Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the longest period of time was between the (a) acceptance of an application to the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) and (b) full payment of the award of funds during phase two of the CRF.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many of the successful applicants in Phase 2 of the Culture Recovery Fund are awaiting the receipt of funds; and how much funding remains to be paid.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many of the successful applicants in Phase 2 of the Culture Recovery Fund have received all of the funds awarded to them.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications were received in the initial competition for the post of Chair of Ofcom; and how many candidates were interviewed for that position.
Answered by John Whittingdale
A total of eleven candidates applied and subsequently four were interviewed. This process was conducted in line with the Governance Code for Public Appointments and has been regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what representations his Department received on the process for the appointment of the Chair of Ofcom, excluding candidate applications and expressions of interest.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The recent process to appoint the permanent Chair of Ofcom was conducted in line with the Governance Code for Public Appointments and has been regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. In line with the governance code, the Minister is advised during this process by an advisory assessment panel who are required to make an independent and objective assessment as to whether candidates meet the published criteria. The panel included a Senior Independent Panel Member, two further members who are independent of the department and Ofcom and a senior department official.