Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
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 (a) contribution of grass roots boxing clubs make to reducing crime and (b) effect of that contribution on reducing costs associated with anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Supporting grassroots sport is a key Government priority, we recognise the positive impact participating sport can have on individuals wellbeing and the benefits sport clubs have on local communities.
Sport England - the Government’s Arm’s Length Body - has invested more than £12 million into boxing over the last five years including £2.3 million to support boxing clubs through the immediate challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Government believes that sport has the potential to transform lives and can offer a positive alternative to those who are at-risk of being drawn into serious violence, gang culture and criminal behaviour. Participating in sports such as boxing can teach valuable life lessons, and we believe everyone should have access to these opportunities.
In November 2022, the Ministry of Justice announced a £5 million Sport Fund to deliver “sport for crime prevention” programmes. Funding will deliver grants to around 200 local projects which deliver targeted support for children considered to be at-risk of entering the justice system due to identified need or additional vulnerabilities. The fund will be delivered in partnership with a consortium of national sector-leading experts in the sport for crime prevention space, formed by StreetGames, The Sport for Development Coalition and the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential positive impact of grass roots boxing clubs in their local communities; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Supporting grassroots sport is a key Government priority, we recognise the positive impact participating sport can have on individuals wellbeing and the benefits sport clubs have on local communities.
Sport England - the Government’s Arm’s Length Body - has invested more than £12 million into boxing over the last five years including £2.3 million to support boxing clubs through the immediate challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Government believes that sport has the potential to transform lives and can offer a positive alternative to those who are at-risk of being drawn into serious violence, gang culture and criminal behaviour. Participating in sports such as boxing can teach valuable life lessons, and we believe everyone should have access to these opportunities.
In November 2022, the Ministry of Justice announced a £5 million Sport Fund to deliver “sport for crime prevention” programmes. Funding will deliver grants to around 200 local projects which deliver targeted support for children considered to be at-risk of entering the justice system due to identified need or additional vulnerabilities. The fund will be delivered in partnership with a consortium of national sector-leading experts in the sport for crime prevention space, formed by StreetGames, The Sport for Development Coalition and the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the financial viability of grass roots boxing clubs.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Supporting grassroots sport is a key Government priority, we recognise the positive impact participating sport can have on individuals wellbeing and the benefits sport clubs have on local communities.
Sport England - the Government’s Arm’s Length Body - has invested more than £12 million into boxing over the last five years including £2.3 million to support boxing clubs through the immediate challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Government believes that sport has the potential to transform lives and can offer a positive alternative to those who are at-risk of being drawn into serious violence, gang culture and criminal behaviour. Participating in sports such as boxing can teach valuable life lessons, and we believe everyone should have access to these opportunities.
In November 2022, the Ministry of Justice announced a £5 million Sport Fund to deliver “sport for crime prevention” programmes. Funding will deliver grants to around 200 local projects which deliver targeted support for children considered to be at-risk of entering the justice system due to identified need or additional vulnerabilities. The fund will be delivered in partnership with a consortium of national sector-leading experts in the sport for crime prevention space, formed by StreetGames, The Sport for Development Coalition and the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support is available to community boxing clubs in England; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Supporting grassroots sport is a key Government priority, we recognise the positive impact participating sport can have on individuals wellbeing and the benefits sport clubs have on local communities.
Sport England - the Government’s Arm’s Length Body - has invested more than £12 million into boxing over the last five years including £2.3 million to support boxing clubs through the immediate challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Government believes that sport has the potential to transform lives and can offer a positive alternative to those who are at-risk of being drawn into serious violence, gang culture and criminal behaviour. Participating in sports such as boxing can teach valuable life lessons, and we believe everyone should have access to these opportunities.
In November 2022, the Ministry of Justice announced a £5 million Sport Fund to deliver “sport for crime prevention” programmes. Funding will deliver grants to around 200 local projects which deliver targeted support for children considered to be at-risk of entering the justice system due to identified need or additional vulnerabilities. The fund will be delivered in partnership with a consortium of national sector-leading experts in the sport for crime prevention space, formed by StreetGames, The Sport for Development Coalition and the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to widen access to culture and heritage.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to ensuring as many people as possible can access our world-class museums, galleries and heritage sites, regardless of their background or where they live. Our Arm’s-Length Bodies deliver much of this good work.
