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 impact of the (a) platinum jubilee, (b) funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and (c) the coronation on the economy.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Platinum Jubilee, the funeral of Her Late Majesty and the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla were hugely important state occasions for our nation. They brought millions of people around the country and Commonwealth together and showcased the best of the United Kingdom to the world. Communities celebrated the Platinum Jubilee in around 16,000 local street parties across the UK while the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II was watched by hundreds of millions around the world.
Major Royal events such as these provide a significant boost to the UK economy through tourism, our hospitality industry and to the many other businesses that will have seen an increase in trade. VisitEngland projected that overnight holiday breaks in the UK during the Coronation Bank Holiday weekend would generate an estimated £1.2 billion economic boost, while UKHospitality estimated a £350 million boost for the hospitality industry over the long weekend.
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, with reference to the Tourism Recovery Plan: Update on Delivery published by her Department in March 2023, what recent progress she has made on her Department's commitment to explore potential mitigations for the removal of the VAT-free shopping scheme.
Answered by John Whittingdale
As referenced in the Tourism Recovery Plan Update, the Government is engaging closely to identify potential ways to further grow the UK visitor economy - including how best to support and grow the valuable inbound tourism sector.
We will continue to monitor the impact of government interventions and facilitate joined-up policy interventions, and to discuss this topic with colleagues across Government through the Inter-Ministerial Group for the Visitor Economy.
As a tax matter, His Majesty’s Treasury set the terms for the UK Government’s policy on VAT-free shopping. HM Treasury continues to monitor the evidence and latest data around VAT-free shopping as they keep all taxes under review.
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, how much funding her Department has provided for sporting programmes in British Overseas Territories in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government funds the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England.
Sport England does not provide any funding or support to British Overseas Territories.
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 is providing support for sporting initiatives in the British Overseas Territories.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government funds the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England.
Sport England does not provide any funding or support to British Overseas Territories.
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 support her Department is providing to the Cayman Islands to help them achieve UNESCO World Heritage status.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is actively engaging with all the five new sites on the UK's Tentative List of World Heritage Sites, including The Little Cayman Marine Parks and Protected Areas. We are also coordinating engagement between the sites and the Government's expert advisers on cultural and natural heritage — Historic England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. This is to ensure that all sites receive the advice and support they need to develop their World Heritage nomination.
Sites on the new Tentative List are expected to submit their nominations to become a World Heritage Site to UNESCO, where they will be examined by the World Heritage Committee, which will make the final decision on whether to inscribe the site on the World Heritage List.
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 plans to provide funding to (a) Romford and (b) other historic charter market towns for the promotion of their (i) history, (ii) heritage and (iii) identity.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Heritage plays a vital role in communities across the United Kingdom. It makes places great to live and work in; helps to attract tourism and supports the local economy; and gives people pride in their community. The Government, our national agencies, local authorities, and the brilliant people working and volunteering in the sector all play a role in protecting and promoting our shared heritage.
The Government has invested £95 million in Historic England’s High Street Heritage Action Zones scheme, which targets 67 high streets across England to encourage economic growth and increase pride in place. Additionally, the £82 million Museum Estate and Development Fund, an open-access capital fund for non-national accredited museums in England, provides funding to undertake vital infrastructure and urgent maintenance work.
We encourage heritage-related projects to consider applying to relevant schemes available through our Arm’s-Length Bodies and partners where eligible, including Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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 had discussions with the Commonwealth Games Federation on promoting the (a) games in (i) Africa, (ii) Asia, (iii) the Caribbean and (iv) the Pacific and (b) sports indigenous to these regions; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to promoting the benefits that staging and participating in major sporting events, such as the Commonwealth Games, can bring. The Commonwealth Games Federation is primarily responsible for the continuing role of promoting the Games and we have worked with them to do this.
Ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Games taking place in the summer of 2022, the then Minister for Sport chaired the 10th Commonwealth Sports Ministers meeting, which brought together delegates from across the Commonwealth to discuss a range of issues relating to the sport sector, including promoting the role of the Games in contributing to the broader values and aims for sport in the Commonwealth.
In addition, a £5 million development grant was made available via the Birmingham 2022 Games budget, funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Birmingham City Council, which enabled the Commonwealth Games Federation to fund a range of sport development initiatives across Commonwealth countries.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the development of advanced semiconductors.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government recognises the importance of semiconductor technology to the global economy. Semiconductors are a fundamental enabling technology for electronic devices and the UK holds strengths in critical aspects of the advanced semiconductor supply chain, including semiconductor design.
The Government is reviewing its approach to the UK’s global semiconductor sector, working with industry experts, representative bodies and the wider global community. The forthcoming Semiconductor Strategy will set out how HMG intends to support this vital and strategically important sector. This will build on existing HMG support for innovation and infrastructure such as the Driving the Electronic Revolution challenge and the National Epitaxy Facility amongst others. We are also collaborating closely with international partners to capitalise and strengthen the UK’s competitive advantage.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to promote London as a destination for tourism.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to supporting the domestic tourism market, including the city of London, by working towards the objectives set out in the Tourism Recovery Plan (TRP).
London was a featured city in VisitBritain’s international marketing campaign Welcome to Another Side of Britain. The GREAT-funded campaign ran in the USA and Europe and was designed to encourage the return of international visitors.
VisitEngland also ran the Escape the Everyday DMO Recovery Marketing Fund. Visit Greenwich was one of the successful DMOs.
In September, VisitBritain hosted Destination Britain North America, a 3-day trade fair in Washington DC, connecting British suppliers with tourism product buyers and media from the US and Canada. 15 London-based suppliers attended. Major events continue to be an important driver of tourism to London and the government will continue to work with stakeholders in the industry to attract important events to venues across the UK.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to promote the UK as an attractive destination for filmmaking.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK remains the leading global destination for inward investors in filmmaking.
In recent years, the government’s actions have helped the film and TV industry bounce back from the pandemic, with production now stronger than ever. This includes the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, supporting over 100,000 jobs and productions worth more than £3 billion, and the Culture Recovery Fund, supporting over 200 independent cinemas.
To build on this, and support the industry to not only survive but thrive, further actions have been taken. This includes the government’s current £1.6million annual funding of the British Film Commission, which has driven a near doubling of UK studio capacity, the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, which is expanding the global reach of UK independent content, and the continued success of our screen sector tax reliefs (for film, high end TV, animation and children’s TV), which in 2021-22 provided £792m of support for over 1000 projects.
The Government will continue to engage closely with industry, the British Film Institute, and the British Film Commission, to further promote the UK as a filmmaking destination and to build upon the success of 2021, which saw a record-breaking £5.64 billion in screen production in the film and high-end TV sectors alone.