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.
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 representatives of public swimming pools on the cost of running swimming pools in the context of the cost of living crisis.
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.
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 finding in the 2022 Nuffield Health Healthier Nation Index that almost half of the female population have done no vigorous exercise in the past 12 months.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I am absolutely committed to supporting women's sport at every opportunity including pushing for greater participation. I recognise the impact that the pandemic has had on women’s sport. Sport England’s latest Active Lives data, published in April this year, shows that men (63%) are still more likely to be active than women (60%).
There are some fantastic initiatives that exist to encourage women to take up sport and physical activity, for example Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, which has already inspired millions of women and girls to get active regardless of shape, size and ability. This Girl Can has also been working with ukactive and the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) to provide resources and training to help leisure and fitness facilities ensure their spaces are safe and inclusive for all women.
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 steps she is taking to help improve the affordability of leisure centres and gyms for low-income households.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and everyone, regardless of their background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities. Leisure centres and gyms are not just great places to be active, they also provide vital social spaces and community hubs.
Throughout the pandemic, the government provided the £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund which supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country, protecting access to these facilities for those who most needed them.
Sport England has developed tools and guidance to assist local authorities with the strategic planning of leisure facilities and services to encourage low-income and other disadvantaged groups to be active in the facilities they operate for their communities. This guidance assists local authorities to determine what the local strategic outcomes and priorities are for their area and the local residents. Local Authorities and their operating partners are encouraged to consider how concessionary pricing and other subsidised activities can help in achieving this.
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, when she expects the inquiry into the Collegiate Charitable Foundation to be concluded.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into The Collegiate Charitable Trust in 2018. It is considering regulatory issues relating to the administration of the charity by the trustees.
Due to the nature of the concerns, interim managers were appointed to manage the charity. The timeframe of the inquiry depends on the interim manager’s findings and any other regulatory action which may be required. Neither the government nor the Charity Commission is able to provide further information on the inquiry until it has concluded.
While DCMS is the Charity Commission’s sponsor department, the Commission is an independent regulator and not subject to ministerial direction or control. As with other regulatory inquiries, once it is complete the Charity Commission will publish a report on its website in line with its processes.
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 assessment the Government has made of the effect of the change to visa rules on the creative industry following the UK's departure from the EU.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Government recognises that the way creative workers work in the EU has changed, and the sector will need to adapt to new requirements as the UK is no longer in the EU. The Government is committed to supporting the sector to adapt to these new arrangements, and we have worked with the sector and directly with Member States to clarify what creative workers need to do.
EU Member States are principally responsible for deciding the rules governing what work UK visitors can undertake in each Member State. That is why we have engaged with EU Member States and, from these discussions, almost all Member States have confirmed they offer visa and work permit free routes for creative performers.
The UK’s domestic rules allow musicians, entertainers and artists (and their technical staff) from non-visa national countries, such as EU Member States and the US, to perform in the UK without requiring a visa, and the UK does not require work permits.
We have continued to engage with the creative sectors to help understand the impact of these changes on the creative sectors.
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, how much of the £300 million summer sports recovery package, announced in 2021, has been delivered to cricket organisations; and which organisations have received that funding.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Sport Survival Package launched in November 2020 to ensure sport organisations survive the period of coronavirus restrictions which prevented spectators from attending spectator sport events. Whilst coronavirus restrictions were in place, we engaged with the whole sport sector, including the England and Wales Cricket Board as cricket’s national governing body, to understand the evolving challenges and support recovery. No cricket organisations applied for funding through the package and therefore did not receive Survival Package support. Every eligible organisation who could demonstrate an urgent financial need in alignment with the fund criteria received support from the package.
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 the Government will publish a strategy setting out how the UK can help ensure resilience in (a) domestic and (b) international supply chains of semiconductors and other critical technologies.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the importance of semiconductor technology to the global economy. Semiconductors are a fundamental enabling technology for electronic devices and there is significant attention being paid to the sector internationally, not least because a confluence of unexpected events have caused a global chips shortage with global ramifications. The supply chains for semiconductor products are incredibly complex, spanning a large number of countries and the government understands the potential for future disruptions to the supply chain.
The Government is reviewing its approach to the semiconductors sector working closely with industry experts and representative bodies. We are considering how best to mitigate the risk of future disruption to technology supply chains, and ensure that the UK can continue to get access to the chips it needs. We are working closely with our international partners, recognising that, as a set of global markets, these issues cannot be solved by the UK alone.
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 her Department is taking steps to review the resilience of (a) semiconductor and (b) other critical technology supply chains.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the importance of semiconductor technology to the global economy. Semiconductors are a fundamental enabling technology for electronic devices and there is significant attention being paid to the sector internationally, not least because a confluence of unexpected events have caused a global chips shortage with global ramifications. The supply chains for semiconductor products are incredibly complex, spanning a large number of countries and the government understands the potential for future disruptions to the supply chain.
The Government is reviewing its approach to the semiconductors sector working closely with industry experts and representative bodies. We are considering how best to mitigate the risk of future disruption to technology supply chains, and ensure that the UK can continue to get access to the chips it needs. We are working closely with our international partners, recognising that, as a set of global markets, these issues cannot be solved by the UK alone.
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 steps her Department is taking to tackle skills shortages in the performing arts technical skills sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the creative sectors continue to grow and build back better from the pandemic, the government understands the importance of ensuring that the creative industries do not suffer from skills shortages, including the performing arts technical skills sector. That is why the government has supported initiatives to boost training and employment opportunities in these sectors, such as the industry-led Creative Careers Programme.
Throughout the pandemic, DCMS Ministers and officials have had, and continue to have, regular meetings and discussions with representatives of the theatre sector on a range of issues. The Arts Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay has had a number of meetings with theatres, both one-to-one and collectively. In February, the Minister for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure held a creative apprentices roundtable with industry to mark apprenticeships week - this was attended by apprentices from the Royal Opera House and the National Theatre. We continue to involve the theatre sector in ongoing policy work.
At last year’s Budget, the Chancellor announced a new £7 million pilot fund to test ‘flexi-job’ apprenticeships, which will better suit the working practices of the creative industries and enable more young people to enter the workforce. This builds on the DCMS-funded ScreenSkills Apprenticeship Pilot with Netflix and Warner Media, relaunched last Summer with apprentices working across multiple productions and employers.
DCMS supports the industry-led Creative Careers Programme, which has to date showcased creative career pathways to over 115,000 pupils at over 1,500 schools across England, as well as the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart Scheme through which over 8,000 creative industry placements are now available to young people across the country.
DCMS is also leading on the development of a Creative Industries Sector Vision, due to be published in summer 2022, which will set out our vision for the sector in 2030 and a long-term strategy focused on promoting growth within the sector. This includes considering the skills, workforce and talent pipeline challenges and opportunities for the sector.