Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the forthcoming National Visitor Economy Strategy will include consideration of the role and growth potential of the UK outbound travel industry.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The forthcoming Visitor Economy Growth Plan (VEGP), which will set out a long term plan to increase visitor flows across the UK, boost value, and deliver sustainable growth. This will include consideration of the role of the UK’s outbound travel industry in generating growth.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 support economic growth for (a) travel agents and (b) tour operators.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has recently announced the Small Business Plan. It outlines how we will make thriving small and medium sized businesses, which includes travel agents and tour operators, a reality across the UK through the most significant package of legislative reforms in 25 years to tackle late payments; unlocking billions of pounds in finance to support businesses to invest; removing unnecessary red tape; revitalising the High Street as a place to do business; and delivering growth boosting support for Digital and AI Adoption with a new online Business Growth Service.
The British Tourist Authority (BTA) supports specialist travel businesses through marketing and trade opportunities, linking UK businesses with the travel trade globally through events.
In addition to this, the BTA offers training programmes, research insights, and targeted funding schemes that help travel businesses reach international markets and build capability. It connects operators with overseas buyers through both international trade events and UK based hosted buyer programmes, promotes bookable products via its platforms, and provides data, tools, and grants to strengthen the UK’s visitor economy.
The Government has also launched The Business Growth Service as part of the Small Business Plan. This makes it easier and quicker for businesses to get the help, support and advice they need to start, grow and succeed.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 (a) recognise and (b) support the outbound travel industry.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS recognises the contribution of the outbound travel sector to the UK economy, which in 2024, saw pre-trip outbound spending reach £40 billion.
The Government is dedicated to ensuring smooth and efficient border crossings for UK citizens traveling to and from the EU. Following confirmation from the European Union that there are no legal barriers to the use of e-gates for UK nationals travelling in and out of EU Member States, the Government has proactively engaged with a wide range of counterparts across Europe.Several countries, including Bulgaria and Portugal, already expanded e-gate access to new locations for UK travellers, and many more countries including Switzerland, Estonia, and Austria have committed to further expansion in due course.
To provide a more stable environment for businesses that arrange overseas travel, the Department for Business and Trade have recently announced reforms to The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements 2018. These changes simplify the regulations and provide stronger redress rights for travel providers, supporting UK tourism businesses selling holidays at home and abroad.
DCMS is also committed to working with airlines, rail and the cruise sector to support route development and encourage regional growth throughout the UK. This in turn benefits the essential infrastructure used by UK residents travelling overseas.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of maintaining investment in the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait in advance of their 2026 replenishments.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK played a leading role in establishing both Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and we remain advocates for both. We committed £80 million towards ECW's current strategic plan (2023 to 2026), alongside an additional £14 million for the Sudan regional response announced in November 2024. In October, the UK fulfilled our £430 million pledge to GPE for its current 2021-2026 strategic plan. The UK's future commitments to both funds are being determined as part of our multi-year budget allocation process, the outcome of which will be set out in due course.