Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Charity Commission communicated concerns to (a) charities and (b) her Department on the political use of (i) email accounts and (ii) social media profiles by employees of charities classified as working in education in the last five years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
For many years, the Charity Commission has published clear guidance on political and campaigning activity by charities. The Charity Commission also recently published a shorter and more accessible version of this guidance (a ‘5-minute guide’), to help communicate its key principles to charity trustees.
If an individual has concerns that a charity’s political or campaigning activity goes beyond what is permitted, they should raise them with the Charity Commission. Such concerns could include the inappropriate use of the charity’s IT or social media.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what fiscal steps the Government plans to take to ensure that the creative industries can start growing again as the economy recovers from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to working with the creative industries to support their recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Government’s response to Covid-19 has been one of the most generous and comprehensive in the world. This includes the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, both of which have been extended until April 2021.The Chancellor has announced a further £4.6 billion in new lockdown grants to support businesses and protect jobs through the current national lockdown.
In addition to an extensive package of economy-wide support, last year the Government announced the unprecedented £1.57 billion support package for the culture sector and, as of 11 December 2020, over £1 billion has been allocated across all four nations of the UK. This funding is supporting the arts and culture sector to survive the pandemic.
In July 2020, the Government announced a UK-wide £500 million Restart scheme to support film and TV production companies that have been unable to film due to the lack of insurance covering Covid-related risks. As of 20 January, the scheme is supporting over 16,000 jobs and over £470 million of production spend across the UK.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the economic effect on UK exports of musicians being unable to tour as freely in the EU after 1 January 2021 as they used to.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government recognises the importance of international touring for UK cultural and creative practitioners, and their support staff.
We know that while leaving the EU will bring changes and new processes to touring and working in the EU, it will also bring new opportunities. In all circumstances, we expect the UK’s creative output to continue to be an export that is as highly valued in the European Union as it is across the world.
Leaving the EU has always meant that there would be changes to how practitioners operate in the EU. DCMS has engaged with the sector extensively throughout negotiations and since the announcement of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement to understand the diverse circumstances of companies, organisations and individual practitioners and how they may need to adapt as they plan activity across the European Union.
Going forward we will continue to work closely with the sector, including with representative organisations, to assess impact and to ensure businesses and individuals have the advice and guidance they need to meet new requirements.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the Government’s policy position is on supporting job creation in the creative industries as part of its covid-19 recovery plan.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government’s response to Covid-19 impacts on workers has been one of the most generous and comprehensive in the world. This includes the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, both of which have been extended until April 2021. The £2 billion Kickstart Scheme is creating job placements for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit.
In addition, the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund is providing further targeted support to critical cultural, arts and heritage organisations to help them, and the skilled workers that work in them, survive and recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. As of 11 December 2020, over £1 billion of the fund has been allocated across all four nations of the UK.
In July 2020, the Government also announced a UK-wide £500 million Restart scheme to support film and TV production companies and their workforce. As of 20 January, the scheme is supporting over 16,000 jobs and over £470 million of production spend across the UK.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent economic assessment the Government has made of the effect on UK-based creative workers not being able to travel freely within the EU after 1 January 2021.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government recognises the importance of international touring for UK cultural and creative practitioners, and their support staff.
We know that while leaving the EU will bring changes and new processes to touring and working in the EU, it will also bring new opportunities. In all circumstances, we expect the UK’s creative output to continue to be an export that is as highly valued in the European Union as it is across the world.
Leaving the EU has always meant that there would be changes to how practitioners operate in the EU. DCMS has engaged with the sector extensively throughout negotiations and since the announcement of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement to understand the diverse circumstances of companies, organisations and individual practitioners and how they may need to adapt as they plan activity across the European Union.
Going forward we will continue to work closely with the sector, including with representative organisations, to assess impact and to ensure businesses and individuals have the advice and guidance they need to meet new requirements.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of youth club closures on the rate of crime committed by young people.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Government recognises that there are a range of complex causes of youth crime and that these are often tied to local factors. However, it is the local authorities’ role to allocate funding and deliver youth services in line with local need. We are not aware of any conclusive evidence of a direct link between the closure of youth clubs and crimes committed by young people.
This government is committed to young people and levelling up opportunities. We are investing £500 million over five years through the new Youth Investment Fund to build new youth centres, refurbish existing youth facilities, provide mobile facilities for harder to reach areas, and to invest in the youth work profession and frontline services.
Government is also funding up to £7 million this financial year through the Youth Accelerator Fund, expanding existing successful projects that are delivering positive activities for young people, and to address urgent needs in the youth sector. UK Youth is distributing over £1 million of this funding to grassroots youth organisations across the country.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to Answer Named Day Question 11504 on Loneliness tabled by the Hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South on 3 February 2020.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
I answered the PQ in question on 20 February 2020.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Government’s loneliness strategy in helping to tackle loneliness.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Government is committed to understanding the impact of its activity on loneliness and will use this insight to inform future decision-making. The 60 commitments made in the loneliness strategy vary widely and so learning is captured in different ways. Many of these commitments are still in progress and findings will emerge over time. For example, an independent evaluation of the £11.5m Building Connections Fund is underway, and findings will be published from mid-2020 onwards.
The first annual report on government’s work on tackling loneliness was published on 20th January 2020. It highlighted the progress made so far, including 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 £2m of grant-funding to help frontline grassroots organisations that bring people together.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with her Department’s officials about the circumstances of the award of a £100,000 grant to the company Hacker House in January 2019.
Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes
I have instructed my officials to commission a review that will look into allegations from the Sunday Times in relation to Hacker House’s application for grant funding awarded under the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund. Subject to any legal restrictions (such as data protection laws and duties to protect commercial or confidential information), I have asked my officials to make available the relevant information regarding the decision making process as soon as possible, and by 31 October 2019 at the latestAsked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that digital resources and services provided by his Department are accessible to people with sensory losses.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Government recognises the importance of Digital Inclusion. The Government Digital Service launched the Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy in April 2014. The Strategy sets out actions that Government and partners from the public, private and voluntary sector will take to reduce digital exclusion.
All departments will undertake end-to-end service redesign of all transactional services with over 100,000 transactions each year. All new or redesigned transactional services will meet a new Digital by Default Service Standard. It is important Government does not leave anyone behind in this move to a digital by default approach. We will provide appropriate support for people to use digital services, as well as other ways to access services for people who need them.