Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1543673

registered interest
date	18/11/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Technology: Ethnic Groups
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the British Computer Society report The experiences of black women in the information technology industry, published in October 2022, what recent steps her Department has taken to encourage individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds to pursue careers in the tech industry.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	90802
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2022 answer text <p>We recognise that the Tech Sector, including the Information Technology industry, can only reach its true potential if it is fully representative of society. This Government is committed to this mission, which is why we have supported the Tech Talent Charter since 2016. They are leading the movement by gathering data and reporting on diversity statistics from 741 organisations across all sectors, fostering collaboration and innovation to create a more inclusive and diverse tech workforce. TTC’s annual diversity in tech report is a key resource that encourages businesses to hire diverse talent, as well as sharing the best D&amp;I practices across the sector.</p><p>We recognise that digital skills are fundamental to ensuring everyone can make the most of a digital future. As the department that leads on digital skills, we are focusing on broadening and deepening the pool of talent. The Digital Skills Council convenes stakeholders from across the sector to deliver industry led action on driving the growth of the digital workforce, including widening the skills pipelines, and ensuring Tech roles are accessible for all. One of the council’s objectives is to promote mechanisms to provide increasingly diverse access to digital roles and digitally enabled roles.</p><p>The Office for AI has also set up the AI and Data Science Conversion Course programmes to provide a Masters degree in AI and Data Science. The first scholarships were announced in 2019, and earlier this year, the government announced a further 2,000 scholarships. These will support underrepresented groups from non-STEM backgrounds to develop new digital and AI skills, and secure employment in the UK’s cutting-edge sectors. To date, 57% of these scholarships have been awarded to those from an ethnic minority background, and 38% of these scholarships have been awarded to Black students. Emerging findings also indicate that the scholarships are driving increased diversity in the cohort on these conversion courses compared to traditional Masters’ provision in the sector. 76% of the scholarships were awarded to women, leading to a 32% increase of women on the courses, against comparable benchmarks.</p><p>DCMS also launched Cyber Explorers, which supports 11-14 year-olds, and looks to boost their understanding and interest in a cyber career. The programme has prioritised representation on the platform, including characters from a range of diverse backgrounds and careers. This has focused on amplifying reach in population areas with high ethnic minority densities and areas with multiple indices of deprivation. This is alongside our work to support the CyberFirst Girls Competition, which opened its latest intake last month.</p><p>With DCMS funding, Tech Nation developed its Libra growth programme in 2021.The programme offers targeted support to minority ethnic tech founders in their scaling journey. Tech Nation has also developed a publicly available Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit, which supports scaling companies in implementing diversity and inclusion strategies in order to make the tech sector as a whole more accessible for those from minority ethnic backgrounds.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully grouped question UIN 90803 question first answered 28/11/2022 12:57:23 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1543674

registered interest
date	18/11/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Technology: Ethnic Groups
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the British Computer Society report The experiences of black women in the information technology industry, published in October 2022, what recent steps her Department has taken to encourage black women to pursue careers in the tech industry.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	90803
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2022 answer text <p>We recognise that the Tech Sector, including the Information Technology industry, can only reach its true potential if it is fully representative of society. This Government is committed to this mission, which is why we have supported the Tech Talent Charter since 2016. They are leading the movement by gathering data and reporting on diversity statistics from 741 organisations across all sectors, fostering collaboration and innovation to create a more inclusive and diverse tech workforce. TTC’s annual diversity in tech report is a key resource that encourages businesses to hire diverse talent, as well as sharing the best D&amp;I practices across the sector.</p><p>We recognise that digital skills are fundamental to ensuring everyone can make the most of a digital future. As the department that leads on digital skills, we are focusing on broadening and deepening the pool of talent. The Digital Skills Council convenes stakeholders from across the sector to deliver industry led action on driving the growth of the digital workforce, including widening the skills pipelines, and ensuring Tech roles are accessible for all. One of the council’s objectives is to promote mechanisms to provide increasingly diverse access to digital roles and digitally enabled roles.</p><p>The Office for AI has also set up the AI and Data Science Conversion Course programmes to provide a Masters degree in AI and Data Science. The first scholarships were announced in 2019, and earlier this year, the government announced a further 2,000 scholarships. These will support underrepresented groups from non-STEM backgrounds to develop new digital and AI skills, and secure employment in the UK’s cutting-edge sectors. To date, 57% of these scholarships have been awarded to those from an ethnic minority background, and 38% of these scholarships have been awarded to Black students. Emerging findings also indicate that the scholarships are driving increased diversity in the cohort on these conversion courses compared to traditional Masters’ provision in the sector. 76% of the scholarships were awarded to women, leading to a 32% increase of women on the courses, against comparable benchmarks.</p><p>DCMS also launched Cyber Explorers, which supports 11-14 year-olds, and looks to boost their understanding and interest in a cyber career. The programme has prioritised representation on the platform, including characters from a range of diverse backgrounds and careers. This has focused on amplifying reach in population areas with high ethnic minority densities and areas with multiple indices of deprivation. This is alongside our work to support the CyberFirst Girls Competition, which opened its latest intake last month.</p><p>With DCMS funding, Tech Nation developed its Libra growth programme in 2021.The programme offers targeted support to minority ethnic tech founders in their scaling journey. Tech Nation has also developed a publicly available Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit, which supports scaling companies in implementing diversity and inclusion strategies in order to make the tech sector as a whole more accessible for those from minority ethnic backgrounds.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully grouped question UIN 90802 question first answered 28/11/2022 12:57:23 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1541724

