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Written Question
Gambling
Tuesday 20th December 2022

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

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 publish the gambling white paper.

Answered by Paul Scully

The Gambling Act Review is wide-ranging and aims to ensure regulation is fit for the digital age. We will publish a White Paper setting out our conclusions and next steps in the coming weeks.


Written Question
Health Hazards: Rubber
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential health risks from tyre crumb fill on 3G sports pitches.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Artificial grass pitches are recognised as a durable, safe, year-round playing surfaces, able to withstand intensive use and all kinds of weather. They mean more people can benefit from the social and health benefits of physical activity.

We recognise the concerns that have been raised about the safety and environmental impact associated with these pitches, and take them very seriously.

Sport England have monitored numerous independent scientific studies on the safety of rubber crumb, which have reported a very low or negligible level of concern for human health. The European Chemicals Agency European Chemicals Regulatory Authority (ECHA) published its own findings in 2019, following an extensive EU-wide study, and found no reason to advise people against playing sport on 3G pitches with rubber crumb.

Following the UK’s exit from the EU, the regulatory framework for these matters now sits at a UK level (except for Northern Ireland). The four national governments of the UK and their agencies are working with leading sports and industry bodies to provide greater reassurance to communities that artificial grass pitches in this country are both safe for the environment and for people to play on.


Written Question
Football Governance Fan-led Review
Tuesday 19th April 2022

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to implement in full the recommendations of the fan led review of football governance in the forthcoming Queen's Speech.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government has endorsed the principle that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game. We are working at pace to consider the recommendations of the Fan Led Review, and determine the most effective way to deliver an independent regulator. The response to the review, including next steps, will be issued in the coming weeks.


Written Question
Gambling: Advertising
Friday 1st April 2022

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to reduce the number of gambling advertisements on television.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Broadcasters have discretion over how advertising breaks are set and what adverts are broadcast, as long as they comply with the advertising codes. These codes set rules such as preventing gambling adverts from airing around any programmes that particularly appeal to children. All gambling advertising, wherever it appears, is subject to strict controls on content and placement enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority and Ofcom.

The gambling industry’s own Code for Socially Responsible Advertising also includes restrictions on televised advertising, such as a ban on showing most forms of gambling advertising before 9 pm, and the ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban preventing betting ads from airing during and immediately before and after live sporting events.

The Government is currently reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure it is fit for the digital age. As part of its broad scope, the Gambling Act Review will look at the impacts of advertising and marketing by gambling operators, wherever it appears. We will publish a White Paper outlining our conclusions in the coming weeks.


Written Question
Voluntary Organisations: Telecommunications
Monday 17th January 2022

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the impact on the income of (a) sports clubs, (b) community centres and (c) other voluntary organisations of the changes to the Communications Code which enable providers to reduce rental payments to them for equipment on their property.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The 2017 reforms to the Electronic Communications Code were intended to make it cheaper and easier for digital communications operators to deploy and maintain their networks. It was the government’s view that the cost of acquiring rights to install digital infrastructure prior to 2017 was too high and needed to be addressed. The pricing regime now in place is more closely aligned to those for utilities such as water and electricity and reflects the fact that access to good quality digital services is an increasingly critical part of daily life for residents across the UK.

Following the introduction of the 2017 reforms, DCMS engaged closely with stakeholders to understand the impact they were having, and a consultation on potential further reform to the Code was published in January 2021. The valuation regime introduced in 2017 was not included in that consultation. The Government continues to believe that framework strikes a fair balance between ensuring individual landowners are not left out of pocket and encouraging the industry investment needed for consumers across the UK to have access to robust digital services.

The response to the government’s consultation was published in November 2021 and the Product Security and Telecoms Infrastructure Bill, bringing forward the measures set out in that response, has been introduced.

We anticipate that the changes being brought forwards through that Bill will lead to better collaboration between site providers and telecoms operators and help mutually acceptable outcomes to be achieved. This will speed up the rollout and upgrading of digital services throughout the UK, providing the public with the digital connectivity they need both now and in the future.


Written Question
Audio Content Fund
Friday 29th October 2021

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has for the future of the Audio Content Fund.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

No decision has yet been made on the future of the Audio Content Fund.

The Fund’s three year pilot phase is due to end in March 2022, and it will be important to carefully consider all available information on its impact on the provision and plurality of public service content on radio before any decision is made with regard to potential closure, continuation or extension.


Written Question
Mobile Phones: Aerials
Thursday 23rd September 2021

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will review the potential effect of the 2017 Electronic Communications Code on rents paid to landowners to allow mobile masts on their land.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Since the introduction of the reforms in 2017 we have continually listened to feedback from stakeholders on the impact those changes have had on the expansion and improvement of digital networks across the UK. The culmination of this process was a consultation on potential further reform to the Code, published in January 2021. The consultation closed in March 2021 and responses are being considered. The Government’s response will be published shortly.

The provisions concerning how rents are calculated were not part of that consultation. The 2017 reforms were intended to strike a balance between ensuring individual landowners do not incur any losses and enabling the deployment of digital networks more cost effective. It is the Government’s view that the cost of acquiring rights to install digital infrastructure prior to 2017 was too high and needed to be addressed. The pricing regime now in place is more closely aligned to those for utilities such as water and electricity and reflects the fact that access to good quality digital services is an increasingly critical part of daily life for residents across the UK.


Written Question
Football: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Wednesday 21st July 2021

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has undertaken research into the incidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy among footballers.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. National Governing Bodies are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm, including serious injuries. With that in mind, we expect sports to do all they can to protect their players as a fundamental part of their duty of care.

The Government remains committed to working with sports to build on the positive work on concussion that is already taking place, including the use of research. To that end, the Secretary of State and I hosted two roundtables on concussion in sport earlier this year to understand the issues from the perspectives of players and to push the sports on what more they can be doing, including research.


Written Question
Football Index: Compensation
Monday 21st June 2021

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to compensate people who have lost money as a result of the collapse of Football Index.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The Secretary of State has appointed Malcolm Sheehan QC to lead the independent review of the Football Index gambling product and we have published its scope and terms of reference on gov.uk. This review is entirely separate from the ongoing administration proceedings, which are looking at assets and liabilities of the company and recompense to customers. As I said in my Written Ministerial Statement of 7 June, the independent review will be conducted and report in such a way as to avoid prejudicing that process and the Gambling Commission’s ongoing regulatory investigation. The statement can be found at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-06-07/hcws63


Written Question
Honresfield Library
Wednesday 9th June 2021

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to help ensure that the Honresfield Library remains in the UK.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

The UK’s export-licensing procedures allow us to identify important items of cultural property of national significance which are in danger of being sold abroad and to consider whether an attempt should be made to keep them in the UK, whilst respecting the rights of owners.

An export licence is required for cultural goods manufactured or produced more than 50 years before the date of export and valued above certain thresholds (except in the case of documents and manuscripts where there is no minimum financial value).

If items at risk of export are considered by an expert adviser to be of outstanding importance they are referred to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art. If the Committee decides that an object meets one or more criteria used to determine national importance, it may recommend that the Secretary of State defers the granting of an export licence in order to give a UK institution or collector the opportunity to acquire it.