Asked by: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings (a) they and (b) other Ministers in their Department have had with the Department's Chief Scientific Adviser from (i) 1 December 2021 to 28 February 2022, (ii) 1 March to 31 May 2022 and (iii) 1 June to 31 August 2022.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport draws from a range of scientific advice and expertise. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal meetings are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help ensure that (a) telecoms and (b) network providers meet Ofcom's requirement to have at least one solution that enables access to emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage in the premises.
Answered by Julia Lopez
Ofcom, the independent telecoms regulator, has issued guidance to telecoms companies to explain how they can meet their regulatory obligations following the transition from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to IP-based telephony.
It is ultimately the role of Ofcom to ensure telecoms companies and network providers are compliant with this guidance, however, both DCMS and Ofcom meet regularly with telecoms companies and network providers to understand their migration processes and ensure that they meet their regulatory obligations.
Asked by: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings she had with her Department's Chief Scientific Adviser from (a) 1 March to 31 May 2021, (b) 1 June to 31 August 2021 and (c) 1 September to 30 November 2021.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport draws from a range of scientific advice and expertise. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal meetings are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings he had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser from (a) 1 March 2020 to 31 May 2020, (b) 1 June 2020 to 31 August 2020, (c) 1 September 2020 to 30 November 2020 and (d) 1 December 2020 to 28 February 2021.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport draws from a range of scientific advice and expertise, including from the Chief Scientific Advisers in individual Government Departments, and academics and researchers. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal meetings are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on financial support for the inbound tourism sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
We have introduced a number of measures since the start of the pandemic which businesses in the UK inbound tourism sector can access. This includes the extended furlough and self-employed schemes and various government-backed loans, discretionary grant schemes, business rates relief and a reduced VAT rate.
The Chancellor also announced that Local Authorities in England will be given an additional £594 million discretionary funding to support their local businesses. This builds on the £1.1 billion discretionary funding which local authorities in England have already received to support their local economies and help businesses impacted. The guidance for the Additional Restriction Grant funding encourages Local Authorities to develop discretionary grant schemes to help those businesses which - while not legally forced to close - are nonetheless severely impacted by the restrictions. We encourage local authorities to be sympathetic to applications from businesses who may not have been eligible for other grants.
We continue to gather intelligence from stakeholders such as UKInbound and other members of the Tourism Industry Council in order to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on inbound tourism.
We are regularly engaging across Government to consider how we can most effectively support the recovery of travel and tourism across the UK, including via the development of a Tourism Recovery Plan. In the longer term, the ambitions and recommendations of the Global Travel Taskforce to restart international travel safely still stand.
Asked by: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on the UK’s inbound tourism sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
We have introduced a number of measures since the start of the pandemic which businesses in the UK inbound tourism sector can access. This includes the extended furlough and self-employed schemes and various government-backed loans, discretionary grant schemes, business rates relief and a reduced VAT rate.
The Chancellor also announced that Local Authorities in England will be given an additional £594 million discretionary funding to support their local businesses. This builds on the £1.1 billion discretionary funding which local authorities in England have already received to support their local economies and help businesses impacted. The guidance for the Additional Restriction Grant funding encourages Local Authorities to develop discretionary grant schemes to help those businesses which - while not legally forced to close - are nonetheless severely impacted by the restrictions. We encourage local authorities to be sympathetic to applications from businesses who may not have been eligible for other grants.
We continue to gather intelligence from stakeholders such as UKInbound and other members of the Tourism Industry Council in order to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on inbound tourism.
We are regularly engaging across Government to consider how we can most effectively support the recovery of travel and tourism across the UK, including via the development of a Tourism Recovery Plan. In the longer term, the ambitions and recommendations of the Global Travel Taskforce to restart international travel safely still stand.
Asked by: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support the Government has provided to inbound tour operators since the start of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
We have introduced a number of measures since the start of the pandemic which businesses in the UK inbound tourism sector can access. This includes the extended furlough and self-employed schemes and various government-backed loans, discretionary grant schemes, business rates relief and a reduced VAT rate.
The Chancellor also announced that Local Authorities in England will be given an additional £594 million discretionary funding to support their local businesses. This builds on the £1.1 billion discretionary funding which local authorities in England have already received to support their local economies and help businesses impacted. The guidance for the Additional Restriction Grant funding encourages Local Authorities to develop discretionary grant schemes to help those businesses which - while not legally forced to close - are nonetheless severely impacted by the restrictions. We encourage local authorities to be sympathetic to applications from businesses who may not have been eligible for other grants.
We continue to gather intelligence from stakeholders such as UKInbound and other members of the Tourism Industry Council in order to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on inbound tourism.
We are regularly engaging across Government to consider how we can most effectively support the recovery of travel and tourism across the UK, including via the development of a Tourism Recovery Plan. In the longer term, the ambitions and recommendations of the Global Travel Taskforce to restart international travel safely still stand.
Asked by: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings (a) he and (b) his predecessor had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser (i) from 1 September to 30 November 2019 and (ii) from 1 December 2019 to 29 February 2020.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
DCMS draws from a range of scientific advice and expertise, including from the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, the Chief Scientific Advisers in individual Government Departments, and academics and researchers. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal meetings are not normally disclosed.