Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nigel Adams and Damian Collins

Thursday 16th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her position, and congratulate her on her stoicism in making it into the Chamber today. She stole my line about breaking a leg. However, I am pleased to note that the administration of discipline by the Labour Whips Office has not broken down since the election.

I can assure the hon. Lady that the free movement of people will end when we leave the EU, as is set out in the White Paper published in December. We will instead have a new immigration system based on skills, not nationality. We have made it clear that we will protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK after we leave. We have commissioned advice from the Migration Advisory Committee on various issues including salary thresholds, and we will be on top of this process over the course of the year.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Minister for Sport, Media and Creative Industries (Nigel Adams)]

May I take this opportunity to congratulate my right hon. Friend the former Member for Loughborough on her elevation to the other place? We continue to work very closely together. She is still the Secretary of State, and it is good to see her watching over us with a beady eye this morning.

This week it was announced that gambling with the use of credit cards is to be banned throughout Britain from April, with the exception of non-remote lotteries. This is an important step: we are acting decisively on our manifesto commitment to take whatever action is necessary to protect vulnerable people from gambling-related harm. I should also like to use this opportunity to congratulate our on-screen and off-screen talent on their incredible success at the Golden Globes, where 40% of the awards went to Brits or to shows and films with a predominantly British-led production team. This clearly shows the exceptional talent that Britain has.

[Damian Collins]

It is important that we act to ensure that big social media companies do more to protect people from harmful content online, and that this should be overseen by an independent regulator with statutory powers to ensure that they do so. This major issue was looked at in the last Parliament by the Government and by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. Can the Minister confirm the press reports that the Government will respond in the next few weeks to the online harms White Paper, and that we can expect to see a Government Bill in this Parliament as well? I would be happy to accept either an answer from the Minister at the Dispatch Box or a positive hand gesture from the Secretary of State in the Gallery.

[Nigel Adams]

My hon. Friend is going to have to settle for an answer from the Box. We are committed to making the UK the safest place to be online and the best digital economy in the world. As the Prime Minister said at Prime Minister’s questions, we are developing legislative proposals at pace and we will bring forward a Bill as soon as possible.

Football Association and Bet365

Debate between Nigel Adams and Damian Collins

Thursday 9th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

The hon. Gentleman is spot-on. That is another reason why we are going to review the Gambling Act—and the sooner we do so the better as far as I am concerned.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

I believe the deal cheapens the FA cup, and I do not believe we should wait four years for a review. If the FA will not change its mind and act soon, will the Minister consider amending the Gambling Act to ban the type of sponsorship deal that requires sports fans to set up gambling accounts simply to watch sports?

[Nigel Adams]

My hon. Friend is right. Nothing is off the table in the review. I can tell the House that this morning the FA confirmed that from next year, 2021, it will show those particular games on its website, so that they are not available exclusively via gambling sites. That is progress, but we have asked the FA to consider all the options for restricting the deal sooner.

Racism in Football

Debate between Nigel Adams and Damian Collins

Tuesday 15th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

The hon. Gentleman is correct: the severity of the penalty must match the offence. Clearly, this is a matter for UEFA, but that is why I have written to their president today. We expect the penalties to be severe. It is not the first incident; we experienced it with the Montenegro game. The idea that we have bunches of people making Nazi salutes and doing monkey chants—these are sub-human behaviours—cannot be tolerated. I look to UEFA in the strongest terms to deal with this particular incident as severely as possible.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

I completely support the comments from Members on both sides of the House on how UEFA should demonstrate that real sanctions will be applied against national FAs that allow this to happen in their stadiums. Does the Minister agree that the Government’s proposals to legislate on online harms is an opportunity to look at the vile racist abuse that many footballers in this country receive on social media, which is a growing problem, and that we should look again at the status of homophobic abuse in sports stadiums in this country, too? There are big concerns about the increase in homophobia, and we should look again at the Football (Offences) Act 1991 to make homophobic abuse illegal in the same way as racist abuse so that both have the same status in law.

