Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
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 promote access to a free TV licence by claiming pension credit.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee and all of its concessions. The Government is therefore not involved in TV Licensing operations.
Information about Pension Credit and how to check whether someone is eligible for a free licence is included on all of TV Licensing’s mailings, as well as on the TV Licensing website.
The Government makes information about TV licence concessions available on the gov.uk website at https://www.gov.uk/free-discount-tv-licence.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department last met representatives of the Showman’s Guild of Great Britain.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
My Department has held a number of meetings with representatives of the outdoor events industry to discuss guidance and next steps to reopening the sector.
DCMS officials last met with the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain on 14 August, and have also spoken to representatives of the Amusement Device Safety Council.
More broadly, my Department’s officials have regular contact with the Events Industry Forum, which is responsible for developing Covid-secure guidance for outdoor events. We continue to engage with visitor attraction stakeholders through the Visitor Economy Working Group.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish (a) the outcome of all meetings and (b) all call logs between Ministers of her Department and Mr Crispin Odey.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many apprentices are employed in his Department.
Answered by Margot James
There are 11 apprentices currently employed by DCMS.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in his Department are paid less than £8.75 per hour.
Answered by Margot James
No staff in the Department are paid below £8.75 per hour.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in his Department are paid less than £10.20 per hour.
Answered by Margot James
No staff in the Department are paid below £10.20 per hour.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is for the Age-Verification Regulator for Online Pornography to publish its guidance.
Answered by Margot James
The Government has proposed the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) as the age verification regulator. The proposed designation has not yet been formally approved by Parliament. Once the designation has been made, the BBFC will make available its draft guidance and will engage with key stakeholders. The final draft guidance will be submitted to the Secretary of State for approval before it is laid in Parliament for approval from both Houses.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to provide a timetable and schedule of events for the Glasgow briefing on 1 November 2017 on 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme: Phase 1 funding competition.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The 5G briefing event in Glasgow will follow the same structure as the other briefing events taking place across the UK to support the launch of the first competition for the Government’s 5G Testbeds & Trials Programme.
The schedule for the event includes presentations from DCMS officials, which will cover the 5G Testbeds & Trials Programme and information on the Phase 1 funding competition. As the competition is being run in conjunction with Innovate UK, representatives will also have a chance to address the audience on the competition’s selection process and eligibility. Attendees will have the chance to ask questions on all areas discussed.
A full timetable and schedule is available on the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) website: https://ktn-uk.co.uk/events/dcms-5g-testbeds-trials-programme-briefing-glasgow
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what persons and organisations her Department plans to invite to the Glasgow briefing event on 1 November 2017 which is part of the 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme: Phase 1 funding competition.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The 5G briefing event in Glasgow is one of three events taking place across the UK to support the launch of the first competition for the Government’s 5G Testbeds & Trials Programme. These events are open to potential bidders, including industry, academic institutions and local areas, and will help to prepare them to submit a proposal. We have advertised these events widely, emailing to over 9000 organisations across the whole of the UK, including Scottish Enterprise. Additional details are on the Innovate UK website, who are running the competition on behalf of DCMS.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2017 to Question 90, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential effect of jobcentre closures in Glasgow East constituency on levels of digital exclusion.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ministers and officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport meet regularly with their counterparts in the Department for Work and Pensions to discuss a range of issues including tackling digital exclusion.
The Digital Skills and Inclusion chapter of the Digital Strategy, published in March of this year, describes some of the many ways in which we are working across government and with industry and the charity sector to address the digital divide.
Responsibility for digital inclusion in Scotland is devolved, but the UK Government also funds Good Things Foundation to deliver the Future Digital Inclusion Programme. Good Things Foundation oversees the network of more than 5,000 UK Online Centres, including in Glasgow East.