Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Health Lottery's decisions to (a) divest from the People's Health Trust and (b) create its own funding distribution vehicle on organisations receiving funding from that lottery.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The department and the Gambling Commission have regular discussions covering gambling regulation, including society lotteries. The department has not held recent discussions with the Gambling Commission on the Health Lottery’s arrangements for distributing funds.
The Gambling Act 2005 provides for the definition of a non-commercial society lottery and how proceeds can be used. All licensed lottery operators are expected to put in place arrangements to make sure that the proceeds of each lottery are distributed in a lawful and compliant way. That includes ensuring that a minimum of 20% of proceeds are awarded to good causes.
The oversight of licences for society lotteries, including ensuring operators remain compliant with its statutory responsibilities, is a matter for the Gambling Commission.
More information about the Gambling Commission’s principles for licensing and regulation, compliance and enforcement under the Gambling Act 2005 can be found on the Commission’s website.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure society lotteries are being run in the public interest.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The department and the Gambling Commission have regular discussions covering gambling regulation, including society lotteries. The department has not held recent discussions with the Gambling Commission on the Health Lottery’s arrangements for distributing funds.
The Gambling Act 2005 provides for the definition of a non-commercial society lottery and how proceeds can be used. All licensed lottery operators are expected to put in place arrangements to make sure that the proceeds of each lottery are distributed in a lawful and compliant way. That includes ensuring that a minimum of 20% of proceeds are awarded to good causes.
The oversight of licences for society lotteries, including ensuring operators remain compliant with its statutory responsibilities, is a matter for the Gambling Commission.
More information about the Gambling Commission’s principles for licensing and regulation, compliance and enforcement under the Gambling Act 2005 can be found on the Commission’s website.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the Gambling Commission on The Health Lottery’s new arrangements for distributing funds.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The department and the Gambling Commission have regular discussions covering gambling regulation, including society lotteries. The department has not held recent discussions with the Gambling Commission on the Health Lottery’s arrangements for distributing funds.
The Gambling Act 2005 provides for the definition of a non-commercial society lottery and how proceeds can be used. All licensed lottery operators are expected to put in place arrangements to make sure that the proceeds of each lottery are distributed in a lawful and compliant way. That includes ensuring that a minimum of 20% of proceeds are awarded to good causes.
The oversight of licences for society lotteries, including ensuring operators remain compliant with its statutory responsibilities, is a matter for the Gambling Commission.
More information about the Gambling Commission’s principles for licensing and regulation, compliance and enforcement under the Gambling Act 2005 can be found on the Commission’s website.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of Meta's use of the LibGen database to train artificial intelligence models on UK creative workers.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has no plans to make a formal assessment. However, while the case highlighted relates to legal proceedings in the United States, we take seriously the implications for UK rights holders. The unauthorised use of copyright works, particularly at industrial scale, is unacceptable and not permitted under the UK copyright framework, which is a vital part of our support for the creative industries, which in turn make a substantial contribution to our economy and national identity.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing (a) artists, (b) musicians and (c) other people in creative industries to opt in, rather than opt out, to their intellectual property being used for the training of artificial intelligence.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government recognises the importance of the UKs copyright regime to the economic success of the cultural and creative industries, one of eight growth-driving sectors as identified in our Industrial Strategy. We also recognise the basic principle that rights holders should have control over and seek payment for their work, including when thinking about the role of AI. The current UK Copyright Framework enables creative right holders to prevent the use of protected works, but we are aware that this can be very difficult to implement in the context of AI, especially for individual firms and creators.
Responses to our consultation on the impact of AI on the copyright regime, which was published on 17 December and closed on 25 February, will inform our approach to the design and delivery of a solution to these issues. Our aim is to clarify the copyright framework for AI – delivering certainty through a copyright regime that provides creators with real control and transparency, and helps them licence their content, while supporting AI developers' access to high-quality material.
The consultation was published alongside an accompanying options assessment. The consultation sought to gather further evidence on the potential impact on the creative industries of both AI and any change to the copyright regime. We will now consider the full range of responses we have received through our consultation and if legislative changes are needed, a full economic impact assessment will be undertaken.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of leisure and sport facilities in Tooting constituency.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority. Last year, Sport England received almost £350 million from the Government and National Lottery to fund grassroots sports projects so that everyone is able to access quality sport and physical activity opportunities, and enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that exercise provides.
Since 2019, Sport England has invested more than £117,000 across 24 projects into grassroots sport in Tooting. This includes £17,500 of funding which was used to resurface the Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) at Ravenstone Primary school. In 2022, funding from the government via the Football Foundation helped develop a new 3G pitch for the AFC Wimbledon Foundation, where they run walking football, a girls pathway and more.
The availability of leisure facilities is a matter for the Local Authority. At the Spring Budget, we announced a £63 million package to support public swimming pools, to be delivered through Local Authorities.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has committed to delivering a new sport strategy that will set the direction for the Government's priorities and its role in the sport sector. This strategy will support grassroots sport by having a specific focus on ensuring that everyone has access to appropriate and accessible opportunities to get active.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of the cost of TV licenses for elderly people during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Matt Warman
The global cost of living is rising and this Government is committed to supporting households as much as possible during these difficult times. When setting the level of the licence fee earlier this year, the Government had to think very carefully about the impact that any increase would have on households.
Therefore, on 17 January, the Secretary of State announced that the licence fee will be frozen at £159 until April 2024, before rising with inflation until April 2028. This settlement aims to support all households at a time when they need that support the most.
The Government remains deeply disappointed with the BBC's decision to restrict the over 75 licence fee concession to only those in receipt of Pension Credit. We recognise the value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe they should be funded by the BBC. The BBC must look at how it uses its substantial licence fee income to support older people.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding has been allocated to Black-led charities and/or Black-led community organisations in each year from 2015 to 2021.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
DCMS has not routinely collected this data across all of our programmes. Policy officials are currently reviewing how DCMS captures data on civil society organisations that are black-led, as well as other inclusivity and diversity metrics going forward.
DCMS’ Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF) granted £200 million to small and medium sized charities) in 2020. The National Lottery Community Fund awarded 12% of all grants to organisations which benefited BAME people/groups and had leadership with relevant lived experience. The value of these contracts was £21,859.432.00.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what funding the Government has allocated to tackle hate speech in sport; and what proportion of that funding has been spent, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Adams
It is not possible to isolate government funding to tackle hate speech in sport. Government and its arm's length body for grassroots sport, Sport England, work with National Governing Bodies of Sport and organisations such as Kick It Out, Stonewall and Women in Football to tackle discrimination in local, national and international sport. Grassroots sports clubs can also access free support and learning in tackling discrimination through Sport England's "Club Matters" programme.
There is no place in sport or society more generally for any acts of discrimination, including hate speech. Sports clubs and fans must continue to embrace diversity and report incidents of discrimination wherever it occurs.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the central Government contribution to youth club spending in the Borough of Wandsworth in (a) 2010 and (b) 2018.
Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes
Local authorities are responsible for allocating public funding to youth services in their area, including youth clubs. We believe they are best placed to know what is required in their communities and therefore we do not hold this data.