Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 merits of introducing an independent regulator for English football.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government published its response to the recommendations made by the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance in April 2022.
I recently met representatives from the Football Supporters’ Association, and from club supporters’ groups to discuss issues with our national game and what the solutions might be. I have also met representatives from the football authorities to discuss reform.
The Government recognises the need for football to be reformed to ensure the game’s sustainability in the long term. Therefore, the government is taking the time to consider the policy and consult the numerous stakeholders, but remains committed to publishing a White Paper setting out our detailed response to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 support the long-term financial sustainability of lower-league football clubs.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The Government recognises the need for the long-term financial sustainability of football clubs, particularly those in the lower leagues. That is why we have welcomed the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance and have endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.
The Government is working at pace to review the report in full, including detailed consideration of the recommendations made on improving financial stability and the governance of football clubs across the game.
The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in the Spring.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on developing a strategy to tackle phone call and text message financial scams.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
Officials in our departments have been working closely to explore a range of different measures aimed at tackling the criminal abuse of mobile telecommunications across the different crime types, including fraud.
The Government takes fraud very seriously and will continue to work closely with telecommunications providers, regulators, law enforcement agencies and consumer groups to protect the public from these crimes. This includes developing a voluntary charter of actions that the telecoms companies will implement to prevent fraud.
Later this year, the Government will take further action through a Fraud Action Plan, an approach grounded in prevention, education, effective enforcement and regulatory reforms.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timescale is for the return of fans to football stadiums; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional financial support to lower-league English Football League clubs who have not spent huge sums on transfer fees in 2020.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The Government is committed to getting spectators back into stadiums as soon as it is safe to do so.
We will continue to work closely with a whole range of sporting bodies, including the football authorities, to understand the latest thinking that might allow spectators to return. This includes inviting the new Sports Technology Innovation Working Group of sporting bodies and health experts to analyse new technologies which might support this.
I was pleased to see the welcome announcement of an agreement in principle between the Premier League and EFL for a financial support package for League One and Two clubs. It is clear the money exists within the game for it to support itself: I urge the Premier League and EFL to finalise both this deal and one that protects Championship clubs also.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 (a) protect young people from the effects of addiction to loot boxes in computer games and (b) raise awareness among parents of those effects.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The government launched a call for evidence on 23 September 2020 to seek detailed information on the impact of loot boxes on players, particularly children and young people. The call for evidence will run until 22 November 2020 and examines concerns that loot boxes may encourage gambling-like behaviour and lead to problem gambling, as well as considering the size and scale of the loot box market in the UK, and the impact of current voluntary and statutory protections.
The government stands ready to take action should the outcomes of the call for evidence support taking a new approach to ensure users, and particularly young people, are better protected.
The government also continues to work with industry to encourage the use of parental controls that can disable or limit access and spending on video games devices. We welcomed the launch on 3 November 2020 of the games industry’s Get Set Go campaign, a continuation of the Get Smart about P.L.A.Y. campaign that launched in January 2020 supporting parents to set up parental controls.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 strengthen legislation against (a) cyberbullying and (b) online abuse.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The government is committed to making the UK the safest place in the world to go online. In April 2019, the government published the Online Harms White Paper, which set out plans to introduce world-leading legislation to make companies more responsible for their users’ safety online. We will establish in law a new duty of care on companies towards their users which will be overseen by an independent regulator.
We published the initial government response in February, which set out the direction of travel, and will publish the full government response to the Online Harms White Paper later this year. We will follow the full government response with legislation, which will be ready early next year.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 support speedway operators during the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will ensure that (a) guidance and (b) a support package is in place to support the safe resumption of speedway events.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
A full suite of guidance currently available to the sport sector is published here:
We have published guidance specifically on the return of outdoor sport and recreation and organised sport and physical activity; we have published guidance to support the return of elite and professional sport to training and competition behind closed doors; and we are now working to facilitate the return of spectators to elite and professional sport. A multidisciplinary working group, including medical directors from a number of sports, has produced draft guidance around the return of spectators to stadia, under which a number of pilots will operate from the end of July, aiming for a full return of spectators to stadia with social distancing from Oct 1st.
The Government has delivered a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support.
The government is continuing to work closely with the sector to understand the issues they face and discuss how we can support them further.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to cultural attractions outside London.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Through the Arts Council England (ACE), we are investing and promoting the arts and culture all around the country and will continue to do so.There continues to be a shift in the distribution of ACE's National Portfolio funding, with the amount of funding spent outside London increasing from 53.8% in 2012-15 to 60.3% in 2018-22.
As part of this, ACE expects the organisations they fund to ensure that their cultural offer is accessible to as many people as possible
A great example of ACE’s funded national portfolio organisations doing this is the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich, which hosts relaxed viewings of it’s performances in order to make them more accessible to those with dementia.