Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the BBC Board on the potential impact of changes to programming resulting from reductions in funding on Britain’s soft power.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Secretary of State regularly engages with the BBC Chair on a range of issues, including the BBC World Service.
The BBC’s public service output is primarily funded through the licence fee. The World Service is also supported by a grant-in-aid from the government. Government funding for the World Service in FY 25-26 will be determined as part of the upcoming Spending Review.
In a time where the world faces huge challenges, the government is fully committed to a successful BBC World Service that continues to provide essential, impartial and accurate news coverage and programming reaching millions of people across the globe. The Government strongly values the BBC World Service as a UK soft power asset.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in The Sunday Telegraph, when her Department expects to terminate its contract with Vercida Ltd., procurement reference 103841; and whether a notice period will be required under the provisions of that contract.
Answered by Julia Lopez
DCMS’s current contract with Vercida is set to expire on 1 October 2024 and continuation of the service will be considered at that point in light of the Cabinet Office guidance.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much VisitBritain spent on the promotion of tourism to London under its GREAT-funded international campaigns in financial years (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23, and (c) 2023-24.
Answered by Julia Lopez
As VisitBritain’s GREAT-marketing campaigns cover the whole of Britain, they do not break down spend by specific regions.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's publication on ministerial travel data for July to September 2022, what the cost was of the (a) plane tickets and (b) accommodation used by the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Technology and the Digital Economy on his visit to Indonesia from 30 August to 3 September 2022.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The Government publishes on gov.uk details of the total cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals). But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad, nor details of those accompanying them.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many purchases with a value of less than £500 were made against her Department’s budget using a Government procurement card (a) in calendar year 2022 and (b) from 1 January to 30 November 2023; and what was the total cost of those purchases.
Answered by Julia Lopez
In the calendar year 2022, there were 694 purchases with a value of less than £500 made against the Department’s budget using a government procurement card. The total cost of those purchases was £89,996.23.
From 1 January 2023 to 30 November 2023, there were 631 purchases with a value of less than £500 made against the Department’s budget using a government procurement card. The total cost of those purchases was £77,550.10.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many government procurement cards were held by people to make purchases against her Department’s budget as of (a) 31 December 2022, (b) 31 March 2023 and (c) 31 December 2023.
Answered by Julia Lopez
Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy, boost efficiency, support the Government’s prompt payment initiative for Small and Medium businesses, and help maintain cash flow to suppliers. Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls, and procurement cards are held by officials, not Ministers or Special Advisers.
As of 31 December 2022, the Department had 21 government procurement cards held by DCMS colleagues to make purchases against the Department’s budget.
As of 31 March 2023, the Department had 23 government procurement cards held by DCMS colleagues to make purchases against the Department’s budget.
As of 31 December 2023, the Department had 15 government procurement cards held by DCMS colleagues to make purchases against the Department’s budget.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's gender pay gap report 2023, published on 30 November 2023, what proportion of (a) female and (b) male staff in the scope of the report's calculations received non-consolidated bonuses in the period covered by the report.
Answered by Julia Lopez
In the period covered by our 2023 Gender Pay Gap report, the percentage of men and women receiving a non consolidated bonus is 86.5% and 85.1% respectively.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the contract awarded by her Department to Frontier Economics on 16 November 2023 under procurement reference 103726, if she will publish the specification of requirements in that contract.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The invitation to tender (ITT) in relation to procurement reference 103726 has been published on Contracts Finder.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the awayday held for staff in her Department's policy group on 29 November 2023, how many members of staff attended; what activities did it involve; and whether any costs were incurred in addition to the hire costs for the venue.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Policy Group away day was attended by approximately 360 people in person, with approximately 35 joining online.
The away day was an opportunity for staff working on different policy areas to develop skills, network with other policy professionals and learn about the sectors the Department supports.
The away day was structured in two parts, with informative visits to various organisations within the Department's sectors within central London taking place in the morning, and a conference taking place at Lord’s Cricket Ground in the afternoon.
The afternoon featured three main activities. These included an interactive session delivered by the Department’s Policy Profession on skills and skills gaps within the Group, a session on communication and the art of explanation by an external speaker, and a session on including the “Youth Voice” in policy, led by one of the Department’s arms-length bodies.
Costs incurred were in relation to venue hire, which included catering and an audio visual package. The venue was chosen after an extensive search and procurement process, as well as for its links to one of the sectors the Department oversees. No costs were incurred for any of the morning visits, nor for any of the afternoon sessions.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for her Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
Please refer to the published data at the below links:
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s data is displayed in the below table providing FTE and Headcount figures at the requested dates:
Year | Headcount | FTE |
2011 | 570 | 560 |
2016 | 1210 | 1160 |
2020 | 1280 | 1250 |