The pilot has provided evidence of financial risk for consumers that is not currently being captured through existing policy measures. Consideration of impact is part of the Commission’s decision making. The Commission has also committed to ongoing review, evaluation and adaptation over time if Financial Risk Assessments are introduced.

The Gambling Commission has recently published an updated blog on its pilot findings. It plans to publish further pilot data results, where that data is not commercially sensitive, along with its consultation response following a decision.

GIAs, formerly referred to as Cumulative Impact Assessments, will allow local authorities to create a presumption against granting new gambling premises licences in a specific area, where there is evidence that additional premises would undermine the gambling licensing objectives. The legislation requires that before publishing a GIA, licensing authorities must consult the persons mentioned in Section 349(3) of the Gambling Act 2005. This includes persons who represent the interests of those likely to be affected by the exercise of the authority’s functions, and persons who represent the interests of gambling businesses in the area.

While not specifically in response to global uncertainty, the Department is investing significant sums in cultural and creative sectors. For example, through the Arts Everywhere Fund, we are investing up to £1.5 billion over this Parliament to support our arts and cultural sectors across England. This includes funding for infrastructure, heritage protection, local museums, libraries and additional support for Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations. This investment will help keep venues open, safeguard jobs, address urgent capital needs and ensure communities across the country can continue to access and benefit from culture.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport continues to engage regularly with sectors across the arts, culture and media, and keeps the needs of these organisations under review.

The Government is focused on growth and good jobs across the creative industries, as set out in our Creative Industries Sector Plan. Freelancers will benefit from programmes including the £150m Creative Places Growth Fund, with funding devolved directly to 6 MSAs to support regional priorities in their regional creative clusters, and the sub-sector growth packages. Arts Council England also provides funding and support for individual artists and creatives through two programmes: Developing Your Creative Practice, which offers £2,000–£12,000 for career development, mentoring, research and training; and National Lottery Project Grants, which provide £1,000–£100,000 for creative projects and R&D.

Local authority participation is important as it will be critical for delivery. That is why published criteria stated ‘We expect bids to be from a partnership for your bidding place and include the relevant local authorities.’

Departments provide officials, Ministers and special advisers with access to secure, enterprise-grade generative AI tools that have been assured to the appropriate security standards and approved for official use. Ministers, special advisers and officials may only use generative AI tools that their department has approved for official use. The use of publicly available or consumer versions of generative AI tools, including those named in the Question, for official business is not permitted unless a department has specifically assured and approved that tool.

Approved enterprise tools are configured so that departmental data is held securely and is not used to train publicly-available AI models. The use of generative AI across government is governed by the AI Playbook for the UK Government, which set out the principles for the safe, responsible and effective use of these tools.

DCMS currently permits the use of a secure enterprise instance of Google Gemini for all official duties.

While the Advertising Codes do not contain specific provisions prohibiting a TV ad from featuring a firearm being fired in the context of the armed forces, they do contain rules regarding depictions of weapons and violence. Advertisers should ensure that their ads are prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society, and should not contain anything that encourages or condones anti-social behaviour or violence. Advertisers should also be aware that images of weapons and implied violence are likely to offend some consumers.

Given the substantial changes to the news landscape over the past decade, the Government remains of the view that beginning the second part of the Leveson Inquiry is not the right way forward. As a government we are closely following trends in media consumption and are carefully considering the best route forward to safeguard public trust in our news media.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) on securing a wonderful debate and making a lovely speech. My hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith) says that she is the No. 1 Sir David Attenborough fangirl and, having known her for many years, I know that to be the case. These green Benches are her natural environment, as Sir David would say; she certainly deserves to be there.

Last month, of course, Sir David Attenborough had his 100th birthday—a very happy birthday to him. Alongside his 100th birthday, this year he celebrates a 70-year career as an award-winning wildlife filmmaker and broadcaster, a true national treasure and a pioneer. Sir David has been one of the most influential figures in British broadcasting and natural history storytelling, inspiring and educating generations across the world. I would like to take the opportunity to reflect on some of his contributions to British broadcasting, to telling that story and to environmental education.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South says, when we look at the career of Sir David Attenborough, we are looking at the history of modern broadcasting itself. He did not just witness the evolution of the media; he helped to shape it. As the controller of BBC2 in the 1960s, he spearheaded the introduction of regular colour broadcasts to British TV screens, and when he moved from management into production he created numerous documentaries that have captivated hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide and continue to do so. They include the groundbreaking “Life on Earth”, “Blue Planet” and most recently “Wild London”; “Wild Paisley” might be next. These contributions have helped to make the BBC the cornerstone of British broadcasting and the national institution for the public good that we know today.

Sir David’s long and successful career with the BBC is also a testament to the opportunities that the BBC provides to build careers from the early stages upward. He kick-started his career as a trainee producer at the BBC in 1952: he began by producing and presenting factual programmes, before moving through the ranks to become a senior manager and ultimately a leading television presenter and a national treasure. His career highlights the importance of the BBC and our public service broadcasters in nurturing outstanding talent in Britain and the creative sectors.

Beyond broadcasting, Sir David has had a hugely positive impact on public consciousness of nature and the urgency of climate change, as we have heard. As the climate crisis has grown, Sir David has helped people to see that the natural world is not just a matter of curiosity, but something that we must protect and secure for this generation and many to come. He has told us all that we are merely custodians of this planet, and that we need to treat it accordingly. He has educated and mobilised support and action from around the world, showing how we can work together to protect the planet while inspiring positive change.

