Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential impact of proposed proposals on the harmonisation of gambling duties on the British horseracing industry.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The consultation on the tax treatment of remote gambling is a matter for HM Treasury. I would encourage all interested stakeholders to respond to this consultation, which runs until 21 July. If any legislative changes are made to gambling duty following the consultation, they will be accompanied by a tax information and impact note from HM Treasury, as is standard practice.
The Government recognises the significant contribution horseracing makes to our regional economies and our country’s cultural life. DCMS will continue to meet with racing stakeholders to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for the sport.
The issue of illegal gambling is a concern for this government and we are working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed. The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will grant the Gambling Commission with new powers to more quickly and effectively take down illegal gambling websites.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of betting duty harmonisation on the promotion of online gaming products by bookmakers.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The consultation on the tax treatment of remote gambling is a matter for HM Treasury. I would encourage all interested stakeholders to respond to this consultation, which runs until 21 July. If any legislative changes are made to gambling duty following the consultation, they will be accompanied by a tax information and impact note from HM Treasury, as is standard practice.
The Government recognises the significant contribution horseracing makes to our regional economies and our country’s cultural life. DCMS will continue to meet with racing stakeholders to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for the sport.
The issue of illegal gambling is a concern for this government and we are working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed. The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will grant the Gambling Commission with new powers to more quickly and effectively take down illegal gambling websites.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of betting duty harmonisation on levels of black market gambling.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The consultation on the tax treatment of remote gambling is a matter for HM Treasury. I would encourage all interested stakeholders to respond to this consultation, which runs until 21 July. If any legislative changes are made to gambling duty following the consultation, they will be accompanied by a tax information and impact note from HM Treasury, as is standard practice.
The Government recognises the significant contribution horseracing makes to our regional economies and our country’s cultural life. DCMS will continue to meet with racing stakeholders to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for the sport.
The issue of illegal gambling is a concern for this government and we are working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed. The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will grant the Gambling Commission with new powers to more quickly and effectively take down illegal gambling websites.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposals in her Department’s consultation on the harmonisation of gambling duties on the British horseracing industry.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is consulting on proposals to simplify the current gambling tax system by merging the three current taxes that cover remote (including online) gambling into one. The Government is committed to engaging with all stakeholders, including representatives of the horseracing industry, as part of the consultation process.
The Government recognises the significant cultural and economic value of British horseracing, both as a major sporting tradition and as an important contributor to rural economies across the country.
The Government encourages all interested parties to participate in the consultation.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether an assessment has been made of the potential impact of betting duty harmonisation on the level of advertising of online gaming products.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is consulting on proposals to simplify the current gambling tax system by merging the three current taxes that cover remote (including online) gambling into one. The Government is committed to engaging with all stakeholders, as part of the consultation process.
We encourage all stakeholders to engage with the consultation to help ensure that all views are properly considered.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment for Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises the importance of raising awareness of conditions such as paediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) and paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus (PANDAS) among healthcare professionals, and improving the health and care system for the people living with them.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent, expert body that develops evidence-based guidelines for the National Health Service on best practice. While the NICE currently has no plans to issue guidance on PANS and PANDAS, should the evidence base develop further, we would look to the NICE to update clinical policy.
In the meantime, integrated care systems are responsible for planning care for their populations’ conditions, and clinicians will want to take account of any new research and developments in guidance, such as those being overseen by the PANS PANDAS Steering Group, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to their patients.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of abolishing standing charges for energy.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Standing charges recover ‘fixed’ costs that do not vary by energy use. This includes suppliers’ fixed operational costs of serving each customer, the cost of network upgrades and maintenance necessary to keep all consumers connected and fund investment in clean energy infrastructure. It also includes the cost of providing Warm Home Discount payments to eligible customers. However, we are committed to lowering the cost of standing charges and have worked constructively with the regulator, Ofgem, on this issue.
As part of their update on standing charges, Ofgem announced it will be undertaking a broad review of system costs considering how costs are allocated and recovered across domestic and non-domestic consumers. On 20 February, Ofgem launched a consultation ‘Introducing a zero standing charge energy price cap variant’ - https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/consultation/introducing-zero-standing-charge-energy-price-cap-variant.
The consultation seeks views on the introduction of an option - within the price cap – for a tariff that does not have a standing charge, providing households with more choice over how they pay for their energy. It also explores different ways a zero standing charge tariff could work, with options on a single unit rate, as well as block tariff options where the unit rates go up or down once a certain amount of energy is consumed.
Ofgem has not proposed moving people automatically onto a zero standing charge tariff because of the risks to vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities, who have high energy use. We were clear that we would not support changes to standing charges that would disproportionately affect people with higher energy costs.
The consultation closed on 20 March and we stand ready to continue to work with Ofgem on this matter.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the clean energy transition on (a) workers and (b) communities.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government’s initial assessment of the challenges of building the skilled workforce to deliver the Clean Energy Superpower Mission has been outlined in the Clean Power Action Plan. The Plan includes an Evidence Annex which provides a basis for government to better understand the 2030 workforce requirements and support targeted skills planning.
By 2030, the clean energy transition could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, benefiting communities across the UK representing the economic opportunity of the century.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of the human rights situation in Egypt.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Egypt is a human rights priority country for the UK. This informs our policies towards the country, and we do not shy away from raising our human rights concerns with the Government; our strong relationship with Egypt enables us to do so. The Prime Minister raised a human rights concern with President Sisi on 28 February. The National Security Advisor raised a human rights concern with the Foreign Minister Abdelatty on 2 March. The UK participated in the Universal Periodic Review of Egypt at the UN Human Rights Council on 28 January, expressing concern about the arbitrary detention of journalists, activists and human rights defenders, recommending that Human Rights Defender Alaa Abd El-Fattah be released, that all detainees held for exercising their right to freedom of expression are released, that restrictions on news and social media websites be lifted, and that the new Criminal Procedures Code guarantees fair trial standards, and ends the practice of 'rotating' detainees in pre-trial detention.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve diagnosis times for young people with cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster so that more patients survive this horrible set of diseases, including children and young people. To achieve this, the NHS has delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.
On 4 February 2025, the Department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for children and young people with cancer.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including for children and young people with cancer, and will highlight how we aim to improve diagnosis rates for people across England.