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 staff within (a) her core Department and (b) executive agencies of her Department at the end of calendar years (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Core Department:
A total of 23 DCMS core civil servants held government procurement cards at the end of the 2022 calendar year. A total of 15 DCMS core civil servants held government procurement cards at the end of the 2023 calendar year. This enabled them to make purchases against the Department’s budget, subject to internal policy and approval.
Executive Agencies:
DCMS does not hold executive agency GPC data.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 9065 on Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Ministers' Private Offices, how much was spent on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in her Department between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024; and on what items this was spent.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS spent £120,687.71 incl VAT on the refurbishment of Ministerial offices during the period 4th July 2022 to 4th July 2024 on new furniture, fittings plus other refurbishment (including moves). This is broken down as follows:
New furniture and fittings: £106,736.66
Other refurbishment of Ministerial Office including moves: £13,951.04
The full itemised list can be found below:
i) £83,215.85
ii) 5 executive L-shaped desks made of veneered MDF and varnished wood veneer. 5 wood veneer meeting tables with power and media connectors for video conferencing. 5 coffee tables made of veneered MDF. 12 meeting chairs made of mid range fabric and leather arm pads.
iii) £23,521
iv) x5 soft furnishings and 1 bookcase
v) £13,951.04
vi) Painting and Decorating of 5 Ministerial offices
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 her Department spent on government procurement card purchases (a) above and (b) below £500 net of refunded payments in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS publishes departmental transaction level data on government procurement card purchases for transactions over £500 in accordance with policy. The guiding policy setting out the requirement to publish GPC transactions over £500 remains in place.
Guidance is available to all government departments on gov.uk at the following link:
The most recent publication of expenditure via GPCs at DCMS is available using the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dcms-spending-over-500-october-2024
With regards to transactions above £500, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport spent the following (minus refunds) via Government Procurement Cards:
i. 2022 - £168,578.66
ii. 2023 - £125,104.19
In relation to transactions below £500, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport spent the following (minus refunds) via Government Procurement Cards:
i. 2022 - £89,996.23
ii. 2023 - £89,065.33
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.