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 recent steps her Department has taken to increase tourism in the West Midlands.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is delivering the largest reform of destination management in a generation. We now have a network of 41 Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) across England and two Regional Destination pilots in the North East and West Midlands. The programmes have been looking at how we make it easier for people to visit those regions and enjoy a range of things to do when they are there, including great places to eat, shop and stay.
In March 2025, during English Tourism Week, we announced that the government is now providing an extra £1.35 million of support so the pilots can operate for another year. The extension will provide an opportunity to keep testing how a regional approach to managing the visitor economy can help drive visitor numbers, increase spending and create jobs, and secure the West Midlands’ reputation as a world-class destination to visitors.
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 recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the increase in employer National Insurance contributions on the cultural sector in the West Midlands.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government highly values the cultural sector and its positive contribution across the country, including in the West Midlands.
Due to the difficult economic inheritance from the previous government, we had to take a number of difficult decisions on tax, welfare and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability. The Government has considered the implication of this policy change, and the impacts were published in the usual way by HMRC as part of the Autumn Budget process. The cultural sector also benefits from the expenditure on public services that the Budget has enabled.
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN), which gives a clear explanation of the policy objective and an assessment of the impacts was published alongside the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill on 13 November 2024.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications to the Culture Recovery Fund from applicants in the West Midlands have been accepted.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Last year the government announced the unprecedented £1.57 billion support package for the culture sector, of which over £1 billion has now been allocated to over 3,000 arts and culture organisations across the country. This funding is supporting the arts and culture sector to survive the pandemic and continue operating.
We have now also announced a second round of the Culture Recovery Fund to support organisations to make the transition to full reopening.
So far 289 organisations in the West Midlands received funding through the recovery grants programme, the capital grants programme and via repayable finance. These include world-renowned organisations such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Birmingham Royal Ballet as well as those at the heart of their communities, such as the Black Country Living Museum, the People’s Orchestra in West Bromwich and Re-form Heritage in Stoke-on-Trent.
Overall, funding awarded through the first Round of the Culture Recovery Fund is supporting organisations which employ 69% of arts sector employees in the West Midlands.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what additional (a) business and (b) financial support for the (i) exhibition and (ii) events industry he has discussed with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
We are in regular contact with Treasury colleagues regarding the impact of Covid-19 on the business events industry.
Events businesses can continue to make use of the broader support package available to them. This includes the Bounce Back Loans scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
We recognise that the events industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by Covid-19. We continue to meet with the stakeholders, including through the Visitor Economy Working Group and the Events Industry Senior Leaders Advisory Panel, to discuss the specific issues facing the industry.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support the tourism sector in the West Midlands.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The Government has also implemented a series of Covid-19 related financial measures that will assist tourism businesses, including those in the West Midlands. This includes the significant cut to VAT and business rates relief for hospitality, retail and leisure businesses, both of which will last until the end of March.
Between April and July, VisitEngland’s £1.3 million Destination Management Organisation Resilience Fund supported local tourism organisations in the West Midlands. The West Midlands Growth Company received £29,866 from the DMO Resilience Fund. Visit Shropshire received £25,066.
More broadly, the £45m Discover England Fund has supported the development of internationally marketed tourism products in the region, including the ‘England’s Waterways’ project. We are also working with regional partners to maximise the tourism benefits of hosting the UK City of Culture in Coventry and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase tourism in the West Midlands.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
My Department has taken a number of steps to increase tourism in the West Midlands.
The £45m Discover England Fund supports the development of internationally marketed tourism products in the region. For example, the England’s Waterways project encourages visitors to explore the canals in and around Birmingham and the Midlands, while the England’s Originals project provides itineraries that include Worcester as a destination.
We are also working with regional partners to maximise the tourism benefits of hosting the UK City of Culture 2021 in Coventry and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle loneliness in the West Midlands.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Government’s first annual report on tackling loneliness was published in January 2020. It highlighted the progress made so far across the country, including in the West Midlands.
This includes: action by frontline workers across the public sector to recognise and act on loneliness; the launch of the Let’s Talk Loneliness campaign; the commitment to include measures in the Public Health Outcomes Framework so we can understand local rates of loneliness; and the announcement of an additional £4m of grant-funding, in partnership with the National Lottery Community Fund, to help frontline grassroots organisations that bring people together.
The report also highlighted the good work of the 126 projects supported through the £11.5m Building Connections Fund to bring people and communities together. 14 grants, totalling £1.2million, have been made to projects in the West Midlands. This includes grants to the Chell Area Family Action Group to appoint volunteer social isolation champions to work with the people most at risk of loneliness and to Edward’s Trust to create and support a compassionate community of bereaved young people.
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, when he expects part two of the Leveson Inquiry, examining allegations of police corruption and the relationships between newspaper organisations and the police, prosecuting authorities and relevant regulatory bodies to take place; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
A decision on whether to undertake Part II of the Leveson Inquiry will not take place until after all criminal investigations and trials related to Part I are concluded. They are still ongoing.