For example, following a request from HM Government to ensure that the taxpayer subsidy it allocates is more equitably spread around the country, Arts Council England will be investing £446 million each year in 2023-2026 to support 990 organisations across the whole of England. This is more than ever before, and in more places than ever before.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage collaborative and constructive negotiations and agreements for rights to install telecommunications apparatus.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill contains measures to encourage the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, which are specifically aimed at encouraging more collaborative and constructive negotiations.
However, the government recognises that legislation is not the only way in which better collaboration can be achieved. Officials from my department have held monthly Access to Land Workshops over the last 12-18 months, which cover a number of workstreams and attract attendance from stakeholders across the telecommunications industry, including site provider representatives. I am pleased to say that these workshops have made excellent progress and one of the outputs of this work is the creation of a new industry body, which in time will continue this work independently of DCMS.
I understand that this body will be called the National Connectivity Alliance and that so far it has appointed a steering group of 24 members from across all parts of the telecommunications sector. It aims to bring together stakeholders from across the telecommunications industry to discuss issues of mutual interest, to improve collaboration and understanding and to be a forum where members can share best practice.
I welcome this development and fully support the creation of this body and wish them every success for the future. I hope that site providers and the telecommunications industry share my sentiments and will work together to ensure its success.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
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 support Openreach to reopen their Community Fibre Partnership applications.
Answered by Matt Warman
Building Digital UK (BDUK) has been in frequent communication with Openreach to assist with their review of their Fibre Community Partnership (FCP) scheme and to support them in reopening the scheme as soon as possible. BDUK is also continuing to work through existing high priority FCP projects that have been submitted to the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme as suggested and sequenced by Openreach.
Communities that are interested in the FCP scheme can register their contact details on the Openreach website to receive a notification once the scheme has been reopened to new applications.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department plans to provide support to smaller organisations that were unable to apply to the third round of the Culture Recovery Fund as a result of the shorter application window of 11 days.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Previous recipients of the Culture Recovery Fund in urgent need of CRF support who were unable to meet the deadline for Continuity Support can consider whether they meet the criteria for ACE’s Emergency Resource Support - which has been designed so that any eligible organisation in urgent need can access support - and make an application to that programme if appropriate. This ACE route is open to previous recipients and non-recipients, who can request Permission to Apply until 30 September.
The question refers to Arts Council England’s (ACE) application window, and therefore this answer likewise refers to ACE processes and to applicants who could have applied through ACE, rather than through the other DCMS Arms Length Bodies involved in delivering the Culture Recovery Fund. Different considerations apply for processes run by other Arms Length Bodies.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to (a) evaluate the effect of covid-19 restrictions on grassroots boxing and (b) support England Boxing with guidance for enabling boxing training to resume as covid-19 restrictions are eased.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
Sports and physical activity are crucial for our mental and physical health. That’s why we have continued to make sure that people can exercise throughout the national restrictions and why we have ensured that grassroots and children’s sport is front of the queue when easing those restrictions.
On Monday 22 February, the Prime Minister announced a roadmap out of the current lockdown in England. The government has introduced a step approach to the return of outdoor and indoor sport areas across England. Each full step of the roadmap will be informed by the latest available science and data and will be five weeks apart in order to provide time to assess the data and provide one week’s notice to businesses and individuals.
National Governing Bodies, including England Boxing, for contact sports have developed action plans in line with the governments Combat Sport Framework which takes into account the level of risk of their sport and how they can work to mitigate it to minimise COVID-19 transmission risk. This has been reviewed by government to ensure it is consistent with the overarching government guidance.
At step 2 of the Roadmap, contact combat sports can resume at phase 2 of the Contact Combat Sports framework for children and at phase 1 for adults. Outdoors, these sports are exempt from social gathering limits as they are organised sport. Indoors, adults must only only take part in individual activity and children can take part in groups of up to 15.
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what Government support is available for the provision of facilities and to encourage participation in grass roots cricket.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus.
Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support, which many sport clubs have benefited from. Sport England has also provided £270 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic. This includes £6,599,437 investment in cricket to 1,362 projects.
On 26 January Sport England also published their strategy ‘Uniting the Movement’ and as part of this have committed an extra £50million to help grassroots sports clubs and organisations affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Furthermore, in the last 10 years (since 2011), Sport England has invested more than £85 million of National Lottery and Exchequer funding in community sports organisations and facilities for participation in cricket. For the period 2017/22 Sport England has invested £11,202,500 in the England and Wales Cricket Board.