Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help tackle abusive behaviour on social media.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Online Safety Bill will stamp out illegal abusive behaviour on social media, while giving users greater control over their online experience.
The new duties in the Bill will increase transparency over companies’ terms of service, allowing users to make more informed choices about the services they use. Companies must also provide users with tools to protect themselves from abuse.
The Bill is currently at Report Stage and is due to return to the Commons on 5 December.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of places in swimming lessons for (a) adults and (b) children in (i) Canterbury constituency and (b) Kent.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to indoor and outdoor pools. Swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy as well as being a crucial life skill in terms of water safety.
The Government has provided a range of support for swimming pools during the pandemic. The £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country. Local Authorities in Kent were awarded £2,855,093 through the National Leisure Recovery Fund, of which £374,030 was awarded to Canterbury City Council. Sport England has awarded over £166,000 for specific investments in swimming in Kent since 2012.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if the Government will publish data on the airborne transmission of covid-19 as a result of groups of more than six people singing.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
I know that the restrictions on singing are frustrating to large numbers of amateur choirs and performance groups across the country and that many people have made sacrifices in order to drive down infections and protect the NHS over the last year. I can assure you that everyone across the Government wants to ease these restrictions as soon as possible.
However, it is important that we take a cautious approach in easing restrictions. We have followed the views of public health experts on singing. We are aware, through the NERVTAG and PERFORM studies that singing can increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission through the spread of aerosol droplets. This was backed up by a consensus statement from SAGE, resulting in the suggested principles of safer singing being published.
We will continue to keep guidance and restrictions under review, in line with the changing situation. Further detail on step 4 will be set out as soon as possible.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on providing further financial support for self-employed people working in the creative industries during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Secretary of State has spoken with the Chancellor on several occasions to ensure that the full spectrum of government support reaches all the sectors for which this department is responsible, including the UK's world-leading creative industries. My officials are in regular contact with their Treasury colleagues to ensure there is a good understanding of the way the government support schemes are working for DCMS sectors, including the creative industries.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2019 to Question 220177 on Nuisance Calls, how many call blocking devices the Department plans to deliver to vulnerable people in (a) the UK and (b) Kent.
Answered by Margot James
In March 2017 DCMS provided a grant of £500,000 to National Trading Standards to provide over 1500 call blocking devices to vulnerable people.
The Government is committed to continuing this work. The Chancellor announced in the 2018 Autumn Budget that the National Trading Standards will receive further funding to continue rolling out devices to vulnerable people.
The Government has agreed to provide up to £640,000 for this project. The National Trading Standards are currently undertaking a procurement process for a supplier for the call blocking devices. We are not yet therefore able to provide details of precisely how many devices this further funding will deliver.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the police and (b) other relevant authorities on the monitoring of antisemitism at football matches.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable, and government fully supports a zero tolerance approach by clubs, the football authorities and the police to dealing with anti-Semitic or other types of abuse when it occurs in our stadiums or sporting fields.
There are examples of good work happening at clubs like Chelsea to tackle the issue of anti-Semitism, and by Kick It Out and the Community Security Trust, with government's support, to monitor anti-Semitic hate crimes in the UK and highlight the concern. Together, those bodies released an anti-Semitism guide for match day stewards to help improve awareness of anti-Semitic behaviour and offering information on the current laws around it, as well as advice on what action to take. As part of the Hate Crime Action Plan (2016) and its refresh (2018), the government have also been supporting Show Racism the Red Card to educate young people and adults on the dangers of holding discriminatory/prejudice sentiments and prevent the development of harmful opinions into hate crimes.
The government is however alive to a rise in the numbers of reported incidents of discrimination at all levels of the sport, and I will be inviting together the FA, English Football League, Premier League, players’ representatives, and groups such as Stonewall and Kick It Out to discuss what more football can do to stamp out racist, homophobic and anti-semitic abuse at matches.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of football clubs on the use of antisemitic chants at football matches.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable, and government fully supports a zero tolerance approach by clubs, the football authorities and the police to dealing with anti-Semitic or other types of abuse when it occurs in our stadiums or sporting fields.
There are examples of good work happening at clubs like Chelsea to tackle the issue of anti-Semitism, and by Kick It Out and the Community Security Trust, with government's support, to monitor anti-Semitic hate crimes in the UK and highlight the concern. Together, those bodies released an anti-Semitism guide for match day stewards to help improve awareness of anti-Semitic behaviour and offering information on the current laws around it, as well as advice on what action to take. As part of the Hate Crime Action Plan (2016) and its refresh (2018), the government have also been supporting Show Racism the Red Card to educate young people and adults on the dangers of holding discriminatory/prejudice sentiments and prevent the development of harmful opinions into hate crimes.
The government is however alive to a rise in the numbers of reported incidents of discrimination at all levels of the sport, and I will be inviting together the FA, English Football League, Premier League, players’ representatives, and groups such as Stonewall and Kick It Out to discuss what more football can do to stamp out racist, homophobic and anti-semitic abuse at matches.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking with football clubs to help identify perpetrators of antisemitic hate crimes on match days.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable, and government fully supports a zero tolerance approach by clubs, the football authorities and the police to dealing with anti-Semitic or other types of abuse when it occurs in our stadiums or sporting fields.
There are examples of good work happening at clubs like Chelsea to tackle the issue of anti-Semitism, and by Kick It Out and the Community Security Trust, with government's support, to monitor anti-Semitic hate crimes in the UK and highlight the concern. Together, those bodies released an anti-Semitism guide for match day stewards to help improve awareness of anti-Semitic behaviour and offering information on the current laws around it, as well as advice on what action to take. As part of the Hate Crime Action Plan (2016) and its refresh (2018), the government have also been supporting Show Racism the Red Card to educate young people and adults on the dangers of holding discriminatory/prejudice sentiments and prevent the development of harmful opinions into hate crimes.
The government is however alive to a rise in the numbers of reported incidents of discrimination at all levels of the sport, and I will be inviting together the FA, English Football League, Premier League, players’ representatives, and groups such as Stonewall and Kick It Out to discuss what more football can do to stamp out racist, homophobic and anti-semitic abuse at matches.