Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
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 5 November 2018 to Questions 186397 and 186398 on Festival of Britain: Finance, in which year the Festival of Britain funding allocations will be made.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Festival will showcase the UK's unique strengths in creativity and innovation and will be held in 2022. The Festival programme is at its early stages of planning, and funding arrangements will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of technology companies in promoting online safety.
Answered by Margot James
The forthcoming Online Harms White Paper will set clear standards for industry to make sure there is improved support for users online, and that more companies are taking consistent action to tackle online harms.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
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 parents are able to access information on online harms and their prevention.
Answered by Margot James
As set out in the Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper, Government is committed to working with a wide range of partners to ensure that online safety messages are delivered to all users, including parents, through a range of communication channels.
The forthcoming Online Harms White Paper will set out a wide range of legislative and non-legislative measures to help make the UK the safest place to be online.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has plans to introduce a social media levy.
Answered by Margot James
The Government Response to the Internet Safety Strategy noted the Government’s intention to set a new, strategic approach to online safety funding, while maintaining the benefits of current funding streams from the major technology companies. Detailed plans to tackle the full range of online harms will be set out in the forthcoming Online Harms White Paper, including legislative and non-legislative measures.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the Government’s plans to publish its white paper on internet safety.
Answered by Margot James
The Government plans to publish its Online Harms White Paper this Winter (2018/2019).
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the recommendations of the WebRoots Democracy report, Kinder, Gentler Politics: Tackling the rise of online abuse in political debate, published on 16 October 2018, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of (a) creating an online abusers register and (b) commissioning research into the links between anonymity and online abuse.
Answered by Margot James
The Government has made clear that more needs to done to tackle online abuse, including anonymous abuse. We will publish a joint DCMS-Home Office White Paper in the Winter, setting out a range of legislative and non-legislative measures, and establishing clear standards for tech companies to help keep UK citizens safe.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the announced Festival of Britain is not money re-allocated from existing budgets.
Answered by Michael Ellis
£120 million of new funding is allocated to the Festival.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department is lead department on the Festival of Britain funding.
Answered by Michael Ellis
DCMS is the lead delivery department for the festival, and will work closely with other government departments. Further funding arrangements will be detailed in due course.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how money allocated to the Festival of Britain is planned to be distributed; and whether those funds will be distributed to agencies throughout the UK.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The allocation of funding and delivery model for the festival will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Hannah Bardell (Scottish National Party - Livingston)
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 Ministers of the Scottish Government on the application of the Universal Service Obligation for broadband in Scotland.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Telecoms, including the Broadband Univeral Service Obligation (USO) is a reserved matter and applies throughout the UK. We have regular discussions with the Scottish Government on a wide range of issues, and I am grateful for their responses to the Government's USO consultation and more recently to Ofcom's Call for Inputs on the design of the USO.