Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the (a) Professional Footballers Association and (b) Premier League on (i) measuring and (ii) analysing the impact of heading restrictions for young players on (A) short and (B) long term incidences of brain injury.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Although I have discussed pitch safety with the PFA, I have not had any specific discussions with the PFA or Premier League on concussion substitutes or heading restrictions.
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount, and I encourage sports organisations to do all they can to protect their players from harm.
My department has recently worked with sporting bodies and health experts to develop a single set of shared concussion guidelines for grassroots sport across the UK, published in April 2023. We continue to encourage sports governing bodies to adapt the guidelines to their own sport where appropriate.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the (a) Professional Footballers Association and (b) Premier League on (i) measuring and (ii) analysing the impact of concussion substitutes in football on rates of dementia in former football players.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Although I have discussed pitch safety with the PFA, I have not had any specific discussions with the PFA or Premier League on concussion substitutes or heading restrictions.
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount, and I encourage sports organisations to do all they can to protect their players from harm.
My department has recently worked with sporting bodies and health experts to develop a single set of shared concussion guidelines for grassroots sport across the UK, published in April 2023. We continue to encourage sports governing bodies to adapt the guidelines to their own sport where appropriate.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to launch a consultation on changing the 80/20 machine rule for Category B and C/D machines in bingo and arcade venues to 50/50.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its consultation, Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector, on July 26 2023.
The specific measures consulted on included the introduction of an age limit on ‘cash-out’ category D slot-style gaming machines, gaming machine allowances in casinos, the ratio of Category B to Category C/D gaming machines in arcades and bingo halls, and a review of licensing authority fees. The consultation closed on 4 October 2023 and we will publish the government’s response in due course.
The white paper also proposed to introduce cumulative impact assessments to align the gambling and alcohol licensing systems. This measure is not currently being consulted on. However, we plan to introduce it when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to launch a consultation on outstanding issues on making the rules on machines more consistent in the casino sector.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its consultation, Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector, on July 26 2023.
The specific measures consulted on included the introduction of an age limit on ‘cash-out’ category D slot-style gaming machines, gaming machine allowances in casinos, the ratio of Category B to Category C/D gaming machines in arcades and bingo halls, and a review of licensing authority fees. The consultation closed on 4 October 2023 and we will publish the government’s response in due course.
The white paper also proposed to introduce cumulative impact assessments to align the gambling and alcohol licensing systems. This measure is not currently being consulted on. However, we plan to introduce it when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to launch a consultation on secondary legislation on cash pay out machines.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its consultation, Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector, on July 26 2023.
The specific measures consulted on included the introduction of an age limit on ‘cash-out’ category D slot-style gaming machines, gaming machine allowances in casinos, the ratio of Category B to Category C/D gaming machines in arcades and bingo halls, and a review of licensing authority fees. The consultation closed on 4 October 2023 and we will publish the government’s response in due course.
The white paper also proposed to introduce cumulative impact assessments to align the gambling and alcohol licensing systems. This measure is not currently being consulted on. However, we plan to introduce it when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to launch the consultation on reviewing the premises licence fees cap for local authorities and aligning the gambling and alcohol licensing systems.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its consultation, Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector, on July 26 2023.
The specific measures consulted on included the introduction of an age limit on ‘cash-out’ category D slot-style gaming machines, gaming machine allowances in casinos, the ratio of Category B to Category C/D gaming machines in arcades and bingo halls, and a review of licensing authority fees. The consultation closed on 4 October 2023 and we will publish the government’s response in due course.
The white paper also proposed to introduce cumulative impact assessments to align the gambling and alcohol licensing systems. This measure is not currently being consulted on. However, we plan to introduce it when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her Department's expected timescale is for launching its consultation on the (a) design and (b) scope of the statutory levy for gambling operators.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is working with the Gambling Commission, gambling industry and others to implement all the measures set out in the gambling white paper as soon as possible. A number of proposals are already complete, at consultation stage, or being trialled ahead of implementation.
We launched the consultation on the details of the statutory levy, including rates for different sectors and governance arrangements, on 17 October. We are also continuing work with the industry and Gambling Commission to scope and design an ombudsman, and remain on track for it to be established next summer.
The cross department group of officials working on informational messaging on the risks associated with gambling has met a number of times since the white paper was published.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times the working group for strengthening informational messaging including on the risks associated with gambling has met.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is working with the Gambling Commission, gambling industry and others to implement all the measures set out in the gambling white paper as soon as possible. A number of proposals are already complete, at consultation stage, or being trialled ahead of implementation.
We launched the consultation on the details of the statutory levy, including rates for different sectors and governance arrangements, on 17 October. We are also continuing work with the industry and Gambling Commission to scope and design an ombudsman, and remain on track for it to be established next summer.
The cross department group of officials working on informational messaging on the risks associated with gambling has met a number of times since the white paper was published.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her speech to the Royal Television Society published by her Department on 20 September 2023, what her Department's timeline is for bringing forward the Media Bill.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government remains committed to introducing the Media Bill when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan, what steps the Government plans to take to (a) measure and (b) track the proportion of children and young people who participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. This includes bold targets to reach communities with the lowest levels of physical activity.
As part of this strategy, we have set up a new National Physical Activity Taskforce to ensure we meet these targets, and will work closely with Sport England to track and measure the impact of our interventions. This will include measuring the progress made in tackling inactivity annually through the Active Lives Children survey, and in real time by seeking new sources of data that allow us to monitor progress.
Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport. In July we published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This builds on the announcement we made in March that set out new ambitions for equal access to PE and sport and guidance on how to deliver 2 hours of quality PE a week, alongside over £600 million funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium and the School Games Organiser network.
The Department for Education will be introducing a new digital tool to support schools with their reporting requirements for their PE and sport premium spend. This will hold schools accountable for how they use their PE and sport premium funding allocation to measure and improve the quality of PE and sport they provide.