Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government is planning to provide additional support for the exhibition industry in response to the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on that sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We recognise that the events industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by Covid-19. We continue to meet with the stakeholders, including through the Visitor Economy Working Group and the Events Industry Senior Leaders Advisory Panel, to discuss the specific issues facing the industry.
Events businesses can continue to make use of the broader support package available to them. This includes the Bounce Back Loans scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
We have worked closely with events stakeholders, through both the Visitor Economy and Events & Entertainment Working Groups, to develop Covid-19 Secure reopening guidance for the business events industry.
We are holding three business event pilots in September as part of our preparations to help the sector safely reopen and begin its recovery. If prevalence remains around or below current levels into the autumn, we will bring back audiences in stadia, and allow conferences and other business events to recommence in a COVID-19 Secure way, from 1 October. This step will only take place once we have a reliable scientific understanding of the impact of reopening schools on the epidemic.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to provide additional support to the live events industry in response to the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on that sector.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS appreciates the important role that the events sector plays in the UK’s cultural economy, and that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to many businesses operating in these sectors.
The Secretary of State provided a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of cultural and creative sectors. This support package will benefit cultural sector services by providing support to cultural venues and many other organisations in the Creative Industries that host live events, to stay open and continue operating.
From 15th August venues and organisations have been able to put on live indoor performances in front of a socially-distanced audience. This is in addition to the earlier announcement that from 11 July we can all enjoy performances outdoors with social distancing. This follows the government’s five-stage roadmap outlining how DCMS will get audiences back into performing arts venues. We are now at Stage Four of the roadmap.
We are committed to continuing to work with the live events sector to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to enable (a) indoor gyms and (b) swimming pools be reopen.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. As announced on 9 July, from 11 July, outdoor swimming pools will be able to open and from 25 July indoor gyms, leisure centres (including sports halls) and swimming pools in England should be able to reopen. These facilities will be able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are COVID-secure and follow Government guidance.
The updated guidance can be found at the GOV.UK website and includes advice for providers of pool, gym and leisure facilities on cleaning, social distancing, and protection for staff to help venues get back up and running safely.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government holds 3D laser maps of historic buildings to provide an accurate record of their construction in the event of damage.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Government does not have a central repository of 3D laser maps that record historic buildings. However, Historic England (HE) have taken steps to record the most notable historic buildings. The HE Geospatial Survey team have created and hold data for 101 historic sites, of which 55 are English Heritage properties. Notable sites that have complete laser scans include Stonehenge, Ironbridge and Harmondsworth Barn. There are a number of buildings in Shrewsbury that have been scanned and mapped. These include Shrewsbury Old Market Hall, the Charles Darwin statue and the Catholic Cathedral and sections of the town wall, by Arrol and Snell. Ironbridge, already noted, is just outside the constituency and is one of the notable sites which has had complete laser scan coverage.
There are more than 400,000 buildings and monuments on the National Heritage List for England, the vast majority in private ownership. It is likely that only a small fraction of these have been subject to comprehensive laser or photogrammetric survey of any kind. Such surveys that do exist are likely to be held by the owners and organisations carrying out the work.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish its response to the civil society strategy consultation, which closed on 22 May 2018.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The engagement exercise for the Civil Society Strategy closed on Tuesday 22 May 2018. We are grateful to all that took part. We are now busy drafting the Civil Society Strategy in collaboration with departments across government and are aiming to publish later this Summer.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps his Department is taking to improve broadband and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
Answered by Margot James
I refer the hon member to my answers to the hon members from Copeland and Banbury during Departmental Oral Questions today.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to prevent the sale of Polish art which was looted during World War 2.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government provides guidance for the UK art market to assist them in determining the history of cultural objects in which they deal. Additionally, Arts Council England provides a Cultural Property Advice website which offers advice to the art trade, museums and private individuals on the buying and selling of art. The trade associations for the UK art market publish codes of ethics for their members which the Government expects to see enforced.
In September 2017, DCMS hosted an international Conference, attended by the major auction houses, which explored ways of speeding up the identification and return of cultural objects lost during the Nazi era. The Government established the Spoliation Advisory Panel in 2000 to advise on claims for the return of items lost during the Nazi era (1933-1945). The Panel can consider claims for items that are privately owned at the joint request of the claimant and the current owner.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
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 improve broadband and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are taking a wide range of initiatives that will improve broadband and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
We have reformed the Electronic Communications Code to make it easier and cheaper to install digital infrastructure. Our ambition is to extend mobile coverage to 95% of the UK’s landmass by 2022 and this will benefit rural areas as well. Ofcom has identified the 700 MHz band as suitable for coverage obligations and we will work with Ofcom to determine the best options.
95% of UK premises will have access to superfast speeds by the end of 2017 and we expect coverage will be extended beyond that to reach at least a further 2% of premises.
All homes and businesses which are unable to receive a speed of at least 2Mbps can benefit from support from the Better Broadband Scheme. Further information on the Scheme can be found on our website (https://basicbroadbandchecker.culture.gov.uk/guide-to-better-broadband-subsidy-scheme.pdf).
As confirmed in our announcement yesterday, we are pushing ahead with our plans for a Universal Service Obligation so that by 2020 everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to high speed broadband.
As part of the Local Full Fibre Network programme, a £4.66 million pilot project has begun to deliver fibre connections to public buildings across West Sussex, including Chichester.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
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 effect on (a) technological development and (b) minimum speeds of the proposal by BT to deliver the Universal Service Obligation.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Department is looking at two approaches for delivering universal broadband of at least 10Mbps - a regulatory USO and BT's voluntary proposal. Assessment of both approaches is ongoing, and a decision will be made in due course on which approach best meets consumers' needs.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made by (a) the National Trust and (b) National Parks England in providing proposals to her Department that outline better engagement with communications providers to tackle mobile not spots, as requested at her Department's not spot summit in February 2016.
Answered by Matt Hancock
I refer the Hon Gentleman to my answer to PQ 56388.