Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the success of commercial radio in the UK.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government strongly supports a vibrant radio sector, including national and local commercial stations as well as community stations and the BBC, which between them provide a rich variety of choice for listeners across the UK.
The UK’s commercial radio sector now accounts for approximately 55% of radio listening in the UK, according to figures published by RAJAR for Quarter 4 2023, with 39 million people tuning in to national or local commercial stations at least once a week. This compares to 42% of radio listening and 34 million listeners in Quarter 4 2013. The growth in commercial radio listening over the past 10 years is thanks to the investment the sector has made to develop and grow new services and its ability to adapt what it offers to listeners on digital radio or via internet-connected devices such as smart speakers.
The measures in the Media Bill to reduce regulatory burdens on commercial radio and to secure protections for the carriage of radio on smart speaker devices are intended to help support and secure commercial radio’s long-term future.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing to the heritage railway sector to boost tourism and the enjoyment of railway heritage.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK is a true pioneer in the history of railway development, benefiting from the talents of Brunel and Stephenson among many others.
Heritage railways are major contributors to the UK’s visitor economy, attracting around 13 million visitors and bringing an estimated £250 million to the economy each year. More than 3,000 people are employed on heritage railways, with a further 22,000 volunteers generously committing their time and expertise.
The unprecedented Cultural Recovery Fund provided approximately £18 million to heritage railway related organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping them to reopen safely and continue to welcome visitors. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is also currently undertaking the Local Visitor Economy Partnership accreditation process which will benefit heritage railways by ensuring that local tourist boards work together to boost the visitor economy across the country.
I have had a number of meetings with the Heritage Rail Association and other representatives of the sector, and keep in contact with them to discuss how else the Government can support it.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the risk to image recognition systems from cyber attacks using radio waves.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Government is aware of recent research into the use of radio waves to disrupt image recognition. As part of the £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy, the government continually works to better understand cyber security vulnerabilities and how to protect businesses and users against these.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the National Theatre's decision to postpone tours in the EU due to uncertainty about work permits.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Touring in Europe is currently not possible due to Covid-19 and EU Member States have not set out plans for when it will be. We are working urgently with the UK’s creative industries to help ensure they can work confidently in Europe once touring can safely resume. In the meantime, we also urge EU member states to at least match what the UK offers to all EU artists touring here. The UK government strongly believes supporting touring is in the interests of both the UK and EU, and we continue our work on solutions.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the distribution of funds to football teams in the National League during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 19 November 2020, the government announced a £300 million Sports Winter Survival Package (SWSP) to provide a lifeline to organisations that would otherwise not survive the winter as a result of the restriction on spectators announced from 1 October. A provisional allocation of up to £25 million was made to support the National League. This is in addition to the £10 million cash injection from the National Lottery in October last year, the result of a unique promotional deal facilitated by the government.
Whilst the distribution of National Lottery support is a matter for the National League, the government was clear in supporting the deal that it expected the proceeds to be allocated sensibly to support clubs for as long as possible.
The government further confirmed on 27 January 2021 that Steps 3-6 of the National League system will receive up to £10 million of grant support from the Package to protect the immediate future of approximately 850 clubs over the winter period. This support is being distributed at pace by the Football Foundation and is available with immediate effect.
The National League has also benefited from the multi-billion pound package of cross-sector business support from the Government that has enabled many sports clubs and leisure businesses to survive, including the furlough scheme and business interruption loan scheme. Sports have accessed many hundreds of millions of pounds of support through this.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of the cultural sector in aiding economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government understands the importance of the cultural sector in aiding economic recovery post-Covid, evidenced by unprecedented support for the sector, including the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund (CRF).
So far, over £1 billion worth of funding from the CRF has been allocated across all four nations of the UK. This funding is supporting over 3000 arts and heritage organisations in England affected by COVID-19 restrictions, and more than 75,000 jobs.
The second round of funding (which recently closed) will also support organisations to transition from the challenging months of lockdowns and social distancing to welcoming audiences and visitors back to the country’s much loved and important theatres, museums, cinemas, music venues and heritage sites over the summer.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Barran on 9 November (HL Deb, col 808), what funding streams constitute the £119 million which Arts Council England has made available for individuals; what is the relative value of any such funding streams; and whether such funding derived from (1) Arts Council England’s regular funding, (2) the Culture Recovery Fund, or (3) any other sources.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The £119 million which Arts Council England made available for individuals is derived from ACE’s own funding (National Lottery reserves, Grant-in-Aid reserves and from repurposing some of their current funding programmes) and is made up of the following:
£17.1 million distributed through the Emergency Response Fund for individuals;
£6 million distributed by a series of Benevolent Funds focused on the self-employed.
£18 million available through their Developing Your Creative Practice fund. This came from an underspend from the £160m made available for the Arts Council’s Emergency Response Fund.
£77.9 million available through National Lottery Project Grants (available to both individuals and organisations). This is from ACE’s existing National Lottery money and an underspend in the Emergency Response Funds.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with social media platforms regarding misinformation about COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, including social media platforms, on a variety of issues, including misinformation about COVID-19. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are providing to lower league football clubs to counter the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Football clubs are the heart of local communities and have unique social value.
The Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses throughout this period, including a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support. Many football clubs have benefited from these measures.
The Government is in regular dialogue with all the football authorities to understand their financial position - but has been absolutely clear that it expects football to look first at how it can support itself through these difficult times. To this end I welcomed the Premier League announcement to advance funds of £125 million to the EFL and National League to help clubs throughout the football pyramid. The EFL has also announced a £50m relief fund to help their clubs enduring immediate cash flow problems because of the coronavirus crisis.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they have taken to enable sports stadiums to reopen safely in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government continues to liaise closely with the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) and sporting bodies whilst developing its guidance to support the safe return of spectators to stadia more widely no earlier than October 1st. As announced by the Prime Minister, this remains subject to review. Pilot events will now be capped at 1,000 people.