Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Murray Excerpts

Thursday 16th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Wilson]

Indeed, I do. Last year, according to the Charity Commission, the sector received about £73 billion in income. The Government have a number of funding mechanisms that are aiding the sector now, and £5 billion of tax reliefs and other support is in place to make sure that the charity sector can go from strength to strength.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

7. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations conducted a survey last month on the impact of Brexit on the charity and voluntary sector in Scotland. Some 40% of charities are concerned about their networks and collaborations with other EU charities. What will the Minister do to reassure Scottish charities, and indeed charities across the United Kingdom, that those networks and collaborations will be protected post-Brexit?

[Mr Wilson]

Charity legislation is devolved from the EU, so it is a UK responsibility, and within the UK responsibility for charity legislation is devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Government are listening very closely to all parts of civil society across the UK, and we will be working closely with them to make sure that we have a long-term plan and a long-term strategy.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tracey Crouch]

I saw my hon. Friend’s comments about this in the newspapers this morning, and I reassure him that the Government are determined to do everything that we can to stamp out hate crime, which has absolutely no place in society. We have some of the strongest legislation on hate crime, and we expect social media companies to respond quickly to incidents of abusive behaviour on their networks. However, there is much more that we can do. We have just announced work on an internet safety strategy, which I will take forward with other colleagues, that is aimed at making Britain the safest country in the world for children and young people online.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

T4. Many of my constituents have contacted me with concerns about children and young people accessing extreme internet pornography. Will the Minister tell me what the Government are doing to work with Ofcom and internet service providers to protect children and young people?

[Matt Hancock]

This is an important point. The Digital Economy Bill brings forward age verification processes so that all pornography cannot be accessed by those under the age of 18. ISPs will be required to block sites that do not put such age verification in place—that is incredibly important. The Bill is in the Lords at the moment but it will come back to this House shortly.