Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to make it an offence to sell or attempt to sell a ticket for more than its original cost price.

The Government has a continuing interest in the area of secondary ticketing, and recognises the process of distributing and buying tickets can often be a cause for public frustration and concern.

An independent review of consumer protection measures was commissioned by the Government in 2015, undertaken by Professor Waterson, which was published in May 2016. The Government published its response to the review on 13th March 2017, which welcomed the Review and accepted all nine recommendations contained in the review in full. Professor Waterson specifically considered the issue of a cap on ticket resale prices, and we agree with his conclusion that it should not be taken forward as it would raise a number of practical considerations and be of limited effect, as it would be extremely difficult to enforce.

As part of our response, and in response to a series of roundtable discussions with industry and law enforcement agencies, we have tabled an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill which will give us the power to create a specific offence of using a ticketing bot to purchase more tickets than the maximum permitted, to put beyond doubt the illegality of this practice. Those found guilty of this offence will face an unlimited fine in England and Wales.