Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much money from the public purse the Government has spent on delivering the commitments made in the Loneliness Strategy entitled, A connected society: a strategy for tackling loneliness. Click save
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The cross-government loneliness strategy, launched in October 2018, contained 60 new commitments from nine government departments. It included a range of new policies as well as threading consideration of loneliness through a wide range of government’s work , such as expanding social prescribing and public messaging on loneliness.
Alongside the policy commitments made in the strategy, the Building Connections Fund launched in 2018 totalled £11.5million, made up of government, Big Lottery Fund and Co-op Foundation funding. It funds 126 projects.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Government has spent from the public purse on initiatives to tackle loneliness and social isolation in 2018-19. Click save
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The cross-government loneliness strategy, launched in October 2018, contained 60 new commitments from nine government departments. It included a range of new policies as well as threading consideration of loneliness through a wide range of government’s work , such as expanding social prescribing and public messaging on loneliness.
Alongside the policy commitments made in the strategy, the Building Connections Fund launched in 2018 totalled £11.5million, made up of government, Big Lottery Fund and Co-op Foundation funding. It funds 126 projects.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on what date he plans to take steps to introduce legal responsibilities for social media companies in relation to harmful content in the event that those companies do not take voluntary action.
Answered by Margot James
A joint DCMS-Home Office White Paper will be published shortly, setting out a range of legislative and non-legislative measures to tackle online harms, including clear responsibilities for tech companies to keep their users safe online.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what fines have been imposed on companies for promoting and marketing infant formula milk in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Margot James
Broadcast and non-broadcast advertising are governed by a system of co-regulation and self-regulation respectively, overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The Advertising Standards Authority does not impose fines, but it can refer those advertising or promoting products to other bodies for the further action, such as Trading Standards.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the consumption patterns of 5 to 15 year olds as a result of advertising aimed a children on (a) television, (b) Facebook, (c) YouTube and (d) Google.
Answered by Margot James
As part of the Childhood Obesity Plan, the Government is investing millions in the National Institute for Health Research Obesity Policy Research Unit to look at evidence on how all forms of marketing (including broadcast and online) affect children’s food preferences and consumption to help inform further thinking on this. The OPRU will begin publishing their findings later this year.
We also recently announced the Digital Charter, which aims to make the UK the safest place to be online. As you will have seen from the recently published Internet Safety Strategy, as part of the Digital Charter’s work programme, Government will work with regulators, platforms and advertising companies to ensure that the principles that govern advertising in traditional media – such as preventing companies targeting unsuitable advertisements at children – also apply and are enforced online.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made in implementing recommendation 4 of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
To date, DCMS, through the Life Chances Fund, has committed funding of up to £10 million to four projects that combat drug and alcohol dependency – this is in addition to funding from 23 local commissioners, who will provide £27 million to the four projects. DCMS has worked closely with Public Health England to ensure that projects are integrated into the wider care landscape.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made in implementing recommendation 4 of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
To date, DCMS, through the Life Chances Fund, has committed funding of up to £10 million to four projects that combat drug and alcohol dependency – this is in addition to funding from 23 local commissioners, who will provide £27 million to the four projects. DCMS has worked closely with Public Health England to ensure that projects are integrated into the wider care landscape.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many senior civil servants in her Department were on a leave of absence from work due to mental illness in each month of each year since the Department's creation.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health of February 2016, how much money from the Life Chances Fund has been allocated; to which contracts that money has been allocated; in which local authority each contract is located; and how much has been allocated to each contract.
Answered by Rob Wilson
Applications to the £80m Life Chances Fund go through a two-stage process. In the first phase, applicants submit an expression of interest. If successful, applicants are then invited to develop a full application for funding. Final decisions on the allocation of the outcomes fund will be taken between July 2017 and July 2018 as applications are received and assessed.
Asked by: Luciana Berger (Liberal Democrat - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many businesses in (a) Liverpool, Wavertree constituency and (b) Liverpool City Region do not have access to high speed broadband.
Answered by Karen Bradley
There is a substantial commitment by national government for superfast broadband rollout and £5.46 million of central government funding has been allocated to the Merseyside Connected project. This has led to 39,216 additional homes and businesses now being able to access superfast broadband as a result of the local project, with the aim to have 42,204 additional premises by the end of the project. This will bring superfast coverage in Merseyside to 99% of premises.
The Department does not hold data specifically for businesses. The table below shows estimates of the number of premises (both residential and business) without access to superfast broadband in all of the Merseyside and Liverpool City Region constituencies.
Constituency
Number of Premises
Premises Without Access To Superfast Broadband
Birkenhead
44,111
458
Bootle
47,396
304
Garston and Halewood
45,355
836
Halton
44,739
1,098
Knowsley
48,681
596
Liverpool, Riverside
54,717
9,022
Liverpool, Walton
43,483
157
Liverpool, Wavertree
41,345
215
Liverpool, West Derby
40,579
0
Sefton Central
37,979
792
Southport
43,576
1,209
St Helens North
45,188
1503
St Helens South and Whiston
49,194
2,410
Wallasey
42,239
562
Wirral South
33,425
760
Wirral West
32,212
816