Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, regarding the Charity Commission’s statutory inquiry into the sale of the City & Guilds of London Institute, whether they will examine the conduct of the Executive and Trustee Board throughout the sale.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Charity Commission for England and Wales announced, on 9th January, that it had opened a statutory inquiry into City and Guilds of London Institute. The independent regulator is examining information about the charity’s sale of its City and Guilds awards operation to a private company in October 2025. The inquiry is looking at information provided by the charity to the Charity Commission regarding the sale, and the trustees’ decision making regarding the sale.
Anyone with relevant information about matters under investigation is encouraged to share it with the Charity Commission, and the Charity Commission has said that it may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge. It is the Charity Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing the issues examined, action taken, and the inquiry’s outcomes.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) consideration they have given, and (2) discussions they have had with key stakeholders, on setting sufficiency benchmarks for youth service provision.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people. This is funded from the local government settlement, which has been increased to £64 billion next year, with a further £500 million from central government dedicated to supporting children and adult social care in recognition of the pressures local authorities are facing.
In September 2023, DCMS published updated statutory guidance to support local authorities’ understanding of the existing duty and how to deliver it. Alongside this, DCMS funds a peer review programme for local authorities to learn from each other about the best approaches to youth service provision. We received positive feedback from the areas that have already taken part, and are supporting more areas this year.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how information education, such as youth work, can complement formal education; and what discussions they have had with key stakeholders.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
HM Government recognises the vital role that informal education, such as youth work, can play in complementing formal education received by young people.
Recent Government research on this topic includes the ‘Youth provision and life outcomes’ study commissioned by DCMS and published in February, and a process evaluation of the Essential Life Skills programme published by the Department for Education in 2020. The Essential Life Skills Programme (2018-19) saw a £21 million investment to implement enhanced extra-curricular activities in primary and secondary schools across 12 Opportunity Areas. Evaluation of the programme revealed high engagement and attendance, particularly among disadvantaged pupils, with reported benefits in confidence, resilience, relationship-building, and social and emotional intelligence.
DCMS and DfE are building on what we learned from this programme to test a new approach to supporting secondary schools to deliver enrichment programmes through the Enrichment Partnership Pilot. This is funded by HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund, and is being delivered by the National Citizen Service Trust and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The pilot is being evaluated by the National Foundation for Educational Research.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duty to secure a ‘local youth offer’.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people. This is funded from the local government settlement which has been increased to £64 billion next year, with a further £500 million dedicated to supporting children and adult social care in recognition of the pressures local authorities are facing.
In September 2023, DCMS published updated statutory guidance to support local authorities’ understanding of the existing duty and how to deliver it. Alongside this, DCMS funds a peer review programme for local authorities to learn from each other about the best approaches to youth service provision. We received positive feedback from the areas that have already taken part and are supporting more areas this year.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure youth work is considered in the same esteem as other key professions.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS supports the youth work workforce through funding the National Youth Agency to deliver its core functions: the maintenance of youth work qualifications, the development of a youth worker and youth services registry, and improved safeguarding and risk management across the sector. This funding ensures that youth workers will have access to high-quality training and support. It also underpins the delivery of the National Youth Guarantee, by helping to ensure that there is a sufficiently qualified and supported workforce.
In addition, over the past three years we have funded the Agency to provide bursaries to help more than 2,000 youth workers access training and qualifications. In particular, the bursary programme supports people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and under-represented groups. In the most recent round of bursary funding, Level 4 certificate places were included for the first time, which will help to enhance the experience and training of existing youth workers and provide a clearer career and development pathway, supporting retention in the sector.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken towards establishing a transitional support fund for UK musicians seeking to tour the EU.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The UK took an ambitious approach during the EU TCA negotiations that would have ensured that touring artists and their support staff did not need work permits to perform in the EU. Regrettably, our proposals were rejected by the EU, but our door remains open if the European Commission is willing to reconsider its position.
As the Secretary of State has said, we have moved at pace and with urgency on plans to support the creative sectors to tour in Europe. Through our bilateral discussions with EU Member States, we have established that in at least 17 out of 27 Member States some touring activities are possible without visas or work-permits. The UK has significantly more generous arrangements for touring professionals than many Member States, and should they be willing to change their rules to match ours we will have those discussions and encourage them to do so.
UK performers and artists are of course still able to tour and perform in the EU, and vice versa. However, we understand the concerns about the new arrangements and we are committed to supporting the sectors as they get to grips with the changes to systems and processes.
We are also looking closely at funding options to support individuals and businesses to resume touring with ease as soon as it is safe to do so.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have established a timetable for negotiations on reducing barriers to touring with key live music markets in the EU; and if so, what is that timetable.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The UK took an ambitious approach during the EU TCA negotiations that would have ensured that touring artists and their support staff did not need work permits to perform in the EU. Regrettably, our proposals were rejected by the EU, but our door remains open if the European Commission is willing to reconsider its position.
As the Secretary of State has said, we have moved at pace and with urgency on plans to support the creative sectors to tour in Europe. Through our bilateral discussions with EU Member States, we have established that in at least 17 out of 27 Member States some touring activities are possible without visas or work-permits. The UK has significantly more generous arrangements for touring professionals than many Member States, and should they be willing to change their rules to match ours we will have those discussions and encourage them to do so.
UK performers and artists are of course still able to tour and perform in the EU, and vice versa. However, we understand the concerns about the new arrangements and we are committed to supporting the sectors as they get to grips with the changes to systems and processes.
We are also looking closely at funding options to support individuals and businesses to resume touring with ease as soon as it is safe to do so.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the (1) results of, (2) guidance arising from, the Events Research Programme.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Research findings from the Events Research Programme’s first phase of pilots will be published on GOV.UK shortly.
The Government has committed to taking a cautious approach to easing restrictions, guided by data instead of dates, to avoid another surge in infections that could put unsustainable pressure on the NHS. The roadmap sets out indicative, “no earlier than” dates for each step which are five weeks apart. Each full step of our roadmap will be informed by the latest available science and data and will be five weeks apart in order to provide time to assess the data, providing one week’s notice to businesses and individuals.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to a Government-backed indemnity for live events after the Stage 4 lifting of restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
This Government recognises the importance of the UK’s live events sector and has provided significant financial support to cultural organisations, particularly through the Culture Recovery Fund.
As the Secretary of State made clear at the DCMS Select Committee on Thursday 13th May, the government is aware of the wider concerns around securing indemnity for live events and we continue to assess options to provide further support to the sector within the public health context, engaging with relevant stakeholders as necessary.
We need to be confident that any intervention would lead to an increase in activity, and that insurance represents the last barrier to events reopening. The government’s first priority is to remove remaining barriers (such as social distancing) by reaching Stage 4 of the Roadmap.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support is available for the preservation of historic aircraft in the UK.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Heritage Lottery Fund has given nearly £60million in support of heritage aviation projects, including £3.5million to the preservation of individual historic aircraft. Following a grant of over £5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge recently won the Permanent Exhibition Award at the 2018 Museums and Heritage Awards for its new Aircraft Factory and Flight Shed.
The Government also directly sponsors the IWM Duxford, the RAF Museum and the Science Museum Group, all of which feature historic aircraft as part of their collections. The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight maintains aircraft of our national heritage in airworthy condition, operated by RAF personnel.