Further information, including an update on the status of customer funds, can be found on the Commission’s website: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2021/BetIndex-update.aspx
It is a condition of a gambling operating licence that customers should be able to withdraw funds from their accounts. The Commission acted to suspend BetIndex’s licence on learning that the operator planned to freeze access to funds. Operators who hold customer funds must tell customers whether funds are protected in event of insolvency and the level of the protection offered. Football Index provides a medium level of customer funds protection, which means customer funds are kept in accounts separate from business accounts, and arrangements are made to ensure assets in the customer accounts are distributed to customers in the event of insolvency.
The government has launched a Review of the Gambling Act 2005 and has called for evidence on a range of issues across the sector, including the powers and resources of the Gambling Commission. The call for evidence closes on 31 March, and we will be led by the evidence received.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with the Gambling Commission in response to the suspension of Football Index’s licence.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Gambling Commission has suspended the licence of BetIndex Ltd, the operators of Football Index, and a live investigation is ongoing. The Secretary of State and I have met the Gambling Commission twice to receive urgent reports and are monitoring the situation very closely. Further information, including an update on the status of customer funds, can be found on the Commission’s website: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2021/BetIndex-update.aspx
It is a condition of a gambling operating licence that customers should be able to withdraw funds from their accounts. The Commission acted to suspend BetIndex’s licence on learning that the operator planned to freeze access to funds. Operators who hold customer funds must tell customers whether funds are protected in event of insolvency and the level of the protection offered. Football Index provides a medium level of customer funds protection, which means customer funds are kept in accounts separate from business accounts, and arrangements are made to ensure assets in the customer accounts are distributed to customers in the event of insolvency.
The government has launched a Review of the Gambling Act 2005 and has called for evidence on a range of issues across the sector, including the powers and resources of the Gambling Commission. The call for evidence closes on 31 March, and we will be led by the evidence received.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to respond to the collapse of Football Index.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Gambling Commission has suspended the licence of BetIndex Ltd, the operators of Football Index, and a live investigation is ongoing. The Secretary of State and I have met the Gambling Commission twice to receive urgent reports and are monitoring the situation very closely. Further information, including an update on the status of customer funds, can be found on the Commission’s website: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2021/BetIndex-update.aspx
It is a condition of a gambling operating licence that customers should be able to withdraw funds from their accounts. The Commission acted to suspend BetIndex’s licence on learning that the operator planned to freeze access to funds. Operators who hold customer funds must tell customers whether funds are protected in event of insolvency and the level of the protection offered. Football Index provides a medium level of customer funds protection, which means customer funds are kept in accounts separate from business accounts, and arrangements are made to ensure assets in the customer accounts are distributed to customers in the event of insolvency.
The government has launched a Review of the Gambling Act 2005 and has called for evidence on a range of issues across the sector, including the powers and resources of the Gambling Commission. The call for evidence closes on 31 March, and we will be led by the evidence received.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will support a public inquiry into Football Index.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Gambling Commission has suspended the licence of BetIndex Ltd, the operators of Football Index, and a live investigation is ongoing. The Secretary of State and I have met the Gambling Commission twice to receive urgent reports and are monitoring the situation very closely. Further information, including an update on the status of customer funds, can be found on the Commission’s website: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2021/BetIndex-update.aspx
It is a condition of a gambling operating licence that customers should be able to withdraw funds from their accounts. The Commission acted to suspend BetIndex’s licence on learning that the operator planned to freeze access to funds. Operators who hold customer funds must tell customers whether funds are protected in event of insolvency and the level of the protection offered. Football Index provides a medium level of customer funds protection, which means customer funds are kept in accounts separate from business accounts, and arrangements are made to ensure assets in the customer accounts are distributed to customers in the event of insolvency.
The government has launched a Review of the Gambling Act 2005 and has called for evidence on a range of issues across the sector, including the powers and resources of the Gambling Commission. The call for evidence closes on 31 March, and we will be led by the evidence received.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether it is Government policy to make the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation an independent, statutory body.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) was set up in 2018 to provide the government with independent, expert advice on the measures needed to enable safe, ethical and innovative uses of AI and data-driven technologies. In light of the emerging National Data Strategy, the Digital Strategy and evolution of the wider institutional landscape, the Government is considering what the Centre’s future functions should be, which will inform decisions on its future status.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to prevent young people from becoming addicted to gambling.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Preventing children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed by gambling is a priority for government and a core licensing objective for the Gambling Commission.
Operators offering gambling services to people in Great Britain must have a licence from the Gambling Commission and must have effective policies and procedures designed to prevent underage gambling. Where there is a failure to do so, the Gambling Commission has shown it is willing to act using the range of powers to act at its disposal.
The Gambling Commission has taken action to strengthen protections for young people. In May this year it introduced stricter age and identity verification controls, requiring all consumers to be age verified before they are able to deposit money or access free-to-play demo games. Government has also worked positively with five major operators resulting in commitments to using online technology where available to target gambling adverts away from people showing signs of problem gambling behaviour. They will also further share further data with to protect problem gamblers from experiencing further harm.
From September 2020, health education will be compulsory for all pupils in state-funded primary and secondary schools. This will cover education on online harms, including the risks related to online gambling. The non-statutory Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) programme of study, published by the PSHE Association, includes teaching about gambling and its psychological and financial impact. GambleAware, an independent charity which funds services to help to reduce gambling harms, is working with the PSHE Association to develop resources for schools to promote resilience and raise awareness around risk-taking and gambling.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
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 Education on teaching digital skills in schools.
Answered by Margot James
Ministers have regular discussions with their Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, including on digital skills. Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Department of Education officials work together on the Digital Skills Partnership Computing in Schools Group which aims guide industry to maximise the benefits of their initiatives to support the teaching of computing in schools.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress he has made in commissioning the National Citizen Service 2.0.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Recommissioning Programme is midway through its procurement of all Network Partners who will be delivering the NCS programme from 2020 onwards. All bids for those Management, Delivery and Recruitment Partners have been received, with their evaluation on track and due to complete end-March. The NCS Trust plan to award contracts in July 2019.