Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
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 support age-appropriate news content for children that promotes civic engagement.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of children’s programming and the positive impact it can have on a child’s development. This can be supported not only through educational programming, but through high-quality narratives and storytelling, building their understanding of the world around them. We are committed to supporting high quality, culturally relevant, UK-made children’s content and the considerable benefits it brings.
The Government provides generous tax reliefs at a rate of 39% of UK production costs for children’s TV and for animation (equivalent to 29.25% net after tax), with no cap on the total funds available. Additionally, as part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan, we are investing in the future of film and TV - including through a £75 million Screen Growth Package over three years, aimed at making the UK the premier global hub for screen content production.
The Government continues to engage with creators, producers, broadcasters, and video-sharing platforms to see how they can work more closely together to surface UK-made, high quality content. We welcome the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into children’s TV and video content, and look forward to its conclusions.
More broadly, we recognise that news media plays a vital role particularly at local level in aiding social cohesion and civic engagement, and acting as a key source of trustworthy information to help counter mis and disinformation. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of local journalism. One pillar of the Strategy will focus on helping local media over the longer term to adapt to changing online audience habits, including by promoting the value of journalism to young people, who are the most likely segment of the population to use alternative sources of news and information. More will be announced on the Strategy in due course.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of plans for the future of children’s programming.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of children’s programming and the positive impact it can have on a child’s development. This can be supported not only through educational programming, but through high-quality narratives and storytelling, building their understanding of the world around them. We are committed to supporting high quality, culturally relevant, UK-made children’s content and the considerable benefits it brings.
The Government provides generous tax reliefs at a rate of 39% of UK production costs for children’s TV and for animation (equivalent to 29.25% net after tax), with no cap on the total funds available. Additionally, as part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan, we are investing in the future of film and TV - including through a £75 million Screen Growth Package over three years, aimed at making the UK the premier global hub for screen content production.
The Government continues to engage with creators, producers, broadcasters, and video-sharing platforms to see how they can work more closely together to surface UK-made, high quality content. We welcome the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into children’s TV and video content, and look forward to its conclusions.
More broadly, we recognise that news media plays a vital role particularly at local level in aiding social cohesion and civic engagement, and acting as a key source of trustworthy information to help counter mis and disinformation. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of local journalism. One pillar of the Strategy will focus on helping local media over the longer term to adapt to changing online audience habits, including by promoting the value of journalism to young people, who are the most likely segment of the population to use alternative sources of news and information. More will be announced on the Strategy in due course.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
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 support funding for effective UK-produced programming for children.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of children’s programming and the positive impact it can have on a child’s development. This can be supported not only through educational programming, but through high-quality narratives and storytelling, building their understanding of the world around them. We are committed to supporting high quality, culturally relevant, UK-made children’s content and the considerable benefits it brings.
The Government provides generous tax reliefs at a rate of 39% of UK production costs for children’s TV and for animation (equivalent to 29.25% net after tax), with no cap on the total funds available. Additionally, as part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan, we are investing in the future of film and TV - including through a £75 million Screen Growth Package over three years, aimed at making the UK the premier global hub for screen content production.
The Government continues to engage with creators, producers, broadcasters, and video-sharing platforms to see how they can work more closely together to surface UK-made, high quality content. We welcome the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into children’s TV and video content, and look forward to its conclusions.
More broadly, we recognise that news media plays a vital role particularly at local level in aiding social cohesion and civic engagement, and acting as a key source of trustworthy information to help counter mis and disinformation. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of local journalism. One pillar of the Strategy will focus on helping local media over the longer term to adapt to changing online audience habits, including by promoting the value of journalism to young people, who are the most likely segment of the population to use alternative sources of news and information. More will be announced on the Strategy in due course.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the contribution of educational children’s programming to children's development.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of children’s programming and the positive impact it can have on a child’s development. This can be supported not only through educational programming, but through high-quality narratives and storytelling, building their understanding of the world around them. We are committed to supporting high quality, culturally relevant, UK-made children’s content and the considerable benefits it brings.
The Government provides generous tax reliefs at a rate of 39% of UK production costs for children’s TV and for animation (equivalent to 29.25% net after tax), with no cap on the total funds available. Additionally, as part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan, we are investing in the future of film and TV - including through a £75 million Screen Growth Package over three years, aimed at making the UK the premier global hub for screen content production.
The Government continues to engage with creators, producers, broadcasters, and video-sharing platforms to see how they can work more closely together to surface UK-made, high quality content. We welcome the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into children’s TV and video content, and look forward to its conclusions.
More broadly, we recognise that news media plays a vital role particularly at local level in aiding social cohesion and civic engagement, and acting as a key source of trustworthy information to help counter mis and disinformation. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of local journalism. One pillar of the Strategy will focus on helping local media over the longer term to adapt to changing online audience habits, including by promoting the value of journalism to young people, who are the most likely segment of the population to use alternative sources of news and information. More will be announced on the Strategy in due course.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
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 ensure that children’s programming is culturally relevant and promotes positive values.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the importance of children’s programming and the positive impact it can have on a child’s development. This can be supported not only through educational programming, but through high-quality narratives and storytelling, building their understanding of the world around them. We are committed to supporting high quality, culturally relevant, UK-made children’s content and the considerable benefits it brings.
The Government provides generous tax reliefs at a rate of 39% of UK production costs for children’s TV and for animation (equivalent to 29.25% net after tax), with no cap on the total funds available. Additionally, as part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan, we are investing in the future of film and TV - including through a £75 million Screen Growth Package over three years, aimed at making the UK the premier global hub for screen content production.
The Government continues to engage with creators, producers, broadcasters, and video-sharing platforms to see how they can work more closely together to surface UK-made, high quality content. We welcome the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into children’s TV and video content, and look forward to its conclusions.
More broadly, we recognise that news media plays a vital role particularly at local level in aiding social cohesion and civic engagement, and acting as a key source of trustworthy information to help counter mis and disinformation. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of local journalism. One pillar of the Strategy will focus on helping local media over the longer term to adapt to changing online audience habits, including by promoting the value of journalism to young people, who are the most likely segment of the population to use alternative sources of news and information. More will be announced on the Strategy in due course.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department of the report by BBC Children’s & Education entitled Socioeconomic Impact of BBC Children’s and Education, published on 3 March 2026.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has noted the BBC report on Socioeconomic Impact of BBC Children’s and Education, published on 3 March 2026, and strongly supports the BBC providing high quality children’s and educational content.
The BBC’s Royal Charter sets out its Mission and Public Purposes, including to inform, educate and entertain; support learning of people at all ages, including children and teenagers. The BBC is a significant provider of original UK children’s programmes, and in 2024, accounted for 88% of all first-run UK-originated children’s programming by Public Service Broadcasters. The volume of informal learning content on BBC iPlayer has also grown by 60% since 2021.
The Government published a Green Paper on BBC Charter Review last year, which also sets out our ambition for the BBC to support ‘at risk’ content, including children’s and educational content. We also want the BBC to build on its work helping people of all ages build digital skills and confidence - through services like BBC Bitesize - to ensure that everyone can continue to benefit from its services.
The BBC is a cornerstone of our world-leading creative economy because of its reach and impact - nurturing home-grown talent, driving technological change, and encouraging investment into the UK creative sector. The Charter Review is a vital way we can support this ecosystem and will focus on ensuring the BBC is able to continue playing a central role in the growth of the UK’s creative economy, including entering into mutually beneficial partnerships.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
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 ensure children, especially from lower-income families, have access to regular, free community sports activities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including children and young people, have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Government provides the majority of support for community sport through Sport England, our Arm’s Length Body for grassroots sport, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in grassroots sport, including providing more opportunities for children and young people from all backgrounds to be active.
As examples of the support they provide, Sport England’s online resource, Buddle, offers free online guidance to support sports clubs offering sport and physical activity opportunities for everyone, including children and young people. They also encourage the sport sector to prioritise young people's perspectives through their free online Youth Voice Innovation Storybook.
Sport England also use campaigns to encourage young people to get active.The Studio You partnership for PE teachers is powered by their This Girl Can campaign and funded by The National Lottery, and is a digital exercise platform for teenage girls across England, which teaches a variety of non-competitive activities to ensure no girl is left behind in PE. The Play Their Way campaign for sports coaches empowers coaches to adopt a child-first approach to coaching so children and young people have the best experience possible when developing their interest in sport.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
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 ensure stable, long-term funding for free community sports activities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including children and young people, have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Government provides the majority of support for community sport through Sport England, our Arm’s Length Body for grassroots sport, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in grassroots sport, including providing more opportunities for children and young people from all backgrounds to be active.
As examples of the support they provide, Sport England’s online resource, Buddle, offers free online guidance to support sports clubs offering sport and physical activity opportunities for everyone, including children and young people. They also encourage the sport sector to prioritise young people's perspectives through their free online Youth Voice Innovation Storybook.
Sport England also use campaigns to encourage young people to get active.The Studio You partnership for PE teachers is powered by their This Girl Can campaign and funded by The National Lottery, and is a digital exercise platform for teenage girls across England, which teaches a variety of non-competitive activities to ensure no girl is left behind in PE. The Play Their Way campaign for sports coaches empowers coaches to adopt a child-first approach to coaching so children and young people have the best experience possible when developing their interest in sport.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
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 regional and local media.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Supporting and sustaining local and regional media across the country is a particular concern for this Government, including in Tewkesbury and more broadly across Gloucestershire. The Government understands the important work that local and regional media do, including outlets such as Gloucestershire Live and the Cotswold Journal. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. Our vision is a thriving local media that can continue to play an invaluable role as a key channel of trustworthy information at local level, reporting on the issues that matter to communities, reflecting their contributions and perspectives, and helping to foster a self-confident nation in which everyone feels that their contribution is part of an inclusive national story. The overarching goal of the Strategy is to empower communities through a thriving local media which reflects the issues that matter to them, helping to drive community wellbeing and local growth.
We are working across Government and with other stakeholders as the Strategy develops. DCMS ministers held a roundtable discussion with local news editors last year to discuss the planned approach and collaboration with industry on the Strategy. An industry working group has been meeting regularly since June to consider the issues in more detail. More will be announced on the Strategy in the coming months.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the BBC Board on ensuring that it continues to report on local and regional stories of interest.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State meets regularly with the Chair to discuss a wide range of issues.
The Government is currently undertaking a review of the BBC’s Royal Charter. The Green Paper sets out our ambition for the BBC to tell a unifying national story that represents all communities across the UK, and to ensure the BBC provides locally relevant services as it supports the delivery of high quality local journalism.