registered interest
date	14/11/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Tech Nation: Equality
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2021 to Question 140074 on Tech Nation: Equality, what progress Tech Nation has made on (a) capturing data on the ethnic background of applicants to its programmes and (b) developing a diversity data capture framework; and what recent assessment has been made of the level of diversity in the tech companies supported by Tech Nation's programmes.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	86342
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2022 answer text <p>Tech Nation has been collecting diversity data of applicants to its programmes since September 2020, including on ethnic backgrounds. This is subject to a self-identification process by participants.</p><p>Tech Nation developed a diversity data capture framework, which has also been made available to the sector, as part of its Diversity and Inclusion toolkit.</p><p>In May 2022, DCMS assessed the level of diversity in the tech companies supported by Tech Nation’s programmes, as part of the Departments’ Public Sector Equality Duty. For this assessment, Tech Nation provided data on the age, ethnicity and gender of its beneficiaries. This data shows that, excluding Libra (a targeted growth programme for ethnic minority founders), 27.2% of founders within Tech Nation’s cohorts identify as non-white (11.8% as Asian, 3.5% as Black, 11.8% as other).</p><p>DCMS has recently commissioned Frontier Economics to undertake an independent evaluation of DCMS’ funding to Tech Nation for financial years 20/21- 22/23, which we intend to publish in the first half of 2023. This will include an assessment of the impact of Tech Nation’s activities on particular groups where possible.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 17/11/2022 17:23:48 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1538892

registered interest
date	02/11/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Biometrics: Arts and Audio Recordings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether (a) recorded voice and (b) creative output is considered biometric data for the purposes of regulation.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	77422
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/11/2022 answer text <p>All organisations in the UK that process personal data, including biometric data, have to comply with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).</p><p>The UK GDPR defines biometric data as ‘personal data resulting from specific technical processing relating to the physical, physiological or behavioural characteristics of a natural person, which allow or confirm the unique identification of that natural person, such as facial images or dactyloscopic data’. This includes voice recognition, alongside other techniques.</p><p>All biometric data is personal data, as it relates to an identified or identifiable individual. Biometric data is also special category data whenever you process it “for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person”. This means that biometric data will be Special Category Data in many cases.</p><p>If an organisation considers that it is processing biometric data, but not for the purposes of uniquely identifying a natural living person, then they should clearly document their rationale alongside a risk based analysis of the use. In any event, the data should be handled in line with the data protection principles.</p><p>The ICO has published guidance for organisations on the processing of special category and biometric data, which can be found <a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/special-category-data/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 07/11/2022 11:21:03 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1523870

registered interest
date	18/10/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Civil Society: Newcastle upon Tyne
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will make an assessment of the level of reliance on (a) charities and (b) crisis support organisations in Newcastle as a result of the increased cost of living.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	65754
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2022 answer text <p>The Government recognises that many charities and crisis support organisations across the country are seeing increased demand, although we have not conducted a specific assessment for Newcastle.</p><p>We know that some of this demand is driven by households facing increasing costs, which is why government took action and introduced the Energy Price Guarantee for households and why, in England, an additional £421 million is being provided to extend the Household Support Fund from 01 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.</p><p>We are also providing support to all charities, public sector organisations and businesses with their energy costs this winter by offering an energy price guarantee for six months through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. This scheme will benefit charities and community groups across the country, including those operating in Newcastle.</p><p>My Department will keep engaging constructively with the civil society sector up and down the country and across government to monitor the impact of levels of demand, and ensure DCMS is engaged on policy which impacts charities and crisis support services.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 26/10/2022 10:50:17 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1521886

