Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has plans to bring channels which stream online under an Ofcom licence under Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom has launched a review of broadcast regulation which will, amongst other things, consider the licensing framework and the impact of the digital environment. This is in recognition that much of our existing legislation was designed for linear television and radio consumption. The Government will engage with Ofcom as that work progresses.
Through the Media Act 2024, the Government will be designating mainstream video-on-demand (VoD) services, bringing them under enhanced regulation by Ofcom. Ofcom will then draft and enforce a new VoD Standards Code, which will be similar to the Broadcasting Code, and which will set appropriate standards for content, including rules on harmful and offensive material, accuracy, fairness, and privacy.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the value for money of funding distributed by the Arts Council England.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government ensures value for money from Arts Council England (ACE) funding by holding it accountable through performance reporting, financial controls, and grant-management standards set by DCMS. ACE also reports against key performance indicators and strategic outcomes in its annual report.
The government has also strengthened performance measurement by developing long-term impact indicators, including a participation survey, to measure the outcomes of funded arts activity. Alongside this, through the Culture Heritage Capital programme, DCMS and its arms length bodies are developing new methodology and guidance to measure the value for money of investment in culture. In December 2024 DCMS published Embedding a Culture and Heritage Capital Approach, which set out the ambitions for the programme.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 5 November to question 85955 on Betting: Excise Duties, if she will list the stakeholders she has met since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS Ministers have had regular meetings with a range of stakeholders about gambling taxation.
Ministerial meetings and engagements are published through quarterly transparency reports on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to take steps to support the Deaflympics.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sport England are exploring a series of small-scale talent pilots for deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore issues around accessibility and suggest potential solutions. Sport England has also awarded UK Deaf Sport £150,000 to fund a specialist Talent Inclusion post to further the work of the pilots.
The Government, through the UK Sport grant, supports Olympic and Paralympic success. Beyond this the Government does not provide additional funding to performance sport, in line with our approach to a great many other areas of individual sporting performance.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 3 November to question 84965 on Gambling, what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the statistical analysis in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities' report entitled The economic and social cost of harms associated with gambling in England published on 11 January 2023; and if she will exclude it from use within her Department.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The report that the Honourable Member refers to estimates the economic and social costs of gambling-related harm and provides a useful addition to our evidence base. As we have previously set out in a number of gambling-related impact assessments, we recognise that the report has limitations relating to both data availability and methodology, which means that the cost estimates may be under- or over-estimating the true cost of harm. This is true of many reports that try to estimate the cost of harm. However, we continue to consider this report in the context of the wider evidence base, and as such have no plans to exclude it from use in the Department.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November to question 84964 on Gambling, what steps she is taking to ensure that her department uses (a) impartial, and (b) accurate data, and commissions (i) impartial, and (ii) accurate data on gambling harms.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of using impartial, accurate and up-to-date statistics on gambling behaviour and harms. We are committed to ensuring that policy decisions are guided by the best available evidence from a broad range of reliable sources.
Developing impartial and accurate evidence on gambling-related harms is a key priority for the statutory gambling levy. That is why 20% of funding will be directed towards high-quality, independent research to fill gaps in the evidence base, which will be used to inform policy related to tackling gambling-related harm.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 28 October to question 83435, on Gambling: Taxation, if she will set out a timeline for publishing the Terms of Reference for the Levy Board and Advisory Group.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department intends to publish the Terms of Reference for the Gambling Levy Programme Board and the Gambling Levy Advisory Group before the end of the year.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what meetings she has held with David Kogan since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
All the Secretary of State’s meetings are published Quarterly as part of the transparency data available on Gov.uk
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on political donations made by the Independent Football Regulator Chair since 2019.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Mr Kogan’s donations are publicly disclosed on the Electoral Commission donation register. On 7 May 2025 Mr Kogan declared additional political donations, beneath the thresholds required by the Governance Code, when he appeared before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the Impact 25 legacy programme.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Since July 2024 the Government has invested £6.7m into the £14.5m Impact 25 programme which is pivotal in cementing rugby as a game for all. The programme has reached 850 clubs as more female-friendly facilities have been built all over the country encouraging female participation in rugby.
The programme has trained 3,385 new female coaches and match officials, making coaching sessions and matches more accessible. Impact 25 has contributed to a 35% increase in female age grade registrations in England rising from 17,700 places in 2022 to 23,900 in 2025. To assess progress against Impact 25’s outcomes the RFU uses a range of data sources which are reported on as part of the programme. We will work with the RFU, Sport England and UK Sport to monitor progress against these outcomes and the RFU’s long term goal of having 100,000 female players in England.
The programme has provided over £5,000 of investment to Dartfordians RFC and Sidcup RFC in Old Bexley and Sidcup. Both clubs have received sanitary product packages which are made freely available in club restrooms as well as kits for their u12s team and access to coaching and match official courses for their members.