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 question first ministerially corrected answering member label previous answer version answering member constituency answering member printed answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1543595

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	Mobile Phones: Fees and Charges
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 has she made of the potential impact of the reintroduction of roaming charges on the UK tourism industry.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Edgbaston
tabling member printed	Preet Kaur Gill
uin	90854
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/11/2022 answer text <p>Whilst the government has not conducted an assessment of the potential impact of the reintroduction of international mobile roaming charges on the UK tourism industry, we work closely with the tourism industry and wider stakeholders to ensure that the UK tourism offer is as competitive as possible. We await the outcome of Ofcom's policy programme into mobile roaming and continue to follow developments in the market closely.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 24/11/2022 10:03:30 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4603 label Biography information for Preet Kaur Gill

1543665

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	Holiday Accommodation: Licensing
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 she will bring forward legislation to provide for licensing of short term holiday lets in the present Parliament.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
uin	90849
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/11/2022 answer text <p>The Government supports the sharing economy and the benefits it can bring. However, it is also aware of concerns about the uneven regulatory requirements in the guest accommodation sector, and possible negative impacts on some local communities compared to other types of accommodation.</p><p>In June, DCMS issued a Call for Evidence on the benefits and challenges presented by the rise in short-term and holiday letting seen in England over the last 10 to 15 years.</p><p>The Call for Evidence closed on 21 September and we are now carefully analysing the 4,000 responses we received. The analysis of the responses will inform the next steps, and we will look to provide updates to the sector in due course.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 25/11/2022 14:15:24 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

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

1543698

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	Charities: Lotteries
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 adequacy of the annual sales limit placed on charity lotteries.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North East
tabling member printed	Fabian Hamilton
uin	90751
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/11/2022 answer text <p>The society lottery annual sales limit was last increased in July 2020 as part of a wider package of changes to society lottery limits.</p><p>DCMS published a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-society-lottery-sales-and-prize-limits/one-year-review-of-society-lotteries-sales-and-prize-limits" target="_blank">review</a> of the impact of these in March 2022. Early indicators are positive, for example the increase in the annual sales limit has allowed some multiple licensed operators who previously had annual sales in excess of £10 million, to take advantage of the new limit to restructure and become single licence holders, and use the cost savings in doing so to increase good cause returns. The review concluded that it is too soon to reach any firm view on the impact of the changes, especially during a time that the effect of the Covid pandemic made any evaluation more difficult, given changes in consumer behaviour over this period which may have had a distorting effect. We want to see more data on annual growth of the sector to fully measure their impact.</p><p>My officials will continue working with the Gambling Commission, as part of its regulatory role, to keep the sector under review.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 24/11/2022 15:11:48 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	415 label Biography information for Fabian Hamilton

1543706

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	Football: Antisemitism
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 discussions she has had with the Premier League on reports of antisemitic chanting and acts at football matches.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North East
tabling member printed	Fabian Hamilton
uin	90756
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2022 answer text <p>The Government has always been clear that racism, including any form of anti semitism, has no place in football, sport, or society at large. This is why the government and its arm’s length bodies, Sport England and UK Sport, have worked closely with football authorities and the sector to ensure there is continued action to tackle all forms of racism at football matches.</p><p>This includes actions targeted at and around football grounds, such as improving reporting systems, providing better training and support for referees and stewards, and improving the quality of CCTV around stadia.</p><p>I will continue to meet with the Premier League and other football authorities to ensure that tackling all forms of racism remains a priority.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 28/11/2022 09:19:22 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	415 label Biography information for Fabian Hamilton

1543710

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	Gendered Intelligence: Finance
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 provided funding to the charity Gendered Intelligence (a) directly and (b) through associated bodies since 2009.
tabling member constituency	Penistone and Stocksbridge
tabling member printed	Miriam Cates
uin	90903
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2022 answer text <p>DCMS has records of grant funding provided to the charity Gendered Intelligence from September 2017, either directly by the Department or through Arm’s Length Bodies or other delivery partners.</p><p>Gendered Intelligence has received funds directly from DCMS as a supplier of training on one occasion.</p><p>The National Lottery Community Fund has funded Gendered Intelligence to support young transgender people and their families through peer support sessions, mental health support and to reduce isolation.</p><p>Funding from Sport England enabled Gendered Intelligence to deliver capacity building training to national governing bodies; this was delivered through the Sport England’s Trans Inclusion Project.</p><p><del class="ministerial">Funding from the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership (VCSEP), as part of the financial support for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to respond to coronavirus (COVID-19), was intended to support those hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak.<del class="ministerial"></del></del></p><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>Funding as part of the Big Night In campaign was administered by Children in Need on behalf of DCMS as part of the financial support for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to respond to coronavirus (COVID-19).</strong></ins></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 28/11/2022 12:44:36 question first ministerially corrected 15/12/2022 09:17:19 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew previous answer version 37535 answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4865 label Biography information for Miriam Cates

1543390

registered interest
date	17/11/2022
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	Internet and Pornography: Children
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 18 October to Question 59454 on Internet and Pornography: Children, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of appointing an independent ombudsman or organisation to assess (a) online harmful content and (b) pornography present on a service provider's online presence rather than by the service providers themselves.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	89745
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/11/2022 answer text <p>The Online Safety Bill introduces clear legal responsibilities on service providers to understand the risk of harm to users and put in place systems and processes to improve user safety. Service providers will be required to protect children from harmful content online, including pornography, and Ofcom will be able to take enforcement action against services which do not comply with these duties.</p><p>The Government has considered the merits of establishing an independent ombudsman to consider harmful content online, including access to pornographic material. However, it is not necessary as a number of the key functions performed by an Ombudsman, such as consumer research and advocacy for affected groups, will be performed by Ofcom as regulator. The Online Safety Bill also sets out a comprehensive range of duties on all regulated services in relation to clear and accessible complaints and redress mechanisms. Ofcom will be able to take enforcement action against services who do not comply fully with their user redress duties.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 24/11/2022 15:14:53 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1542974

registered interest
date	16/11/2022
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	Local Broadcasting and Local Press
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 she will make an assessment of the impact on communities of local (a) radio stations and (b) newspapers.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	89003
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2022 answer text <p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 23/11/2022 09:13:54 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1543042

registered interest
date	16/11/2022
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	Leisure Centres: Energy
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 her Department will take to help prevent leisure centres closing due to energy price rises during winter 2022-23.
tabling member constituency	Warrington North
tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
uin	89051
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2022 answer text <p>The Government recognises the impact rising energy prices will have on organisations of all sizes, including on providers of indoor leisure facilities. In September the government announced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, under which businesses and other non-domestic energy users (including leisure facilities) are being supported.</p><p>After an initial 6 months of the scheme, the government will provide focused support for vulnerable industries. A review is currently underway to determine where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.</p><p>The Government invested £100 million in the National Leisure Recovery Fund, which supported the reopening of local authority leisure centres and facilities throughout the country after the pandemic.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 21/11/2022 14:11:45 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols