Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the National Youth Strategy will join up youth worker training and parent support.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government recognises the vital role that youth workers play in the lives of young people. We are backing the first steps of the National Youth Strategy with over £500 million of DCMS funding to increase local access to enriching activities, trusted adults and welcoming spaces. This includes investing £15 million over 3 years in youth workers, volunteers and other trusted adults including helping organisations to recruit, train, and keep more individuals to support young people.
The National Youth Strategy will deliver better recognition for paid and volunteer youth workers as well as more fit-for-purpose training, qualifications, and employment routes into the youth sector. Through the Strategy, the Government will also work closely with parents to ensure they get the support they need to guide their children. The Best Start in Life Parent Hub website launched on 1 September, as the first step in developing the Best Start digital service to support parents.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the training referred to in the National Youth Strategy will be made available for parents of young people.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are investing £15 million over the next 3 years in youth workers, volunteers, and other trusted adults to up-skill the existing youth sector workforce and increase the number of trusted adults providing safe support to young people. This funding does not include training for parents and carers.
However, we are committed to further work to improve access to resources for parents and families to support their children. For example, DSIT is developing an awareness campaign to support parents and carers in building their children's resilience to misleading and polarising online content. We will also ensure schools work more closely with parents, with clearer expectations. This is in addition to the government’s work to provide children with the Best Start in Life, including ways for parents to join courses and a new digital platform to give parents easy access to a network of advice, support and guidance to help their children thrive.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the National Youth Strategy will help youth organisations to set boundaries and safeguarding protocols to protect young people and service providers.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As part of the new National Youth Strategy, a £15 million investment will be delivered over three years to strengthen the youth sector workforce by increasing the number of youth workers, volunteers and wider trusted adults and providing upskilling opportunities. We will be working with the sector to design the workforce funding to ensure it meets needs and has the right expectations on safeguarding.
The Government has committed to supporting trusted adults to adhere to safeguarding standards and have the right understanding of the challenges young people are facing today. We will also continue to fund the National Youth Agency to deliver an online safeguarding and risk management hub to provide guidance, support and access to training resources for all organisations and individuals working with young people.
Beyond the measures above, the Department for Education held a Call for Evidence on Safeguarding in Out-of-School Settings, including youth clubs and other forms of youth work, between May and September this year. Analysis and further engagement are ongoing, before the Government responds in due course.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how she will ensure helping young people to develop relationships with trusted adults aligns with safeguarding expectations
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As part of the new National Youth Strategy, a £15 million investment will be delivered over three years to strengthen the youth sector workforce by increasing the number of youth workers, volunteers and wider trusted adults and providing upskilling opportunities. We will be working with the sector to design the workforce funding to ensure it meets needs and has the right expectations on safeguarding.
The Government has committed to supporting trusted adults to adhere to safeguarding standards and have the right understanding of the challenges young people are facing today. We will also continue to fund the National Youth Agency to deliver an online safeguarding and risk management hub to provide guidance, support and access to training resources for all organisations and individuals working with young people.
Beyond the measures above, the Department for Education held a Call for Evidence on Safeguarding in Out-of-School Settings, including youth clubs and other forms of youth work, between May and September this year. Analysis and further engagement are ongoing, before the Government responds in due course.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 recent discussions with universities and cultural institutions on the potential merits of establishing scholarships or research funding for communities impacted by Britain's colonial legacy.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Whilst no such discussions have taken place directly, the Department is in contact with National Museums Liverpool (NML) on the development and refurbishment of the International Slavery Museum, which is being co-produced working closely with Liverpool’s communities. Current proposals include a space for a new National Centre for Teaching Black History, which will continue NML’s partnership with the University of Liverpool by developing a research lab with the Centre for the Study of International Slavery and supporting organisations, through the Transatlantic Slavery & Legacies in Museums Forum.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to take steps with museums and other institutions to repatriate African ancestral remains to their countries of origin.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Museums are independent of the government and so decisions related to their collections are for their trustees to make. However, DCMS has previously issued Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums which encouraged museums to establish an advisory framework to assist in determining repatriation claims and provided a set of criteria which need to be taken into account in assessing claims. Museums publish their own policies under this guidance. We are considering how best to update the guidance, which is now 20 years old.
A number of museums, working in close partnership with the communities or countries of origin, have returned human remains to communities or countries in Africa, including the National Army Museum returning locks of hair of Emperor Tewodros II to Ethiopia, and Glasgow University’s Hunterian Museum recently returning ancestral remains of six people to South Africa.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the All Party-Parliamentary Group on Afrikan-Reparations's report entitled Laying Ancestors to Rest, published in March 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of banning the (a) sale and (b) public display in UK institutions of African ancestral remains.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is aware of the issues this report raises and, whilst no such assessments have been made, The Museums Minister met separately recently with DHSC to discuss options on the sale of human remains following the Minister for Museums, Heritage and Gambling’s commitment in a Lords debate in March.
Under the current framework it is for businesses to decide whether to prohibit sales of human remains, while taking into account provisions in the Human Tissue Act 2004 and their own professional standards. We would however expect those involved to consider the ethical implications of this activity. All human remains should be treated with respect and dignity.
DCMS issued Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums in 2005 which covers the curation, care and display of human remains in museums. We are considering how best to update the guidance, which is now 20 years old.
Museums are independent of the government and are responsible for decisions relating to the care and management of their collections, including the display of human remains, and publish policies on their approach, based on the legal and ethical framework set out in the DCMS guidance.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the All Party-Parliamentary Group on Afrikan-Reparations's report entitled Laying Ancestors to Rest, published in March 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of reviewing the Human Tissue Act 2004 to require the repatriation of human remains over 100 years old.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Museums are independent of the government and are responsible for decisions relating to the care and management of their collections, including the return of human remains, therefore no such assessment has been undertaken.
However, DCMS has previously issued Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums which encouraged museums to establish an advisory framework to assist in determining repatriation claims and provided a set of criteria which need to be taken into account in assessing claims. Individual museums publish policies on their approach. We are considering how best to update the guidance, which is now 20 years old.
A number of museums, including the Natural History Museum, the Horniman Museum, and the Pitt Rivers Museum, working in close partnership with the communities or countries of origin, have returned human remains.
Separately, the Museums Minister met this month with DHSC to discuss broader issues of human remains including those relating to the Human Tissue Act 2004.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department had held discussions with museums and other cultural institutions on the potential merits of engaging with communities on colonial-era acquisitions and the transatlantic slave trade.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Museums in the UK are independent from the government and so decisions on engaging with communities are operational matters for them and their trustees to decide.
The Department is in regular contact with our 15 sponsored museums, and as part of this has from time to time had discussions on these issues. The Horniman Museum informed us that it had consulted local communities regarding the Benin Bronzes in its collection, before reaching a decision to transfer legal title to the objects to the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
The Department is working closely with National Museums Liverpool on the development and refurbishment of the International Slavery Museum (ISM), which is being co-produced working closely with Liverpool’s communities, and will include a space for a new National Centre for Teaching Black History.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to work with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to (a) improve awareness of cardiac risk among young athletes and (b) ensure sports clubs have access to (i) screening and (ii) defibrillator equipment.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sport England, DCMS’s Arm's-Length Body for grassroots sport, is helping increase awareness of cardiac risk among young athletes in the community sports sector, including signposting to information about screening, through Buddle, its online site for clubs and community organisations. They can also provide funding to community sports clubs for Automated External Defibrillators through their Movement Fund.
I will continue to work with ministerial colleagues at the Department for Health and Social Care on these issues.