Sir David’s contribution illuminates the pivotal role of the BBC as a light on the hill, producing and distributing educational content that protects the truth. Fact and the truth are critical for building a shared understanding of the world, and public service broadcasting is essential in arming us with the information that supports civilised debate. Sir David is truly the voice of this nation.

We must also recognise Sir David’s contribution as an innovative storyteller, and the BBC’s global reach as a potent example of British soft power. Sir David’s numerous contributions to the BBC have projected the core British value of integrity through scientific inquiry, promoting a truthful agenda and a passion for environmental stewardship to hundreds of millions of screens across the globe. That has served as an important part of British cultural diplomacy and has demonstrated our commitment to bringing people together to create positive change through truthful and impactful storytelling.

I turn to the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South about commemoration. This country has a long and well-established tradition of commemorating national and local individuals through statues, memorials and monuments, which can serve as a long-lasting reminder of individuals and their efforts for this country and can help to bridge the gap between the past and the present.

As my hon. Friend will know, the Government do not routinely fund such monuments and memorials, but there is a long history of monuments and statues being funded by public subscription, and the Government support that approach wholeheartedly. For example, I am delighted to highlight the iconic bronze statue of Eric Morecambe, funded by public donations, corporate sponsorship and national lottery grants, in his hometown of Morecambe in Lancashire; a bronze bust of Sir Bruce Forsyth at the London Palladium, privately created and gifted to mark his 60th year in show business; and the statue of Sir Terry Wogan, no less, funded by Limerick city and county council, although much loved by audiences here in the United Kingdom.

Experience has shown that investors, including those from the private sector, are often happy and very willing to fund new monuments. Many public and private organisations are rightly able, subject to the relevant permissions, to freely propose, fund, develop and deliver memorials and monuments marking various incidents and historical moments in a way that they are best placed to deem appropriate and sensitive in the areas that they should be in. Many successful monuments are created by a wide range of authorities and organisations that are able to respond sensitively to the particular circumstances that they seek to commemorate, and are often driven by fanboys and fangirls.

This debate is welcome because of the positive lasting impact that Sir David Attenborough has made and will continue to make on British broadcasting and natural history. We acknowledge that, and I thank Sir David for his continued dedication to wildlife broadcasting, environmental education and addressing the urgency of the climate crisis. He has helped to shape our understanding of the natural world and tell our national story.

Ultimately, the true legacy of Sir David Attenborough cannot be measured solely by the decades he has spent on our screens, but by the light that he has shed on the natural world around us, the environmental issues that he has championed and the dedication that he has given to outstanding British broadcasting. He has inspired more than one generation. Sir David’s work serves and will continue to serve as a blueprint for the importance of high-quality British television, broadcasting and storytelling.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South for bringing this debate to the Chamber, and the hon. Members who have contributed. In Sir David’s own words:

“Is this how our story is due to end?”

I very much doubt it.

The AI Knowledge Hub is more relevant to the use of generative AI for the drafting of ministerial advice. Launched in May 2025 in response to a commitment in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, it helps UK government departments make better use of available tools through curated, sector-specific prompts and practical use cases. This includes guidance on prompting for creating draft Ministerial Submissions and states that officials must read through the suggested draft to make sure the answers are accurate and relevant to their policy work, as well as checking that all sources are verified.

Heritage and Tourism are devolved matters, and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has had no discussions with the Secretary of State for Scotland, or with Fife Council, on the Heart of Dunfermline feasibility study for the city. We welcome, however, the engagement of the National Lottery Heritage Fund in discussions on the plans.

The Charter Review, officially launched on 16 December 2025, will ensure the BBC continues to deliver the high standards of reporting that the public expect of a national broadcaster and that it is suitably transparent to the public and to Parliament.

AI chatbots covered by the Online Safety Act must protect all users from illegal content. We continue to work with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure these rules keep pace with technology and will not hesitate to go further if there is evidence to do so.

The Government is committed to tackling illegal gambling through the Illegal Gambling Taskforce. We will therefore consider examples of chatbots promoting illegal sites to children, in conjunction with other issues, when deciding on the best next steps to increase protections against illegal gambling.

The Government engages with a number of stakeholders, including online platforms, regarding the effectiveness of age restrictions.

Operators must comply with the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) when advertising online, including when utilising content marketing. This Code is enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) who are independent of Government, and contains a number of rules to ensure that adverts are not of strong appeal to under-18s, and are not targeted at children and young people.

The ASA has power to take action when advertising is in breach of the Code, and can also refer operators to the Gambling Commission for possible regulatory action. ASA ruling outcomes are published online.

We work with other funders to maximise UK-wide opportunities. Between 2024 and 2027, the National Lottery Heritage Fund expects to invest around £100m in places of worship, including £30m a year via their National Lottery Heritage Grants open programme.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), as the UK’s lead consumer and competition authority, has a statutory duty to promote competition for the benefit of consumers. It is the role of the CMA to examine potential breaches of competition law, including abuse of a dominant position, and investigate markets if it thinks there are competition or consumer problems. As an independent authority, the CMA has discretion to investigate competition matters which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate.