Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with local authorities on the (a) affordability and (b) condition of swimming pools in England.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Responsibility for public access to and maintenance of swimming pools lies at local authority level.
In recognition of the benefits of physical activity, including swimming, and the challenges facing the sector, we are providing over £60 million of support for swimming pools. This will help ease cost pressures facing public swimming pool providers and help make facilities sustainable in the long-term through investment in energy efficiency measures. The funding is being delivered in partnership with Sport England and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, following extensive consultation with local authorities and the sector.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with (a) the BBC and (b) Ofcom on the potential impact of the proposals set out in the paper by the BBC entitled The BBC Across the UK, published on 18 March 2021, on local news providers.
Answered by John Whittingdale
I refer the Hon. Member to the reply given to the Hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr on 6 July 2023, PQ UIN 192065.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
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 English National Opera on the funding decisions made by Arts Council England.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State and Ministers regularly meet stakeholders from across the sector and across the country to discuss a range of topics. This includes the English National Opera.
The decisions made by Arts Council England about which institutions to fund, and by how much, in its 2023–26 Investment Programme were taken at arm's length from HM Government. This is in accordance with the well established process, which is published on the Arts Council’s website and made clear in the guidance for applicants. As such, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) does not, nor should it, review individual decisions.
We are pleased that both Arts Council England and the English National Opera are working together on possibilities for the future. Arts Council England has set a provisional budget of up to £24 million to support the English National Opera, subject to successful application, for 2024–26. This is in addition to the £11.46 million of funding already awarded to the ENO for the period April 2023 to March 2024 while it develops its future plans. Further detail was published in the joint statement on 12 April 2023 and can be accessed online. DCMS officials are helping to convene relevant parties and support finding a way forward.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with Arts Council England on the potential impact of reductions in funding for English National Opera.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State and Ministers regularly meet Arts Council England, as an arm’s length body of the Department, to discuss a number of topics.
The decisions made by Arts Council England about which institutions to fund, and by how much, in its 2023–26 Investment Programme were taken at arm's length from HM Government. This is in accordance with the well established process, which is published on the Arts Council’s website and made clear in the guidance for applicants. As such, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) does not, nor should it, review individual decisions.
We are pleased that both Arts Council England and the English National Opera are working together on possibilities for the future of the organisation. Arts Council England has set a provisional budget of up to £24 million to support the English National Opera, subject to successful application, for 2024–26. This is in addition to the £11.46 million of funding already awarded to the ENO for the period April 2023 to March 2024 while it develops its future plans. Further detail was published in the joint statement on 12 April 2023 and can be accessed online. DCMS officials are helping to convene relevant parties and support finding a way forward.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2022 to Question 132433 on Leisure and Swimming Pools, what steps the Government is taking as a result of the roundtable discussion on Tuesday 24 January to discuss the issues affecting the leisure and physical activity sector.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.
Last month I chaired a roundtable discussion with representatives from the public and private leisure sector including organisations such as Ukactive, Sport England, Swim England and the Local Government Association (LGA).
During this session, we discussed the current challenges facing the sector and how we could work together and across government in order to resolve them. Officials remain in contact with representatives from across the sector and are working collaboratively on potential avenues for further support.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with (a) public and (b) private leisure centre and swimming pool operators on the support required by that sector.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I hosted a roundtable on Tuesday 24 January to hear directly from leisure and swimming pool operators in the public and private sector on how the challenges they face. This was attended by a range of organisations, National Governing Bodies and local authority representations. I have regularly met with the National Sector Partner Group, and their membership organisations, to discuss issues affecting the leisure and physical activity sector.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish the membership of her Department's working group for key partners in the leisure centre and swimming pools industry.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I hosted a roundtable on Tuesday 24 January to hear directly from leisure and swimming pool operators in the public and private sector on how the challenges they face. This was attended by a range of organisations, National Governing Bodies and local authority representations. I have regularly met with the National Sector Partner Group, and their membership organisations, to discuss issues affecting the leisure and physical activity sector.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of gambling shops on high streets in London in each the last 5 years.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Gambling Commission records data on premises numbers at a national rather than a local level. In March 2022 its Industry Statistics recorded 6,219 Licensed Betting Shops and 1,285 Adult Gaming Centres in Great Britain and the figures for each reporting period since 2017 are detailed in the table below.
Reporting Period | Adult Gaming Centres | Licensed Betting Shops |
31/03/2017 | 1,548 | 8,800 |
31/03/2018 | 1,481 | 8,559 |
31/03/2019 | 1,464 | 8,304 |
31/03/2020 (revised figures) | 1,464 | 7,683 |
31/03/2021(revised figures) | 1,381 | 6,462 |
31/03/2022 (provisional figures) | 1,285 | 6,219 |
Each Local Authority is required to have a current list of all licensed gambling premises available to access on request under section 156 of the Gambling Act.
Our review of the Gambling Act 2005 is looking at the situation of the land-based gambling industry as part of its wide-ranging scope. A White Paper setting out our conclusions and next steps will be published in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
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 the Leader of the House on her planned timetable for the second reading of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on Monday 18 July 2022 and following the election of the new leader of the Conservative Party, Ministers are further considering the Bill.
We are working with businesses and other stakeholders, at speed, to ensure that the Bill maximises our post-Brexit opportunity, and as mentioned in the Secretary of State’s conference speech, the Bill seeks to retain our data adequacy decision so businesses can trade freely.
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill will continue its passage in due course.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the announcement by Greenwich Leisure on 22 November 2022 that they will be reducing opening hours at swimming pools due to heating costs.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to indoor and outdoor pools and that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.
We appreciate the impact rising energy prices will have on organisations of all sizes, including on leisure operators. In September the government announced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, under which businesses and other non-domestic energy users (including swimming pools) will be offered support. The EBRS is currently under review to ensure support is targeted to the most vulnerable sectors.
Officials in my department are in regular contact with representatives from the sector to assess the impact of rising energy costs, and how operators such as Greenwich Leisure and local authorities are responding to them.
Sport England has invested £12,775,274 in swimming and diving projects since April 2019, which includes £9,360,002 to Swim England. This is in addition to the £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund, which supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country after the pandemic.