Asked by: Jack Abbott (Labour (Co-op) - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help support young people to access the arts.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Improving access to arts is a priority of this Government, and links to our mission to extend opportunities for children and young people.
DCMS is ensuring that its sectors are engaged in the Department for Education’s expert-led, independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which will seek to deliver a broader curriculum so that children and young people do not miss out on subjects such as music, arts and drama.
We’ve announced a National Youth Strategy, which will be co-produced together with young people and the youth sector and will prioritise delivering better coordinated youth services and policy at a local, regional and national level.
DCMS also announced £3 million of funding at Autumn Budget to expand the Creative Careers Programme, which will give children the opportunity to learn more about creative career routes.
Asked by: Jack Abbott (Labour (Co-op) - Ipswich)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number of crown court sitting days that have been reduced.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
Every year, the Government and the Judiciary agree a number of sitting days and an overall budget in what is known as the Concordat process.
In June, the judiciary reached an agreement with the former Lord Chancellor to sit 106,000 days in the Crown Court within a total budget of £275 million.
To support efforts to maximise capacity, the Lord Chancellor has since agreed to fund an additional 500 days.
But there has been over listing against this budget – with more trials scheduled than the funding allows.
As a result, approximately 1,600 sitting days to be withdrawn. The level of impact will vary across regions and is being managed closely to ensure there is minimal disruption to all involved.
Asked by: Jack Abbott (Labour (Co-op) - Ipswich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on banning zombie-style knives and ninja swords.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes approved by Parliament earlier this year. The ban came into force on 24th September.
We will also be pressing ahead as soon as possible with a ban on Ninja swords, following the tireless campaigning of Pooja Kanda whose son Ronan was killed with one of these lethal weapons. We will be launching a consultation shortly and plan to introduce the legislation shortly afterwards when Parliamentary time allows.