Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 tackle the paid advertising to UK users on social media platforms of (a) weapons and (b) other illicit items.
Answered by John Whittingdale
In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is responsible for regulating advertising on social media platforms. This includes protections against misleading, harmful and illicit advertising, including illegal items such as weapons. Additionally, there is already legislation in place that prohibits the sale and advertising of certain weapons, such as flick-knives and firearms. Advertising for weapons not prohibited for sale should follow the ASA’s rules around legality, offence, fear, distress, and safety, and media owners should carefully consider all weapon adverts before deciding whether to display it.
The Government is also examining the regulatory model for online advertising to ensure it protects consumers and minimises harm through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Online Advertising Programme (OAP). The consultation on the OAP closed last year and considered how to tackle harms arising from paid-for online advertising, including illegal items such as weapons. We will be publishing a Government response in due course.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with other Government departments on the potential effect of additional public holidays on the tourism industry and the economy.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Bank and public holidays provide an opportunity for people right across the UK to get outside and explore new parts of the country. Domestic, overnight trips make an important contribution to our tourism and hospitality industries, and the wider economy. For example, British residents made 100 million overnight trips in England between April and December 2021, contributing a total of £22.2 billion in spend.
The Inter-Ministerial Group on the Visitor Economy has been established to facilitate greater cooperation across government, in order to assess how best to support the visitor economy, and how to drive growth in the tourism sector.
The Government regularly receives requests for additional bank and public holidays, but we believe that the current pattern of bank holidays is well established and accepted.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the implications for the Government's policies of suppliers charging VAT on children's sportswear.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Secretary of the State has not had any recent discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding the amount of VAT charged on children’s sportswear.
Under the current VAT rules, all children’s clothing and footwear designed for young children who are less than 14 years of age, including sportswear, attract a zero-rate of VAT, meaning that no VAT is charged on the sale of these items.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which energy provider supplies energy to their Department; how much carbon dioxide was emitted by their Department in the latest period for which figures are available; whether the criteria their Department uses to select an energy supplier include how environmentally friendly that supplier is; and what recent steps their Department has taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its energy use.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS occupies a number of different offices across the United Kingdom, all of which are shared with other departments and/or private sector occupiers. All of these properties are managed by local building management teams (not employed by DCMS) with each location procuring their own energy suppliers and DCMS being re-charged for proportional usage. DCMS does not therefore procure its own energy suppliers.
Our DCMS London headquarters are located at 100 Parliament Street, Whitehall. This building is shared with other government departments and is managed by the Government Property Agency (GPA) who source energy from EDF Energy and from the Whitehall District Heating System.
DCMS Manchester headquarters are located at Bloc 17, Marble St. This building is shared with other companies/departments and is managed by private landlords Bruntwood. Bruntwood procure their energy from Unify Energy Ltd.
Other DCMS sites that our staff occupy are classed as satellite hubs, where only a small amount of desks are available to us - the energy providers for these buildings are chosen and managed by the landlords respectively.
In our most recent submission for Greening Government Commitment sustainability reporting (2021/22), DCMS logged 198.28 tonnes of CO2e.
In terms of improving and meeting reduction targets, a building wide solution of energy efficient LED lighting installation at our London HQ is underway and is due for completion in 2023 - this will involve a complete switchover of all current lighting in the building, including DCMS areas.
We continue to promote good practices, in all of our offices, to reduce emissions - including heavily restricting the use of domestic flights, reducing waste, paper usage and single use plastics.
The DCMS Property Strategy will see the department move into GPA managed Government hub accommodation as it becomes available, meaning that energy procurement will be undertaken by the GPA on behalf of its customers and in line with their Net Zero Strategy.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, by what date they expect their Department to be carbon neutral in its day to day operations.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to delivering Net Zero by 2050.
The Government reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in 2019-20 compared to a 2009-10 baseline, exceeding its target of 43%.
The Greening Government Commitments set out the actions that UK government departments and their agencies will take to reduce their impacts on the environment, including targets for departmental reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, with current targets for the period 2021-25. The Department is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions wherever possible, and has ambitious targets under the Greening Government Commitments.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 an assessment of the impact on communities of local (a) radio stations and (b) newspapers.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Local radio stations are a vital part of the communities they serve, providing trusted news, entertainment and companionship to listeners in different communities in all parts of the UK. In recognition of this, we have committed to bring forward a package of changes to update the rules on commercial radio licensing, including strengthening local news and information requirements. We intend to bring forward legislation in this area when Parliamentary time allows.
The community radio sector also provides an important service, with around 300 Ofcom-licensed stations having been launched since 2005. The Government continues to make funding available to support the growth of the sector, by way of the Community Radio Fund (CRF). The Fund distributes £400,000 on an annual basis to help fund the core costs of running licensed community radio stations and enable the sector to move towards self-sustainability. Furthermore, in the last two financial years, we have supported the CRF to go beyond this core funding, with significant uplifts targeted on tackling loneliness and to reflect the sector’s important contribution to the Government’s ambitions on levelling up.
