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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the statement by the Minister of State for Digital on 26 April (HC Deb, col 1125), what progress has been made to prohibit the use of bots to procure tickets for high demand sporting events and concerts.

We are determined to crackdown on unacceptable behaviour and improve fans’ chances of buying tickets at a reasonable price.

S.106 of the Digital Economy Act provides us with the power to create a specific offence, where tickets are purchased electronically, of purchasing more tickets than the maximum permitted. We have undertaken an informal consultation with over a hundred relevant organisations to help inform our implementation of this provision in the Act. We will shortly notify the European Commission and Member States of the proposed legislation which is in scope of the Technical Standards Directive’s three month notification process before looking to securing a legislative slot next year.