Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of reduced fundraising for armed forces charities during the COVID-19 pandemic, what additional measures they are taking to enable such charities to deliver support for veterans.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Government is committed to making the UK the best country in the world to be a veteran.
Every year it provides £10 million to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, which distributes this as grants to charitable organisations through a range of programmes. This year we have provided an additional £6 million for 100 service charities through the Covid Relief fund, to ensure they can continue to provide their vital services throughout the pandemic. Furthermore, through the Loneliness Covid-19 Fund, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen And Families Association has been provided with a grant of £500,000 to support veterans and their families experiencing loneliness throughout the UK.
Charities are also able to apply to access the additional financial support provided through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Charities can also apply to receive up to £3,000 a month through the Local Restrictions Support Grant if an organisation’s premises is forced to close.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.
Answered by Helen Grant
Since 2010 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has spent a total of £540.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on how many occasions his Department has had requests for appointments by exception to the Senior Civil Service turned down by the Civil Service Commission since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Helen Grant
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, on 10th November.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department has spent on legal fees over prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests since 2010.
Answered by Helen Grant
For financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12 external lawyers were retained through the Treasury Solicitor’s Department. Since 2012, DCMS has not incurred any costs in legal fees regarding the release of information requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many Freedom of Information requests his Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.
Answered by Helen Grant
Government FoI statistics are published on the Ministry of Justice website https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on how many occasions his Department has made appointments by exception since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Helen Grant
Information on the numbers of appointments made by exception in 2012, 2013 and 2014 is below:
Year | No. of appointments made by exception |
2012/13 | 16 |
2013/14 | 11 |
2014/15 to date | 13 |
DCMS does not hold records of appointments by exception prior to 2012/13. For data protection purposes, name of individuals appointed to roles cannot be disclosed.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to his Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.
Answered by Helen Grant
DCMS does not extend its officials the discretion to offer instant rewards of any value, be they in the form of retail vouchers, hospitality, gifts and / or any form of direct cash payment.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department spent on legal fees in cases relating to the release of information requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Helen Grant
This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what professional development courses are made available to staff of his Department; and what the cost to the public purse is of each such course.
Answered by Helen Grant
DCMS has interpreted ‘Professional Development courses' as formal training which relates directly to a professional specialism for which a qualification, specific training or membership is required.
Along with other government departments, DCMS has access to a range of professional development courses that are made available to staff through the Civil Service Learning portal, a centrally run service. These include courses relating to professions such as Finance, Procurement, Human Resources, Knowledge Management, policy and Project Delivery. Applications for professional development courses for DCMS staff are approved against the DCMS Learning & Development budget.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many senior civil servants appointed to positions in his Department since 2010 were previously (a) political appointees within that Department and (b) employed by a political party.
Answered by Helen Grant
The Department does not ask this question or collect this information.