Local newspapers also play an invaluable role in the fabric of our society - in supporting communities and local democracy, holding power to account, keeping the public informed of local issues and providing reliable, high-quality information. They remain uniquely placed to undertake the investigative journalism and scrutiny of public institutions, including local councils and our courts, that is vital to helping ensure a healthy democracy at a local level. And Government-commissioned research into the importance of newspapers to local communities found that changes in news provision and consumption over time had a direct impact on participation levels in local elections in England.
The Government has taken a number of steps to support this vital sector, including through the extension of business rates relief for local newspapers in England for an additional five years; the investment of £2 million in the Future News Fund; the zero-rating of VAT on e-newspapers; the 2021 publication of an Online Media Literacy Strategy; and our work through the Mid-Term Review of the BBC Charter, exploring how the BBC seeks to act as a complement, rather than a substitute for, local commercial news outlets.
The Government was also pleased to see the BBC conduct a thorough review of the Local Democracy Reporting Service in 2020, and we would support any efforts by the BBC to grow the scheme. Most importantly, we are introducing a new, pro-competition regime for digital markets. The regime, which aims to address the far-reaching power of the biggest tech firms, will help rebalance the relationship between publishers and the online platforms on which they increasingly rely. This will make an important contribution to the sustainability of the press at both local and national level. We continue to consider all possible options in the interest of promoting and sustaining the sector.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has a microchip strategy for the UK in order to (a) increase the resilience of the supply chain for microchips into the UK and (b) boost the UK semiconductor industry.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK and global economy is dependent on a resilient supply of semiconductors across a wide range of applications. The global supply chain for these semiconductor chips is complex and globalised, with long lead-times on new manufacturing capabilities making it difficult to quickly respond to exogenous supply chain shocks.
On behalf of the government, DCMS has been reviewing its approach to the UK’s global semiconductor sector and intends to set out its support for the sector in the forthcoming UK Semiconductor Strategy. This has been developed by engaging with industry experts, representative bodies and the wider global community. We recognise that the issues facing the semiconductor sector cannot be solved by the UK alone, and are considering how best to ensure that the UK is resilient to disruptions to semiconductor supply chains. This will include considering how to strengthen the UK's own semiconductor sector and work with international partners to improve long term resilience within the global semiconductor ecosystem.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 support cultural and charitable organisations during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Charities are seeing increased demand for services, and both Civil Society and cultural organisations are facing higher energy prices.
That is why the government took action to support such organisations with their bills over the winter, as part of our Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
The department will continue to engage constructively across the cultural and charitable sectors to monitor the impact of rising energy costs.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps she has taken to ensure the fair treatment of volunteers within the voluntary and charitable work sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Volunteering is critical to a vibrant and resilient civil society; it benefits volunteers and the organisations involving them and has transformational impacts on beneficiaries and their communities.
This Government is committed to enabling people to take part in all forms of social action, including volunteering. We know the profound benefit that volunteering has on the individual, on communities and on society.
Volunteers do not have a contract of employment as a volunteer, so do not have the same rights as an employee or worker, and are not placed under the same obligations. However, they will usually be given a volunteer agreement that explains:
the level of supervision and support they will get
what training they will get
whether they are covered under the organisation’s employer or public liability insurance
health and safety issues
any expenses the organisation will cover.
The volunteer agreement is not a contract, but it is a good way of setting out what volunteers can expect from the organisation they are volunteering for. You can find information about this at https://www.gov.uk/volunteering/pay-and-expenses. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) also has information on volunteers’ legal status and guidance on solving volunteer problems.
If a volunteer believes they are treated unfairly, there is recourse available to them through a variety of means. Volunteers for charities are able to raise concerns to the Charity Commission. The Health and Safety Executive, Disclosure and Barring Service, and the Information Commissioner's Office are also useful points of contact.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 level of support available to volunteers in the event of a workplace dispute.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Volunteering is critical to a vibrant and resilient civil society; it benefits volunteers and the organisations involving them and has transformational impacts on beneficiaries and their communities.
This Government is committed to enabling people to take part in all forms of social action, including volunteering. We know the profound benefit that volunteering has on the individual, on communities and on society.
Volunteers do not have a contract of employment as a volunteer, so do not have the same rights as an employee or worker. However, they will usually be given a volunteer agreement that explains:
the level of supervision and support they will get
what training they will get
whether they are covered under the organisation’s employer or public liability insurance
health and safety issues
any expenses the organisation will cover.
The volunteer agreement is not a contract, but it is a good way of setting out what volunteers can expect from the organisation they are volunteering for. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) also has information on volunteers’ legal status and guidance on solving volunteer problems.