Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure grassroots (a) women's and (b) girls' football clubs have the facilities they need to (i) play and (ii) train.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport including football.
We are pleased to see the significant progress in the number of women and girls taking up football in recent years, and wider developments in the women’s game. In 2023, Karen Carney OBE published a major Independent Review of Women’s Football which made a series of recommendations including supporting grassroots women and girls’ football. This Government fully endorses those recommendations and looks forward to ensuring tangible progress is made.
We are acting to support more players in getting onto the pitch wherever they live via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, which will invest £123 million UK-wide throughout 2024/25. All projects selected for funding through this programme are required to demonstrate how they increase access and participation levels among under-represented groups, which includes women and girls.
Following the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, the Government confirmed its continued support for elite and grassroots sport through future investment. Further details will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support grassroots (a) women's and (b) girls' football.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport including football.
We are pleased to see the significant progress in the number of women and girls taking up football in recent years, and wider developments in the women’s game. In 2023, Karen Carney OBE published a major Independent Review of Women’s Football which made a series of recommendations including supporting grassroots women and girls’ football. This Government fully endorses those recommendations and looks forward to ensuring tangible progress is made.
The Government has set out its support for grassroots facilities, including through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme which provides funding to build and improve grassroots facilities and a commitment to support the Football Association’s ambition to double their number of gold-standard (3-star) community clubs by EURO 2028. This will deliver more opportunities for women and girls to get on the pitch.
The Football Association is a long-term partner of Sport England, and have received over £26 million of funding from them for the period 2022-27.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on the Gambling Act Review; and when she plans to publish the Gambling Review White Paper.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 June to Question UIN 13827.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will provide redress to the people affected by the collapse of BetIndex Limited, the operators of Football Index.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 February to Question UIN 112706.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to provide redress to the people affected by the collapse of BetIndex Ltd, the operators of Football Index.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government appreciates the significant impact that the collapse of the novel gambling product Football Index had on former customers. We recognise the frustration and anger that this situation has caused and the hardship that some people have suffered as a result. However, there is no compensation scheme for losses caused by a gambling firm ceasing to operate and the Government does not think it would be appropriate to use public funds for these purposes.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on the Gambling Act Review; and when she plans to publish the Gambling Review white paper.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Gambling Act Review is wide-ranging and aims to ensure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age. We will publish a White paper setting out our conclusions and next steps in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the scope for criminal sanctions in the Online Safety Bill where there is a consistent failure by tech companies to meet the required safety duties; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The government published the draft Online Safety Bill in May for pre-legislative scrutiny, which is due to report in December. As set out in the Bill, Ofcom will have robust enforcement powers to deliver a culture of compliance, deter companies from breaching the rules and hold them to account if they do. These will include criminal sanctions for senior managers.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a named persons scheme in the Online Safety Bill to deliver a culture of compliance to the regulation; what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of such schemes in other sectors; and if she will publish any such assessment.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The government published the draft Online Safety Bill in May for pre-legislative scrutiny, which is due to report in December. As set out in the Bill, Ofcom will have robust enforcement powers to deliver a culture of compliance, deter companies from breaching the rules and hold them to account if they do. These will include criminal sanctions for senior managers.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to include provisions on regulation of the comments sections of online newspaper websites in the Online Safety Bill announced in the Queen's Speech..
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The comment sections of online newspaper websites will not be in scope of the Online Safety Bill. The Bill was published in draft on 12 May. The draft Bill exempts from its scope comments and reviews on articles, products and services published directly by a company on its own website. This includes ‘below the line’ comments on news publishers’ sites.
Please note that anyone concerned by material published on a news website’s comment section can complain directly to the publisher or to the relevant independent self regulator. The majority of traditional publishers - including 95% of national newspapers by circulation - are members of The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). A number of smaller publishers have joined The Independent Monitor for the Press (IMPRESS).
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
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 Foreign Secretary on the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 and its implications for the Government's policies on online harms.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Ministers have regular meetings and discussions with their ministerial colleagues, on a range of issues, including online harms policy.
The government has set out its proposals for a new regulatory framework to tackle online harms in the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper, published on 15 December 2020.