Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has had recent discussions with the People's Postcode Lottery on that organisation's campaign to raise the charity lottery annual sales limit to £100 million.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
All ministerial meetings are published on GOV.UK and can be accessed on the website.
DCMS officials meet regularly with society lottery operators to hear their views on the sector and discuss any key areas of concern. Their most recent meeting with the People’s Postcode Lottery was held on 26 January 2022 to discuss the review of the increases to society lottery sales and prize limits implemented in 2020.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the average response time was for her Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not have an MP hotline.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not have an account management team, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport correspondence team does not hold information on the average response time to enquiries from MPs, as correspondence performance is monitored by the percentage of correspondence responded to within the target response time set by the Department.
Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2019 and 2020 is published on GOV.UK. Data for 2021 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
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 UEFA on travel restrictions for overseas visitors to the UK for the European Football Championship.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In general, international visitors are subject to our current border restrictions and were not exempt from quarantining if they had a ticket for any Euro 2020 games being hosted in the UK. We did, via UEFA, communicate to all international ticket-holders on the nature of our border restrictions, and saw that most of those based overseas who originally purchased tickets latterly chose not to come here, with many transferring them to people in the UK.
The government and UEFA announced on 22 June that the semi finals and the final would be hosted at up to 75% capacity. We agreed with UEFA that all additional tickets sold by them for these matches would be limited to those based in the Common Travel Area
A limited number of accredited guests were provided an exemption from COVID-19 borders restrictions to attend the latter stages of the Championships. This ensured that the tournament could take place successfully in the UK. They were either:
a) only permitted to leave isolation for official events, including matches or UEFA meetings, subject to strict public health mitigations, developed with the input of Public Health England and in line with other international events such as the G7; or
b) required to travel directly from the airport to the stadium, and back again, helping to prevent contact with the local population.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he is having with (a) major telecommunications networks and (b) his EU counterpart on preventing the reintroduction of roaming charges for UK citizens travelling in the EU.
Answered by Matt Warman
Ministers have regular discussions with senior representatives of mobile operators on a range of issues, including on the issue of mobile roaming, and the government will continue to promote a competitive marketplace that serves the interests of consumers.
During negotiations for the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, the UK proposed continuation of reciprocal agreements between the UK and EU for surcharge free roaming, or a review clause to consider the need for these should roaming surcharges return for consumers. The EU did not agree to either of these proposals. Therefore, mobile operators are now able to impose a surcharge on UK consumers travelling abroad to the EU for their mobile phone usage. We advise that consumers check with their operators before travelling.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps he is taking to progress the fan-led review of football governance.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Evidence sessions with nearly 70 fan groups and other key stakeholders are well underway, and I’m grateful to Newport County FC for their contribution.
Key themes emerging from these sessions will be set out in the interim findings due later this month. The Review panel will shortly be launching an online survey for all fans focusing on how we can improve football governance.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support the Government is providing to the exhibition and events industries that have lost revenue as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are aware that multiple aspects of the exhibition and events industries have been significantly impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. The Tourism Minister has engaged regularly with the sector over the last few months, for example by convening a panel of Senior Leaders from across the industry and meeting with the Events Industry Board.
We have announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency. This includes employee support, business rates relief and grants for eligible hospitality and leisure businesses, plus £330bn worth of government backed and guaranteed loans. The Chancellor also announced a Bounce Back loan scheme to help small businesses access loans of up to £50,000, with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders.
The Welsh Government is responsible for any support tied to business rates or council tax in Wales.
We will continue to engage with the Devolved Administrations to support business events across the UK during the recovery period, as set out in last year’s International Business Events Action Plan.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
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 will take to promote (a) Wales and (b) the International Convention Centre in Newport, as a venue for major conferences and events.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Business events and conferences are very important to the UK economy and we engage with the Wales Office along with the Welsh Government to support business events in Wales. Support is primarily provided by VisitBritain.
The Government supports the delivery of VisitBritain’s Business Events Growth Programme and is committed to attracting more international business events to the UK. This April, VisitBritain will hold its flagship business tourism event, ‘MeetGB’, at the International Convention Centre Wales.
Government support for the events sector is set out in the International Business Events Action Plan, which was published in June 2019.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps he is taking to reduce gambling-related harm.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government published the Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures in May. This set out measures to strengthen protections around gaming machines, including cutting the maximum stake on B2 machines from £100 to £2, and on online gambling and gambling advertising. It also set out action on treatment and support for those who experience harm, including initiatives to improve the evidence on treatment needs and effectiveness, expand access to existing services and strengthen the voluntary system for funding support. We take gambling-related harm very seriously and will work closely across Government and with the Gambling Commission to build on the actions outlined in the Review.Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to tackle nuisance calls.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Tackling nuisance calls is a priority for the Government. Our commitment to tackle this problem was outlined in our Nuisance Calls Action Plan, which was published on 30 March 2014. Since publication, we have progressed legislative and non-legislative measures, including ensuring improved information sharing between regulators and lowering the legal threshold for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Currently we are encouraging and seeking more innovative and cost effective call blocking products and have launched a competition fund with Innovate UK to do this.