Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
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 protect children online.
Answered by Paul Scully
Protecting children online is a priority for the government. The strongest protections in the Online Safety Bill are for children.
All companies in scope will need to take robust steps to protect children from illegal content and activity on their services. This includes proactively identifying and minimising the uploading and sharing of priority illegal content such as child sexual exploitation and abuse. Companies will also need to have effective systems and processes to quickly take down other illegal content or behaviour once it has been reported or they become aware of its presence.
Companies in scope will also need to assess whether their service is likely to be accessed by children and if so, deliver additional protections for children from harmful content or activity. If they fail to do so, they will be subject to tough enforcement action by Ofcom, the regulator.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
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 help ensure that fans can watch major sporting events online.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government believes that certain sporting events of national interest should be shown on free-to-air television so that they can be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible.
We want to ensure that as viewing habits change and technology evolves the regulatory framework remains fit for purpose.
Our Broadcasting White Paper confirmed our intention to undertake a review to look at whether the scope of the listed events regime should be extended to include digital rights. The Government is speaking to stakeholders to look at whether in the face of technological change, the objectives of the existing regime are still being met and whether digital rights should be included in the regime. The review will need to balance the ability for audiences to watch national sporting events at no additional cost with the ability for sporting organisations to generate revenues from sports rights to re-invest in their sports at all levels.
The Terms of Reference for the review can be found here.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the role of technology in creating a more accessible retail experience for British consumers.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our forthcoming Digital Strategy will set out our ambitions for harnessing the power of digital technologies to the benefit of our economy and society as a whole. The strategy will highlight that digital technologies, through innovation, can drive better services across various sectors.
The Government believes that there are great gains to be made through the adoption of digital technologies across all sectors. According to ONS data, SMEs which use two or more business management technologies demonstrate productivity gains of up to 25%. That is why last year we announced our Help to Grow scheme which provides financial incentives for increased digital adoption by SMEs.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to support local libraries and regional museums.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 12 March the Arts Minister announced the public libraries, museums, galleries and cultural venues across the country that will benefit from £48 million of funding - part of the Cultural Investment Fund - to improve people’s access to the arts, safeguard cultural assets for future generations, and power economic growth through culture.
This includes:
investing £5 million in 25 library services through the Libraries Improvement Fund (LIF) to upgrade their buildings and technology, to enable them to be resilient and equipped to meet the changing needs of local communities; and
£18.8 million through the Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) to help fund museum and local authority infrastructure projects and urgent maintenance works.
Through the Cultural Investment Fund we will invest up to a further £128.4 million of capital investment in innovative cultural and creative projects, libraries, and museums across the country over the Spending Review period (22/23 - 24/25), predominantly outside London. Earlier this month, we announced £48 million of investment through the Cultural Investment Fund, of which nearly £10 million was made for the North East, backing five projects.
DCMS also supports regional museums through a variety of core and project funding through Arts Council England and other Arms Length Bodies, tax relief opportunities, and other direct support such as the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, the latest round of which was launched on 17 March this year.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
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 increase access to the arts across England.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to the development of an arts and cultural sector that is representative of modern society and in which there are no barriers to participation. The Secretary of State has named increasing access to arts and culture across the whole country as one of her top priorities for the department.
In February, DCMS instructed Arts Council England (ACE) to enable a £75 million boost to culture and creativity outside of London between 2022 and 2025. As part of this funding, DCMS and ACE have identified 109 Levelling Up for Culture Places where additional investment will be focused. This support will galvanise the potential of the people in these areas that have previously not had sufficient attention and investment. The aim is to generate more opportunities for people across the whole country, and provide better access to cultural activities.
As outlined in Arts Council England’s Let’s Create strategy, all UK Arts Councils alongside the British Film Institute are currently working on a UK wide access scheme for disabled, d/Deaf, neurodivergent people or those that have other access needs. We want this scheme to work alongside existing infrastructure to find a way of best serving audiences and the sector. As part of the very early stages of this process, Arts Council England are inviting people who have access needs when attending arts events to take part in focus groups.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
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 help improve access to cultural attractions across the country.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to the development of an arts and cultural sector that is representative of modern society and in which there are no barriers to participation. The Secretary of State has named increasing access to arts and culture across the whole country as one of her top priorities for the department.
