Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether any of the BBC's funding for rural broadband rollout has been allocated to extending superfast broadband to households without such broadband.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The rollout of superfast broadband is on track and an excellent progress has been made. The Government is committed to achieving 95% coverage of homes and businesses in the UK by the end of 2017. Funding from the TV licence fee has been allocated to support delivery of superfast broadband to premises which would not otherwise have had coverage. It will also support delivery of the government's commitment to ensure that all premises have access to basic broadband with speeds of at least 2Mbps by the end of 2015.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to paragraph 1.320 of the Summer Budget 2015, whether the Government plans to provide financial support for the building of a new stadium in Cornwall.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Government supports the plans for a stadium in Cornwall. It would be a great boost to tourism, the local economy and help encourage more people to play and watch sport. The current private sector proposal is very strong and we hope will be successful subject to planning permission. Planning decisions are a matter for the local Council which will report in due course.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what work the Destination Management Organisation has undertaken since its inception.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) manage tourism at the local level, engaging in activities wider than just marketing the local destination. They are required to have a destination management plan which is a shared statement of intent to manage the destination over a period of time, setting out the roles of all stakeholders, and identifying the actions they will take and the apportionment of resources. DMOs are accountable to local partners for delivery against their plans.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish tourism and sports strategies by 21 July 2015.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The sport strategy will be published later this year and we will inform the House in the normal course of business.
The Prime Minister has today launched a five point plan on tourism to spread the benefits of one of our fastest growing sectors beyond the capital. A new inter ministerial group will be formed to coordinate and align action to boost tourism across Government. Copies of the five point plan are available in the House library.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish a financial assessment of the effect on the public purse and the BBC agreement announced on 6 July 2015 that the BBC will fund the provision of TV Licences for those age over 75.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The financial assessment of the impact on the public purse of the agreement with the BBC to take on responsibility for funding over-75s free television licences announced on 6 July 2015 has been published in the Office For Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook, July 2015. Tables 4.13 and 4.14 on pages 110 and 111 and paragraphs 4.128 and 4.129 on page 136 detail changes in the BBC’s expenditure since the March 2015 forecast. The information can be found using the following link: http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/July-2015-EFO-234224.pdf. The impact on the Exchequer has been published in the Summer Budget 2015: policy costings document, on page 61 of the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/443195/Policy_costings_summer_budget_2015.pdf
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish the full text of the agreement he reached with the BBC that the BBC will fund the provision of TV Licences for those age over 75, announced on 6 July 2015.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The full text of the agreement reached between the BBC and the government on funding of the over-75s free television licences has been published on the Gov.uk website, and can be found using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/443735/Letter_from_George_Osborne_and_John_Whittingdale_to_Tony_Hall_FINAL.PDF
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish the letter he sent to the BBC Trust on 3 July 2015.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The full text of the agreement reached between the BBC and the government on funding of the over-75s free television licences has been published on the Gov.uk website, and can be found using the following link:
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2015 to Question 3288, for what reasons he is not able to estimate the cost of collecting information on the number of volunteer-run libraries.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The public library statistics published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy in December 2014 included for the first time a breakdown of the different ways in which communities are involved with their local public library service for each of the local authorities in England. A copy of the annual report is placed in the House Library. However, libraries run by volunteers also operate outside of the public library service provided by local authorities and as previously indicated, the Department does not collect data on their number.
The responsibility of the Secretary of State under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 is to superintend, and promote the improvement of, the public library service provided by local authorities in England and secure the proper discharge by local authorities of their duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient public library service. This responsibility does not extend to libraries which operate outside of the public library service provided by local authorities and for this reason information is not collected. To do so would require the initial and on-going input of 151 local authorities in England, as well as contributions from other sources and analysis of the robustness of the data.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2015 to Question 3292 on creating a cultural protection fund, which key cultural organisations agree that this measure is needed.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Stakeholders which have expressed their support include: the British Council, British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, UNESCO, UK National Committee of the Blue Shield, British Institute for the Study of Iraq and the Council for British Archaeology among others.
The Government will be leading discussions with key cultural stakeholders as part of the process of the development of the cultural protection fund.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of tickets for the 2015 Rugby World Cup available on the secondary market.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I have made no assessment. My officials are in regular contact with the ER2015 about ticket sales, including the secondary market.