[Nigel Adams]

I totally agree that any form of abuse is unacceptable. We have seen footballers like Paul Pogba, Troy Deeney and Tammy Abraham receive such abuse online through social media. We want to tackle it, and we will work closely with the Select Committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. We have been clear that social media companies need to do more, and we will hold them to account on this issue.

Digital Economy Bill

Debate between Nigel Adams and Damian Collins

Wednesday 26th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams (Selby and Ainsty) (Con)]

Thank you, Madam Speaker, for giving me this final opportunity to speak on this Bill. I am particularly pleased given all our hard work and the fact that the Government have made the completion of its passage a priority during this final week.

I will confine my remarks to Lords amendments 246 and 247, which address problems in the secondary ticketing market that I, along with many other music fans, have been personally affected by. We have refined these proposals through various stages of the Bill Committee and discussed them at length in the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. I thank the Chair of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Damian Collins), for helping us to get the time to hear detailed evidence on this very important issue. I also thank all my colleagues on the Committee for their tenacious advocacy for producers and fans of sports, theatre and music, and their constructive work to allow the Committee to make some unanimous recommendations for the Bill Committee.

[Damian Collins]

I thank my hon. Friend for his words. Does he agree that it was particularly regrettable that Viagogo decided not to appear in front of the Committee when it should have given important evidence to us? Many people will draw their own conclusions as to its reasons for not appearing.

[Nigel Adams]

I could not agree more. It is despicable that Viagogo has dodged and been slippery around attending the Select Committee. There have been so many victims of Viagogo that it should have taken the opportunity to come and explain how it markets itself and presents its website. I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend.

Music and the Economy

Debate between Nigel Adams and Damian Collins

Tuesday 22nd November 2011 Westminster Hall

[Nigel Adams]

I certainly share that view and would support the right hon. Gentleman in that move. It is very important that the Bill is not talked out. The Minister might refer to that as well. I need to move on now, because one or two other hon. Members want to make a contribution.

It is vital that we make the most of the Olympics. Obviously, that is a sporting event, but we need to make the most of the opportunity to ensure that Britain continues to be, in the words of Danny Boyle, the film director, “a beacon of music.” UK Music’s report, “Destination: Music”, highlights the impact that festivals, which I have referred to, and other large-scale music events have on tourism, with such events contributing £864 million of gross value added to the national economy and the equivalent of 19,500 full-time jobs. Although the Olympics are not a music event, the opening ceremony offers us a huge opportunity to showcase our talent across the world.

In this difficult economic climate, it is refreshing to hear that businesses based on manufacturing the intangibles of intellectual property are the cornerstone of economic growth and, as things stand, one of the only parts of our economy that is growing. That is yet more evidence of how this diverse and uplifting industry can help our economy and must be allowed and, indeed, encouraged to do so.

[Damian Collins (Folkestone and Hythe) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. Does he agree that protecting intellectual property is very important for young and emerging acts as well? I am thinking particularly of young performers such as Zorzilla, Magnets and Daniel Addison in Folkestone in my constituency. They are writers and performers and need to know that their investment in their future is secure.

[Nigel Adams]

It is crucial that there is as much support as possible for those people, certainly when they are starting out. My hon. Friend is absolutely right.

I am pleased that the Conservative-led coalition has recognised the importance of the creative industries, specifically highlighting the industry in “The Plan for Growth.” I welcome the plans to remove live music in venues with audiences under 5,000 from the Licensing Act 2003. That policy has been detrimental to the music industry for too long. The change will enable pubs, which we have referred to, to host live music without navigating the red tape and regulation currently in place. The change is supported by the British Beer and Pub Association on behalf of its members. It will encourage musicians to perform in pubs as their venue of choice for small-scale events.

The creation of the Creative Industries Council has been well received by the industry and by UK Music in particular, and plans to reduce digital copyright infringement and further develop the digital market are also steps in the right direction. However, more can and should be done. We need to ensure there is proper access to finance so that more artists can get their careers off the ground. As I mentioned earlier, this is very much an industry of small and medium-sized enterprises, so we need to ensure that musical SMEs can find the finance to invest in artists.