Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the charity sector on the practice of posting plastic bags through people's letterboxes.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I have met with the Fundraising Regulator to discuss a range of matters regarding charity fundraising.
The Fundraising Regulator has updated the Code of Fundraising Practice in relation to house to house collections of goods. From 30 September 2017 charities must not deliver bags to properties that display a notice clearly indicating that the householder does not wish to donate through this method.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government (a) has made or (b) plans to make any contribution to the cost of (i) the construction and (ii) the running of the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The National Tennis Centre (NTC) at Roehampton is a privately funded enterprise owned by the Lawn Tennis Association.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of planned changes in funding for the Big Lottery Fund on local community, sport and cultural organisations.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
As set out in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Autumn statement last week, there are no plans to reduce the Big Lottery Fund’s budget. The Fund will continue to receive 40% of National Lottery good cause money. Sport, Arts and Heritage will also continue to receive 20% each.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Gambling Commission has a remit to promote safety in bookmakers for staff and customers as part of its work to promote responsible gambling.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
There are no plans to conduct an assessment of the effect of single manning in bookmakers.
The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in England and Wales and Scotland. The Gambling Commission does not have a remit to promote safety in bookmakers for staff and customers.
The Association of British Bookmakers’ (ABB) ‘Safe Bet Alliance’ provides specific guidance on staffing security in bookmakers. This guidance was drafted with the input of the Metropolitan Police, Crimestoppers, and the Institute of Conflict Management and Community Union.
ABB members only operate single manning when a risk assessment has been undertaken. The guidance states that ‘Operators should only allow lone working once a risk assessment has been carried out and where there is evidence to show that lone working at a particular time of the day is safe’.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the effect of single manning in bookmakers on the safety and security of (a) staff and (b) customers.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
There are no plans to conduct an assessment of the effect of single manning in bookmakers.
The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in England and Wales and Scotland. The Gambling Commission does not have a remit to promote safety in bookmakers for staff and customers.
The Association of British Bookmakers’ (ABB) ‘Safe Bet Alliance’ provides specific guidance on staffing security in bookmakers. This guidance was drafted with the input of the Metropolitan Police, Crimestoppers, and the Institute of Conflict Management and Community Union.
ABB members only operate single manning when a risk assessment has been undertaken. The guidance states that ‘Operators should only allow lone working once a risk assessment has been carried out and where there is evidence to show that lone working at a particular time of the day is safe’.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations he has received on single manning in betting shops.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I have not received any representations concerning single manning in betting shops.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with Nominet on the stakeholders who would be consulted on the sale of .uk domain names to .co.uk domain name holders.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The department has had no separate, specific discussions with Nominet on the stakeholders who would be consulted on the same of .uk domain names. However, the issue was discussed at a number of Nominet Policy Stakeholder Committee meetings, of which the Department is a member of. This was an important forum for discussion about wider stakeholder engagement on this consultation.
As with all consultations, we would expect Nominet to consult with all interested parties, including civil society, the private sector and the technical community, in line with the multi-stakeholder model for internet governance that the government supports.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that telephone preference services are able to block international nuisance calls as well as domestic ones.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003 already prevent international nuisance marketing calls being made on behalf of UK companies. Callers are legally required to ensure they do not call a number that is registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). UK consumers are also protected if they have previously notified the caller that they do not wish to receive such calls. Callers can be subject to fines of up to £500,000 for breaching the regulations. International marketing calls on behalf of non-UK companies are outside of the UK’s jurisdiction.Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when and on what grounds Nominet was granted the exclusive authority to administer the .uk namespace.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Nominet was created as an initiative of the UK internet services community in 1996, in order to manage the rapidly increasing demand for domain names and ensure a single inter-operable network of addresses would continue to evolve. Prior to this, all requests for .uk domain names were approved by a Naming Committee established by the UK Education and Research Networking Association (UKERNA). The Government recognises Nominet’s continuing role in managing the .uk registry on a not-for-profit basis consistent with the multi-stakeholder model for internet governance that the Government supports.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of Nominet's licence to grant .uk domain names on the competitiveness of the domain registration market.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I have made no assessment of the effect of the launch of .uk domain names on the competitiveness of the domain registration market. However, the UK has one of the most competitive domain name markets in the world, with over 10m domain names on the .uk registry, making it the 6th largest registry. The wholesale price for domain names in the UK is less than those for .com or .net domain names and some 2700 domain name registries compete in the retail market for .uk domains, bringing significant benefits for consumers. Since the launch of .uk Second Level Domain Names, over 50,000 .uk second level domains were registered on the first day and over 100,000 after the first month.