Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 implementation of the recommendations of the fan led review of football governance.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government published its response to the recommendations made by the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance in April 2022. We absolutely recognise the need for football to be reformed to ensure the game’s sustainability in the long term. We are now taking the time to consider the policy, but we remain committed to publishing a White Paper setting out our detailed response to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance, and will set this out in due course.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what her policy is on the increased regulation of English football.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government published its response to the recommendations made by the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance in April 2022. We absolutely recognise the need for football to be reformed to ensure the game’s sustainability in the long term. We are now taking the time to consider the policy, but we remain committed to publishing a White Paper setting out our detailed response to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance, and will set this out in due course.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress she has made on introducing legislative proposals for an independent regulator of professional football.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government published its response to the recommendations made by the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance in April 2022. We absolutely recognise the need for football to be reformed to ensure the game’s sustainability in the long term. We are now taking the time to consider the policy, but we remain committed to publishing a White Paper setting out our detailed response to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance, and will set this out in due course.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department is providing to the entertainment sector to help ensure that modern slavery is removed from its supply chains.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The prevalence of modern slavery and complexity of global supply chains means that it is highly unlikely that any sector or company is immune from the risks of modern slavery. The Government encourages companies to report transparently about how they are mitigating modern slavery risks and to use their modern slavery statements to demonstrate year on year progress.
Section 54 of the The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires certain businesses in all sectors with a turnover of £36m or more (including within the arts, culture, entertainment industry) to report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
The transparency legislation was designed to enable consumers, investors and civil society to scrutinise business action. To improve the quality and detail of reporting and accelerate action to prevent modern slavery, the Government announced an ambitious package of changes to strengthen the reporting requirements on businesses and has committed to introduce financial penalties for those that fail to meet their obligations under section 54.
In March 2021, the Government launched a digital registry for modern slavery statements which will enhance transparency by making statements available in one place for the first time. It will provide greater visibility of the steps organisations are taking to prevent modern slavery in their global supply chains and empowering investors, consumers and civil society to scrutinise action and monitor progress.
These measures, including requiring organisations to publish their statement on the Government modern slavery registry, require primary legislation and will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.
DCMS, along with other government departments, will be publishing its own Modern Slavery statement in September 2021. This will extend to our Arms Length Bodies that have a budget of at least £36m.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what impact assessments his Department has conducted on modern slavery in supply chains in the arts and culture sector.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The prevalence of modern slavery and complexity of global supply chains means that it is highly unlikely that any sector or company is immune from the risks of modern slavery. The Government encourages companies to report transparently about how they are mitigating modern slavery risks and to use their modern slavery statements to demonstrate year on year progress.
Section 54 of the The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires certain businesses in all sectors with a turnover of £36m or more (including within the arts, culture, entertainment industry) to report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
The transparency legislation was designed to enable consumers, investors and civil society to scrutinise business action. To improve the quality and detail of reporting and accelerate action to prevent modern slavery, the Government announced an ambitious package of changes to strengthen the reporting requirements on businesses and has committed to introduce financial penalties for those that fail to meet their obligations under section 54.
In March 2021, the Government launched a digital registry for modern slavery statements which will enhance transparency by making statements available in one place for the first time. It will provide greater visibility of the steps organisations are taking to prevent modern slavery in their global supply chains and empowering investors, consumers and civil society to scrutinise action and monitor progress.
These measures, including requiring organisations to publish their statement on the Government modern slavery registry, require primary legislation and will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.
DCMS, along with other government departments, will be publishing its own Modern Slavery statement in September 2021. This will extend to our Arms Length Bodies that have a budget of at least £36m.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 plans to take to protect the entertainment sector from human rights abuses committed in the Xinjiang province of China against Uighur people.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The UK remains gravely concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang.
As a consequence the Foreign Secretary announced a series of measures to build on our response to the human rights situation in Xinjiang on 12 January. These new measures help ensure UK businesses and the public sector are not complicit in human rights violations in Xinjiang. They also show China that there is a reputational and economic cost to its policies in Xinjiang.
The measures include;
o Strengthening the Overseas Business Risk (OBR) guidance to make clearer the risks to UK businesses investing in, or with supply chains in Xinjiang.
o A review of export controls as they apply to the situation in Xinjiang to ensure we are doing all we can to prevent the export of goods that may contribute to human rights violations in Xinjiang.
o The introduction of financial penalties for organisations who fail to comply with the Modern Slavery Act.
o Increasing support for UK public bodies to use public procurement rules to exclude suppliers where there is sufficient evidence of human rights violations from their supply chains
These build on the UK’s existing measures to respond to Xinjiang, including research funded by the UK to help build the evidence base, and guidance to help UK businesses conduct due diligence to ensure supply chains are free of forced labour. The UK was the first country to require companies by law to report on modern slavery in their supply chains. We will continue our international leadership to hold China to account.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support his Department has made available to (a) museums and (b) art galleries during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
My department is in constant contact with sector bodies and museums directly to assess impacts and are working to develop support for the sector in response to COVID-19. We are also in close contact with counterparts in the devolved nations with culture being a devolved matter. Significant support has been delivered at speed by DCMS arm’s-length bodies. Arts Council England having launched a £160m Emergency Funding Package, the National Lottery Heritage Fund launching a £50m Heritage Emergency Fund, and Historic England launching a £2m Emergency Fund. All of which are delivering support across the sector.
We are also pleased that there has already been support pledged for the sector including through the Job Retention Scheme and the availability of grants of up to £25,000 to leisure businesses, including museums operating from smaller premises through the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund. The Government continues to monitor the impact of these and other measures.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether a person over the age of 75 who is in receipt of pension credit and living with a spouse who is under the age of 75 will have to pay for a TV licence.
Answered by Margot James
The BBC is responsible for the administration of the over 75 licence fee concession from June 2020. It has said that any household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit will be eligible for a free TV licence funded by the BBC from 01 June 2020.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
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 Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on increasing the uptake of pension credit to reduce the effect of limiting free TV licences fee for people over 75.
Answered by Margot James
Ministers have regular discussions with the Department for Work and Pensions on this issue. In light of the recent BBC decision on the future of the over 75 licence fee concession, the Government have asked the BBC to consider a range of measures to further support the most vulnerable pensioners, including measures to promote the take up of Pension Credit.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the HM Treasury press release, Chancellor announces £4.5 billion of measures to bring down debt, published on 4 June 2015, what efficiency savings his Department plans to make to achieve reductions of £30 million in its budget.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The savings for 2015-16 announced on 4 June 2015 are being achieved through further efficiency savings, tighter control of budgets to drive underspends in year, and driving through asset sales. My Department has undertaken a review of the risks and opportunity within the Departmental group and I am confident that an underspend of £30m will be delivered by the end of the financial year. This will be achieved through careful financial management to bring expenditure in below budget and on further efficiencies delivered across the group. The government is getting on with the job of repairing the public finances, and to run a surplus in this Parliament. This will create the best conditions for sustainable growth.