Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will postpone the Fox takeover of Sky until the second half of the Leveson Inquiry has been completed.
Answered by Matt Hancock
As set out in previous statements to the House, the Secretary of State's quasi-judicial responsibilities in relation to the proposed acquisition of Sky by 21st Century Fox will be discharged, robustly and transparently. Such decisions must also be taken as promptly as is reasonably practicable.
On 29 June the Secretary of State announced that she is minded-to refer the merger to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on media plurality grounds. In coming to a final decision, consideration will be given to the available evidence before her including any further representations received following the call for evidence which closed on 14 July.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answer of 27 April 2017 to Question 71768, if she will amend the application criteria for the Tampon Tax Fund to include a stipulation that funding will not provided to organisations which seek to restrict access to abortion.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Applications have closed for the current round of the Tampon Tax Fund. Details about any future rounds of the Fund and the criteria which will be used will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 20 April 2017 to Question HL6582, whether the Minister for Civil Society or another Minister made the decision to award the charity Life £250,000 from the Tampon Tax Fund; what her Department's scrutiny process for that decision was; and what representations she received on the appropriateness of that award before that decision was announced.
Answered by Rob Wilson
We will shortly finalise the specifics of the grant agreements for each of the 70 projects that successfully applied to the Tampon Tax Fund this year, to ensure that taxpayers' money is put to the best use. We will only make grants where we are 100% certain that they align fully with the aims of the fund. The final decision will be made by the Minister for Civil Society.
All applications into the fund were assessed by officials against three criteria: evidence for the need of the project: the organisation’s ability to deliver; and the sustainability/impact of the project, and were then vetted by officials before they were signed off.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of (a) limiting the amount that can be bet on fixed-odds betting terminals and (b) increasing the restrictions on gambling advertisements on television and the internet.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
A review of gaming machines and social responsibility measures (previously called the Triennial Review) began with a 6 week call for evidence on 24 October, closing on 4 December. As part of this, we sought evidence on Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals and gambling advertising. The review generated a lot of interest from the general public, as well as from a variety of interest groups, local authorities, trade bodies and industry. We are now looking in depth at the evidence and aim to publish our findings and any proposals in spring 2017.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 2016 to Question 50167, on the Big Lottery Fund: West Ham United Football Club, if she will make publicly available the Memorandum of Understanding referred to in that Answer.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I am happy to publish the agreement between the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and the Greater London Authority regarding the repayment of £675m provided in 2007 from the National Lottery Distribution Fund to help meet the costs of delivering the London 2012 Games. The Big Lottery Fund's share of this money is £425m. This agreement is attached.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she will take steps to ensure the return of £425m of Big Lottery Fund money which was used to subsidise West Ham United's lease of the Olympic Stadium.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The arrangements for the repayment of funds to the National Lottery from receipts from sales of land on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park are set out in a Memorandum of Understanding between the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, agreed in March 2012.
The stadium has been converted into a multi-use venue and is used for athletics, other sports and cultural events as well as football. The lease of the stadium to West Ham United was agreed separately between the London Legacy Development Corporation and West Ham.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to restrict television advertising for unhealthy food on programming likely to be watched by children.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We recognise the importance of tackling childhood obesity, which is caused by a number of complex factors. The Childhood Obesity Plan for Action, published in August, considered a number of different policy responses to address this problem. Additional advertising restrictions were considered as part of this process, but current restrictions in the UK are amongst the toughest in the world and the plan focuses on those areas which experts tell us are most effective.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring at least 50 per cent of the licence fees raised in each region to be spent in that region on programme commissioning.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The recently published White Paper addresses concerns that were raised during our public consultation by the devolved nations and some English regions. The Government has made detailed proposals which ensure that the BBC is accountable to licence fee payers in all nations and regions in the UK through a clear focus on the BBC’s obligations in the new operating licence regime, clear board-level responsibilities, and a continued commitment to the out-of-London production targets.
Budgeting and commissioning decisions are editorial matters for the BBC.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to issue a commencement order to bring into effect Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
No decision has been taken regarding commencement of section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. The matter is still under consideration.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government intends to proceed with Part 2 of the Leveson Inquiry.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Criminal proceedings connected to the subject matter of the Leveson Inquiry, including the appeals process, have not yet completed. We have always been clear that these cases must conclude before we consider Part 2 of the Inquiry.