Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the Church of England in maintaining its built heritage.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
There is a range of funding available via DCMS and the Department’s Arm’s-Length Bodies that supports listed places of worship, including Church of England buildings. These include the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme; the National Lottery Heritage Fund's £15m Heritage in Need: Places of Worship initiative, funded through the National Lottery between 2023 and 2026; the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), which funds repairs and maintenance of over 350 churches in the CCT portfolio; and Historic England's Heritage At Risk grants, which will be funding £9 million worth of repairs to buildings on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register between April 2024 and March 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken to support listed places of worship.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
There is a range of funding available via DCMS and the Department’s Arm’s-Length Bodies that supports listed places of worship, including Church of England buildings. These include the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme; the National Lottery Heritage Fund's £15m Heritage in Need: Places of Worship initiative, funded through the National Lottery between 2023 and 2026; the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), which funds repairs and maintenance of over 350 churches in the CCT portfolio; and Historic England's Heritage At Risk grants, which will be funding £9 million worth of repairs to buildings on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register between April 2024 and March 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help support press freedom.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Having a free and fair press in an age of misinformation and disinformation, is more important than ever. It is vital that the public have access to accurate and trustworthy information from a range of different sources.
To ensure journalists operating within the UK can do so free from physical, legal and online threats, abuse and violence, I am reconvening the National Committee for the Safety of Journalists, together with the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls, in December. The Committee facilitates collaboration between government, journalism, policing, prosecution services and civil society in support of this aim. I will continue to work with members on this important issue, including by delivering the National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 pursuing machine ratio reforms to the land-based gambling industry.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are considering the best available evidence in respect of machine ratio reforms, and the Minister for Gambling has met with a wide range of stakeholders including industry trade bodies. We will provide further updates to the House soon.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 estimate of the economic contribution of adult gaming centres to (a) high streets and (b) town centres.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Official statistics from a range of sources provide the Government with insights into the economic contribution of the betting and gaming industry as a whole. The latest headline statistics show that the gambling sector contributed £4.9bn to Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2022, accounting for 0.2% of UK GVA. In the financial year 2023/24, the gambling sector employed around 94,000 people in Britain (provisional), accounting for 0.2% of UK jobs and paid approximately £3.4bn in betting and gaming duty.
The Gambling Commission’s industry statistics show that between April 2022 and March 2023, gross gambling yield for adult gaming centres was £533m. This represented c. 11% of gross gambling yield generated by non-remote casinos, arcades, betting and bingo.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 promote the heritage of county Essex.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government is committed to promoting local heritage for the benefit of present and future generations.
Historic England (HE), the government’s expert advisor on heritage, works closely with heritage organisations in Essex, such as the Thomas Plume Library and Maldon Town Council. HE has provided funding of £67,962 towards the grade I listed library in Maldon’s town centre for the removal and replacement of the ceiling, as well as repairs to the external masonry and windows. This work was completed in 2021.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded significant grant funding to support heritage organisations in Essex, such as The Pioneering Sailing Trust in Brightlingsea, which was awarded £2.3 million this April (2024) to restore historic vessels and create an apprenticeship scheme.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 local authorities fund public libraries.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Public libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.
I will work with my colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to get local government back on its feet after fourteen years of savage and drastic underfunding. We will do the basics right, providing councils with more stability through multi-year funding settlements and ending unnecessarily expensive competitive bidding for tiny pots of money.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with the Director of the British Museum on the long-term ownership of historic artefacts originating from other countries.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
No.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has (a) organised events and (b) taken other steps to celebrate the Olympic Games in the next two weeks.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to supporting elite sport and enabling our athletes to excel on the world stage. The Secretary of State and I were both fortunate enough to attend the Paris Olympics to cheer on our athletes. The Government welcomes the free, accessible, fan zones that Team GB set up around the UK for fans to watch live coverage with friends and family, and the many local events that communities across the country enjoyed. We were also delighted to join the celebrations for our Olympians at the National Lottery’s Team GB Homecoming in Manchester on 17 August.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support Scouting and Girlguiding in the British Overseas Territories.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.