In February, DCMS instructed Arts Council England (ACE) to enable a £75 million boost to culture and creativity outside of London between 2022 and 2025. As part of this funding, DCMS and ACE have identified 109 Levelling Up for Culture Places where additional investment will be focused. This support will galvanise the potential of the people in these areas that have previously not had sufficient attention and investment. The aim is to generate more opportunities for people across the whole country, and provide better access to cultural activities.
As outlined in Arts Council England’s Let’s Create strategy, all UK Arts Councils alongside the British Film Institute are currently working on a UK wide access scheme for disabled, d/Deaf, neurodivergent people or those that have other access needs. We want this scheme to work alongside existing infrastructure to find a way of best serving audiences and the sector. As part of the very early stages of this process, Arts Council England are inviting people who have access needs when attending arts events to take part in focus groups.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
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 tourism industry throughout the North East.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In January this year I chaired the first Inter-Ministerial Group on the Visitor Economy, where we discussed how the visitor economy could support the levelling up agenda. We are now running a ‘Policy Sprint’ to look at how we can turn that into reality by maximising opportunities for the North East of England. The overall aim is to deliver genuine impact in the region and beyond, and provide long term growth by realising the potential of the Visitor Economy to level up the North East.
VisitEngland’s current domestic campaign ‘Escape the Everyday’ features Newcastle and York as two of the highlighted cities. The ‘Escape the Everyday’ campaign encourages the “pre-nester”(18-34 year old) audience to book an English city break this spring.
We also launched the second round of the Escape the Everyday Destination Management Organisation (DMO) Recovery Marketing Fund in February, providing the opportunity for DMOs across England to apply for grant funding to deliver local marketing activities.
VisitBritain’s business events team work closely with NewcastleGateshead Initiative and has provided recent support to them in the form of free participation at MeetGB, free promotion on a virtual platform to promote the region to international association organisers, attendance at VB’s City Sustainability roundtable and providing them access to apply to the Business Events Growth Programme for International events.
VisitBritain’s business support team has engaged with the North East during a variety of events and programmes including the ‘Taking England to the World Education Programme’, a ‘Business Support Roadshow’ and the North East Tourism Awards, which were run by NewcastleGateshead Initiative.
VisitBritain has also hosted international travel trade buyers on educational visits across Britain, including four buyers from the Nordics Group who visited Newcastle and Northumberland. A variety of suppliers from the North East attended ExploreGB Virtual, including: Durham Cathedral, Hadrian's Wall Holidays, the Sandman Hotel Group and Alnwick Castle and Gardens.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
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 help prevent Russia and Belarus participating in international sporting events.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
On Thursday 3 March, the Secretary of State and I convened a summit with 24 international ministerial counterparts - or senior representatives on their behalf - to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the response of international sport.
The summit followed bilateral meetings that I held with counterparts from Canada, Poland and Germany.
Following the international summit, a joint statement was signed by 37 nations and published on Tuesday 8 March, affirming the position outlined below:
Russia and Belarus should not be permitted to host, bid for or be awarded any international sporting events.
Individual athletes selected by Russia and Belarus, administrators and teams representing the Russian or Belarusian state should be banned from competing in other countries, including those representing bodies, cities or brands that are effectively representing Russia or Belarus, such as major football clubs.
Wherever possible, appropriate actions should be taken to limit sponsorship and other financial support from entities with links to the Russian or Belarusian states.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
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 mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I am delighted that my Department is supporting Buckingham Palace in delivering celebrations to mark Her Majesty the Queen’s seventy years of service.
This includes government funding to support the major ceremonial events taking place in London; a Platinum Jubilee website with guidance on how the public can get involved; and an online map of Jubilee events across the UK.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
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 help prevent children accessing legal content online that may be harmful to them.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Protecting children online is a key objective of the Online Safety Bill, which the government introduced to Parliament on 17 March 2022.
Providers in scope of the legislation will need to assess whether their service is likely to be accessed by children and, if so, deliver additional protections for them. Safety measures will need to protect children from content and activity which is legal but harmful to them such as pornography and bullying. If sites fail in their duties under the Bill, they will be subject to tough enforcement action by Ofcom.