registered interest
date	13/10/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Civil Society: Cost of Living
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the cost of living crisis on charities and community groups that support people with the cost of living in Newcastle.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	62826
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/10/2022 answer text <p>As households and communities face rising energy prices over the winter, charities are seeing higher demand for their services while contending with the same price increases themselves.</p><p>That is why the government announced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, supporting all charities, public sector organisations and businesses with their energy costs this winter by offering an energy price guarantee for six months. This scheme will benefit charities and community groups across the country, including those operating in Newcastle.</p><p>My Department will keep engaging constructively with the civil society sector up and down the country and across government to monitor the impact of rising costs, and ensure DCMS is engaged on policy which impacts charities and civil society.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 18/10/2022 09:49:36 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1507431

registered interest
date	21/09/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	3G: USA
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the impact of US providers switching off their 3G networks on the communications service experienced UK citizens travelling to the US; and what obligations exist for UK providers to inform their customers of the impact of that decision in the US.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	53399
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/10/2022 answer text <p>Switching off 3G mobile networks is a global trend as operators free up spectrum to focus on the provision of newer 4G and 5G services. In the US, all 3G networks have already been switched off. This might affect the experience of UK customers travelling to the US, in particular for customers with an older phone model. In some cases, UK customers might not be able to make calls or access data unless they are connected to WiFi.</p><p>There is no specific obligation for UK mobile providers to inform their customers of changes to network provision in other countries. However, Ofcom is speaking to providers to ensure that they are informing customers of this impact and some providers have been proactively sending messages to potentially affected groups. Customers should speak to their mobile network provider before leaving the UK to understand the impact of 3G switch off on their roaming experience.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 11/10/2022 07:56:14 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1505577

registered interest
date	06/09/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	TikTok: Data Protection
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the (a) safety and (b) security of Tik Tok’s ability to track typed text inputs, clicked links, keystrokes, and screen taps.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	48331
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2022 answer text <p>The UK has strong safeguards and enforcement regimes to ensure that data is collected and handled responsibly and securely. Companies registered in the UK are subject to our legal framework and regulatory jurisdiction.</p><p>Wherever they are in the world, organisations that process the personal data of individuals in the UK for the purposes of providing goods and services or monitoring behaviour must comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA18). Organisations which fail to comply may be investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office and where appropriate subject to enforcement action, including fines.</p><p>The Government is improving the privacy and security of all apps, including through an upcoming Code of Practice which sets baseline security and privacy requirements for app developers and app store operators.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Folkestone and Hythe answering member printed Damian Collins question first answered 21/09/2022 08:23:42 answering member 3986 label Biography information for Damian Collins
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1484885

registered interest
date	29/06/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Charity Commission: Internet
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps a charity can take to remove former trustees from the Charity Commission website once the trustees have been voted out at a general meeting but refuse to remove their names voluntarily.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	27598
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2022 answer text <p>Charity trustees of registered charities have a responsibility to keep the charity’s registered details up to date with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Where an individual is no longer a trustee, their details need to be removed from the charity’s registered information on the public register of charities.</p><p>If the individual is unable or unwilling to do this, another trustee or someone else within the charity acting on behalf of the trustees can make the change. If the charity has any difficulty accessing digital services they can contact the Charity Commission’s Contact Centre for support.</p> answering member constituency Mid Worcestershire answering member printed Nigel Huddleston question first answered 08/07/2022 13:55:50 answering member 4407 label Biography information for Nigel Huddleston
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1468669

registered interest
date	08/06/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Hikvision: CCTV
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has asked the National Cyber Security Centre to investigate the security of the HIKVISION surveillance cameras; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	14486
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2022 answer text <p>The Government does not comment on the details of national security assessments.</p><p>As set out in the National Cyber Strategy this year, the government takes the security of all sectors of the economy, including consumers, seriously.</p><p>The Department is leading on a number of aspects in the National Cyber Strategy. We are taking forward legislation to protect consumers in the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill, and working with the National Cyber Security Centre to assist private and public sector users of connected devices, such as surveillance cameras, to operate in a safe and secure way.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 13/06/2022 12:03:35 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah