Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to develop a UK major events strategy.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK is a world-class host for major events, and the government is investing in a decade-long pipeline to drive economic growth and community impact.
Support for sporting events is already established through the Gold Framework. Additionally, DCMS will launch a new Visitor Economy Growth Strategy next year to strengthen the business events industry and enhance the UK's global competitiveness.
The Department welcomes the CMS Select Committee Inquiry into major events and continues to engage with industry to address challenges and identify further opportunities for collaboration and growth.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are employed in the UK's creative economy.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In 2020, there were 3,518,000 filled jobs in the wider UK creative economy, which consists of 2,221,000 filled jobs in the creative industries, as well as 1,297,000 filled jobs in creative occupations in industries outside of the creative industries.
Following the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revision of Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) data, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is in the process of defining which SOC2020 codes should be included in the creative occupations. Creative economy estimates for 2021 onwards will be published once this work has concluded.
We have more recent official statistics on the number of filled jobs in the creative industries, without creative occupations in industries outside of the creative industries. The most recent annual statistics show that in 2024, there were 2,409,000 filled jobs in the creative industries in the UK (8.5% more than in 2020).
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support growth within the creative industries in the West Midlands.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Creative Industries Sector Plan is a new 10-year plan to tackle barriers to growth and maximise opportunities across the creative industries sector, with the aim of making the UK the number one destination for creativity and innovation by 2035.
The Creative Industries Sector Plan includes a universal offer to drive growth in the creative industries in any place in the UK, outlining new measures to break down barriers such as access to finance, supply of skills, and new support to kickstart innovation.
The £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund is a new approach to supporting Creative Industries - devolving funding and empowering local leaders to grow the sector in 6 high-growth potential Mayoral Strategic Authorities, including the West Midlands. This will provide £25m to West Midlands Combined Authority to distribute, according to local barriers and opportunities.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help protect UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the UK from potential environmental threats.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS provides support and advice to all World Heritage Sites across the UK and Overseas Territories that are grappling with environmental threats in our capacity as State Party of the World Heritage Convention.
DCMS works closely with environmental agencies across the UK, including the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Natural England, NatureScot, Natural Resources Wales and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, as well as Historic England as our expert advisers on World Heritage. We also consult with individual site managers and local authorities to monitor potential and known threats to our sites and to consider which issues require notification to, and assistance from, UNESCO.
In addition, DCMS funded the project ‘Climate Change & UNESCO Heritage’ which ran from February 2024 - October 2025 and was delivered by the UK National Commission for UNESCO. This project developed open-source tools that support UNESCO heritage sites to address climate challenges.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support and preserve UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the UK.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As State Party to the World Heritage Convention, DCMS has the primary responsibility for keeping UNESCO updated on the UK’s 35 World Heritage Sites, and responding to requests for information from UNESCO.
While heritage is a devolved policy area, DCMS works closely with cultural heritage and environmental agencies across the UK to provide support and advice regarding engagement with UNESCO. This includes engaging the World Heritage Centre; the World Heritage Committee and their Advisory Bodies; and ensures that both our cultural and natural (and mixed) sites retain their World Heritage status.
DCMS engages with site managers, steering groups and local authorities to provide advice, particularly where a site is under increased scrutiny from UNESCO. DCMS also advises sites on the UK’s Tentative List that have the potential to be inscribed as future World Heritage Sites to ensure the right protection and management arrangements are in place from the start.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with streaming services on adopting the British Board of Film Classification's age and content classifications.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom, the independent regulator, has a new duty introduced through the Media Act 2024 to assess audience protection measures used by video-on-demand (VoD) services, such as age ratings, to ensure they are adequate to protect audiences from harm. The Government will in due course be designating mainstream VoD services, bringing them under enhanced regulation by Ofcom. Ofcom will then consult on a new Standards Code for these services, similar to the Broadcasting Code. This could include the use of age ratings, if Ofcom considers it appropriate.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with streaming services on effective audience protection measures and age classifications.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom, the independent regulator, has a new duty introduced through the Media Act 2024 to assess audience protection measures used by video-on-demand (VoD) services, such as age ratings, to ensure they are adequate to protect audiences from harm. The Government will in due course be designating mainstream VoD services, bringing them under enhanced regulation by Ofcom. Ofcom will then consult on a new Standards Code for these services, similar to the Broadcasting Code. This could include the use of age ratings, if Ofcom considers it appropriate.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2025 to question 92072, what framework, conditions and support she has agreed with the TV and film sector since July 2024 to ensure the inclusion of English regional dialects in productions.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Our priority is supporting a healthy and mixed screen ecology where public service broadcasters, alongside commercial broadcasters, can continue to deliver high-quality, culturally relevant content for audiences across England and the UK.
The Government has engaged extensively with industry and has consistently championed the commissioning and production of programming in all parts of the country, For example, the BBC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the West Midlands Combined Authority and Create Central, committing to increased output, skills investment, and a new production base in Digbeth.
In addition Part 1 of the Media Act 2024, once commenced, will for the first time make clear in legislation the importance of the provision of indigenous regional and minority languages in the modernised public service remit for television, and will require public service broadcasters to provide a sufficient quantity of audiovisual content that reflects the lives and concerns of different communities and cultural interests across the UK. It will be for Ofcom, the independent regulator, to monitor compliance.
Alongside this, and building on competitive fiscal incentives like the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit, the Creative Industries Sector Plan published in June, also set out plans for how the Government will support television and film and television production across the nations and regions, tapping into the huge potential for growth across the country. Our £75 million Screen Growth Package specifically will support regional growth of Film & TV alongside wider measures - from our £150m Creative Places Growth Fund, to £100m for the Creative Industries Clusters programme - helping to create opportunities for all.
Asked by: Margaret Mullane (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the local authority statutory duty to provide youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government is passionate in delivering for young people, that’s why this Government has set out the National Youth Strategy. This strategy clearly states that young people should have people who care, places to go and things to do, and to feel heard and seen.
As part of the National Youth Strategy we have committed to explore reviewing the current local authorities’ statutory duty for youth services as part of a wider review of local statutory duties. This will look at whether the current duty is working and at how to empower local authorities to better deliver on their responsibilities for youth services.
Local authorities currently play a key part in delivering youth services, reflected in their statutory duty to provide sufficient leisure-time activities and facilities in line with local needs. After years of funding cuts to Local Authority funding we know that some areas have faced challenges in meeting this duty. That’s why this Government is investing nearly £70 million over the next three financial years to better support local authorities' delivery for young people.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what guidance the Government provides to membership-based charities to ensure compliance with charity law where benefits are restricted to members.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
All charities in England and Wales must have wholly charitable purposes that are for the public benefit, in order to enjoy the advantages of charitable status. Unless the purpose is for the relief (and in some cases the prevention) of poverty, a charitable purpose cannot exist for the benefit of an organisation’s members only. The exception to this is if a sufficient section of the public can access those benefits by becoming members and the membership is a suitable way of carrying out the charity’s purpose for the public benefit.
The Charity Commission has published guidance which explains the public benefit requirement.
The honourable member may be aware that Membership-based Charity Organisations was debated on Wednesday 17th December in Westminster Hall.