Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
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 ensure local and regional government leaders have sufficient information about the Better Futures Fund application process ahead of the Summer 2026 bidding round opening.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS is currently in the design stages of the Better Futures Fund and is currently in dialogue with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to assess their capacity for participation in delivery. DCMS intends to launch a dedicated capacity and capability building programme in the autumn this year, that will include ongoing support and information for regional and local commissioners.
DCMS intends to publish eligibility criteria alongside an invitation to bidders in Summer 2026. This will be aimed at projects where all partners have a track record of successful social outcomes partnership delivery. The bidding will target projects and commissioners that are able to launch quickly, with a commensurate application process.
Round 1 bids will be aimed at projects where all partners have a track record of successful social outcomes partnership delivery. DCMS will ensure that appropriate information sharing and engagement is included in the application process, but anticipates working with commissioners with good foreknowledge of social outcomes partnerships.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what engagement her Department plans to undertake with local and regional government leaders ahead of the Summer 2026 Better Futures Fund bidding round to maximise the quality and diversity of applications received.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS is currently in the design stages of the Better Futures Fund and is currently in dialogue with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to assess their capacity for participation in delivery. DCMS intends to launch a dedicated capacity and capability building programme in the autumn this year, that will include ongoing support and information for regional and local commissioners.
DCMS intends to publish eligibility criteria alongside an invitation to bidders in Summer 2026. This will be aimed at projects where all partners have a track record of successful social outcomes partnership delivery. The bidding will target projects and commissioners that are able to launch quickly, with a commensurate application process.
Round 1 bids will be aimed at projects where all partners have a track record of successful social outcomes partnership delivery. DCMS will ensure that appropriate information sharing and engagement is included in the application process, but anticipates working with commissioners with good foreknowledge of social outcomes partnerships.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department plans to publish eligibility criteria and target outcomes for the first phase of the Better Futures Fund so that local authorities can begin preparing applications in good time.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS is currently in the design stages of the Better Futures Fund and is currently in dialogue with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to assess their capacity for participation in delivery. DCMS intends to launch a dedicated capacity and capability building programme in the autumn this year, that will include ongoing support and information for regional and local commissioners.
DCMS intends to publish eligibility criteria alongside an invitation to bidders in Summer 2026. This will be aimed at projects where all partners have a track record of successful social outcomes partnership delivery. The bidding will target projects and commissioners that are able to launch quickly, with a commensurate application process.
Round 1 bids will be aimed at projects where all partners have a track record of successful social outcomes partnership delivery. DCMS will ensure that appropriate information sharing and engagement is included in the application process, but anticipates working with commissioners with good foreknowledge of social outcomes partnerships.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing statutory maximum waiting times for young people to access youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we are committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential.
We also, however, acknowledge the challenges facing the sector. That is why we are co-producing a new National Youth Strategy. The Strategy will better coordinate youth services and policy at a local, regional and national level, moving away from siloed working - ensuring services for young people are better coordinated and add up to more than the sum of their parts. We do not intend to introduce a statutory maximum waiting time for young people to access youth services.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she plans to take to promote the UK fashion sector through the Creative Industries Growth strategy.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Through the Creative Industries Sector Plan, we are backing the UK fashion sector as a key part of our world-leading creative industries. This includes targeted support for emerging designers with a specific funding commitment to the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN programme - helping talent showcase at London Fashion Week and access business mentoring.
The Sector Plan also recognises the important role that fashion plays in the connected ecosystem of the Creative Industries. It sets out support through wider cross-cutting measures, including increased access to equity and debt finance via the British Business Bank, a £50 million expansion of the Creative Industries Clusters programme, and a new R&D strategy due in 2025. We're addressing skills gaps with new training flexibilities, enhanced specialist education provision, and the launch of a new Creative Sector Skills Forum. And a refreshed creative careers service, backed by £9 million, will also help young people access careers in the creative industries, including the fashion sector.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on funding for (a) public and (b) school libraries.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State has a range of discussions with Cabinet colleagues across the whole of her portfolio. DCMS officials regularly discuss funding for public libraries with their counterparts across His Majesty’s Government including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government with regard to local government funding.
Public libraries are funded by local authorities. Each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a delivery model to meet those requirements within available resources.
The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-25.
Responsibility for school libraries falls to the Department for Education.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
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 improve access to sports facilities for disabled people in Greater Manchester.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone. The Government has announced a further £100 million in funding to deliver new and improved multi-sport grassroots facilities and pitches across the whole of the UK. The Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme’s aims include regular, weekly use by under-represented groups, including disabled people, so that everyone has the opportunity to participate. In 2024/25 the programme invested £2,706,842 in Greater Manchester.
Sport England, the Government’s Arm’s Length Body for grassroots sport, is committed to increasing participation in sport and physical activity for disabled people and improving their access to sport facilities. Sport England also has partnerships with organisations such as Disability Rights UK, Activity Alliance, Aspire, and Sense, to help more disabled people get active.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
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 involve young people in the development of the National Youth Strategy in the Manchester Rusholme constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The National Youth Strategy will be co-produced in partnership with young people and the youth sector.
We have launched a national survey to ask young people about their issues and priorities.
We have shared an engagement toolkit so MPs can run their own workshops and discussions with young people, or share this toolkit with organisations in their constituencies who work with young people.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who was appointed to represent the Muslim community at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The table below shows the representative of the Muslim community who attended National Services of Remembrance each year for the last ten years.
Year | Name | Position |
2023 | Imam Asim Hafiz | Islamic Religious Advisor to the Armed Forces |
2022 | Imam Asim Hafiz | Islamic Religious Advisor to the Armed Forces |
2021 | Imam Monawar Hussain | Muslim Chaplain to the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust |
2020 | Imam Asim Hafiz | Islamic Religious Advisor to the Armed Forces |
2019 | Imam Asim Hafiz | Islamic Religious Advisor to the Armed Forces |
2018 | Imam Qari Asim | Senior Imam, Leeds Makkah Masjid & Chair, Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board |
2017 | Imam Asim Hafiz | Islamic Religious Advisor to the Armed Forces |
2016 | Imam Qari Asim | Senior Imam, Leeds Makkah Masjid |
2015 | Imam Asim Hafiz | Islamic Religious Advisor to the Armed Forces |
2014 | Dr Shuja Shafi | Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Great Britain |
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has taken recent steps to work with (a) the Duke of Edinburgh Award, (b) other youth award schemes and (c) volunteer programmes to help promote (i) social cohesion and (ii) community safety.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities like the Duke of Edinburgh Award play in enhancing young people’s wellbeing, as well as significant benefits to social cohesion and community safety.
Recognising this, the government has committed to a National Youth Guarantee: that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. This is supported by a three-year investment of over £500 million in youth services, reflecting young people's priorities and addressing imbalances in national youth spending with a firm focus on levelling up.
Young people will also benefit from other elements of the National Youth Guarantee, and a broader package of award schemes and volunteer programmes, including offering the Duke of Edinburgh Award to every state secondary school, expanding uniformed youth groups and the #iwill youth volunteering fund, as well as providing further funding for the National Citizen Service (NCS), to bring young people from different backgrounds together. Additionally, through the Million Hours Fund, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will provide over a million hours of youth opportunities in areas with high levels of anti-social behaviour.