Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to minimise the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on women’s sport.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
It is vital that we continue to strive for greater equality and opportunity in sport. I am keen that we maintain the focus on women’s sport and build on the fantastic progress made in recent years. In May I wrote to major sporting bodies setting out my expectation that momentum in women's and girl's sport would not be lost because of the pandemic. I followed this letter up with a meeting in June where the sporting bodies and Women in Sport (a charity whose aim is to campaign for increased representation and visibility of women and girls in all aspects of sport) detailed their plans to increase participation levels. I also met with Baroness Sue Campbell in November to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on women’s football. I am committed to helping women’s sport come out of the current crisis stronger than ever and we will continue to work closely with the sector to ensure that happens.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government has taken to provide financial support to the tourism sector in Wales during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
As tourism is devolved, the Welsh Government is responsible for any targeted financial initiatives to support the sector in Wales.
Welsh tourism businesses can continue to access the Government’s UK-wide support package, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, as well as various government-backed loans. We have also extended the UK-wide reduced VAT rate for tourism and hospitality activities until March 2021.
I remain in regular contact with my Devolved counterpart in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We will continue to work together to assess how we can most effectively support the tourism sector’s recovery.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
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 encourage television networks to increase their accessibility to people with visual or hearing impairments.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government recognises that as part of a digitally inclusive society, television content should be accessible for all UK audiences. Under the Communications Act 2003 and Broadcasting Acts of 1990 and 1996, broadcasters are required to meet accessibility requirements for their linear TV services. Statutory targets on subtitling, sign language and audio description are also set by Ofcom, the UK’s independent broadcasting regulator.
The government also asked Ofcom to provide recommendations on how legislation could make on demand services more accessible. Ofcom published this report in December 2018, and has since completed a further targeted consultation looking at how a legislative framework should work in practice. This consultation closed on 16 September 2020. Once Ofcom has reported back to DCMS, we will review their recommendations and set out next steps.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
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 ensure that there is competition within the market for rural broadband.
Answered by Matt Warman
In 2018, the Government published the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), which set out the Government’s strategy to deliver nationwide gigabit capable broadband
as soon as possible, including in rural areas, by encouraging greater network competition and commercial investment.
The strategy focuses on:
The Government has recognised that not all areas of the country, particularly those in the most rural and remote areas, are likely to benefit from network competition and receive
gigabit capable broadband through private investment alone, which is why we have committed to invest £5 billion in supporting deployment in these areas. The use of this funding will encourage a variety of rural broadband providers to deploy gigabit networks.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he will take to maintain levels of women’s participation in exercise during further covid-19 lockdowns.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
I am keen that we continue to maintain the focus on women’s sport and build on the fantastic progress made in recent years. We recognise that Covid-19 has brought new challenges to the way people are able to engage in physical activity. We welcome initiatives like Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign which has inspired 3.9 million women to take part since its launch in 2015 and their “Join the Movement” campaign which is encouraging everyone to stay active during the lockdown.
We are determined to get more women and girls active. That is why in June I met with sports bodies and Women in Sport to ask about their plans for promoting women’s sport including increasing women and girls participation. I’m happy to say there was a real shared commitment amongst sports to protect investment in women’s sport and promote its growth. The new local restriction tier arrangements coming into force from 2 December in England should also mean that there will be greater options for how people can be physically active, from going to the gym to using sports facilities, to taking part in organised sport.
Asked by: Fay Jones (Conservative - Brecon and Radnorshire)
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 reduce bullying and harassment on social media.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Bullying and harassment online is unacceptable. This government will establish in law a new ‘duty of care’ on companies towards their users - to ensure companies have robust systems and processes in place to keep their users safe.
This duty of care will have an emphasis on child protection and will increase the protections for all users, including the most vulnerable, from online abuse, bullying and harassment. Under new proposals companies will need to remove illegal content expeditiously and put in place systems to minimise the risk of illegal content appearing on their services.
For content that is legal but harmful, companies will need to make clear what content is acceptable on their services and enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently. In addition, companies will need to have effective systems for users to report harmful content.