Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to take account of Comcast’s existing interests in news outlets in the UK, its reciprocal arrangement with ITN, the distribution of CNBC and its significant equity interests in Euronews, Buzzfeed and Vox Media when assessing the effect of its bid for Sky on media plurality in the UK.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Secretary of State has powers to intervene in certain transactions involving media enterprises when any of the considerations specified in the Enterprise Act 2002 are relevant. The decision to intervene is quasi-judicial and must be taken independently based on all relevant evidence available. Any transaction will be looked at on its merits, on a case-by-case basis. Due to the quasi-judicial nature of the decision, it would be inappropriate to comment further in relation to any specific transaction.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many times (a) Comcast and (b) any subsidiary of Comcast which holds broadcasting licences has been sanctioned by Ofcom under the Broadcasting Code in the last 10 years; and for what reason those sanctions were imposed.
Answered by Margot James
The Department does not hold information on the regulatory compliance of broadcasters. This information has been requested from the independent regulator, Ofcom, and we will write to the Rt Hon member following the outcome of these discussions. A copy of the letter will be placed in the House library.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many times (a) Comcast and (b) any subsidiary of Comcast which holds broadcasting licences has been found to be in breach of the Broadcasting Code.
Answered by Margot James
The Department does not hold information on the regulatory compliance of broadcasters. This information has been requested from the independent regulator, Ofcom, and we will write to the Rt Hon member following the outcome of these discussions. A copy of the letter will be placed in the House library.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people addicted to online gambling services.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Gambling Commission measures participation in gambling activity and the problem gambling rates associated with the activity. The latest Great Britain wide data on gambling participation and problem gambling rates is set out in the Health Survey report on Gambling Behaviour in Great Britain 2015, published in August 2017. This report found that 10% of people over the age of 16 participated in online gambling or betting in the past year and, amongst those, problem gambling rates were 5.1%.
The report is available here: http://live-gamblecom.cloud.contensis.com/PDF/survey-data/Gambling-behaviour-in-Great-Britain-2015.pdf
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
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 potential effect on the level of addictive gambling of placing restrictions on the amount people can spend on online gambling games.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
We are committed to ensuring that those who gamble are protected from gambling-related harm, whether they gamble online or in land-based premises. The Government’s consultation on gaming machines and social responsibility included measures to strengthen protections for online gambling. We will publish our response to the consultation in due course.
All online operators must supply tools to help players control their gambling, including the option to set financial limits. The Gambling Commission’s 2017 Report on Gambling Participation found that financial limits were the most commonly used gambling management tool. The report also found that, in terms of the information provided by gambling companies, tools to help players control gambling had the biggest impact on stopping or reducing the amount people spent on gambling.
In March 2018 the Gambling Commission announced plans to consult on customer due-diligence proposals which would require operators to set limits on players’ spending that could only be increased once they had further verified information about the player, for example through an affordability check.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Taiwanese Government to display works of art from the National Palace Museum of Taiwan in British museums.
Answered by John Glen
DCMS has had no discussions with the Taiwanese authorities about the display of artworks from the National Palace Museum, Taipei at British museums.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to stop charities sharing and selling information about their donors.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
In the light of the shocking revelations that have emerged about poor practice in recent weeks my Hon Friend the Minister for Civil Society has asked Sir Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, to chair a cross-party panel to conduct a root and branch review of the self-regulation of charitable fundraising. The panel will report back to him with their recommendations on 21 September.Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the effect to a local economy of hosting the Tour of Britain.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I have made no assessment to date. It is for the relevant local bodies to assess the impact that the individual stages of the Tour of Britain have had on local economies.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the benefit to the economy from tourists visiting the Palace of Westminster.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
My Department has not estimated the economic benefits from tourists visiting the Palace of Westminster. However, according to Visitor Services at the Houses of Parliament, over 1 million people visit the Parliamentary Estate each year, on average 200,000 of which are during Parliament's commercial openings on Saturdays and during recess periods. We understand that details of income generated from parliamentary commercial visitors will be published in the forthcoming House of Commons Commission annual report.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to roll out superfast broadband in rural areas.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government and local authorities and the devolved administrations are investing a total of £1.7 billion to provide superfast broadband coverage to 95% of the UK by 2017, through a total of 51 locally-led projects.
The Government is also exploring with suppliers options to get beyond 95% superfast broadband coverage across the UK through a series of pilot projects. These pilot projects are testing technology, financial and operating models capable of delivering superfast broadband to the hardest to reach parts of the UK.
More information on the pilot projects is at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/superfast-broadband-programme-phase-3
Expected superfast broadband coverage by 2017 in the Lancashire project area will be over 97%. Central government has invested £14,670,000 into the Lancashire project with further funding being provided locally including funding from the European Regional Development Programme together with investment from BT. This funding is expected to provide coverage to over 145,000 premises. As of December 2014 106,000 premises had been passed.