Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the provision of youth services in local communities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient educational and recreational activities for young people.
On the 10th December, the Government published ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’ alongside a State of the Nation report. It is backed by over £500 million of funding over the next few years from DCMS for things to do outside of school, support when and where young people need it, more safe spaces and access to trusted adults. This includes investing in selected local areas to develop high-quality youth offers and local leadership through our Local Youth Transformation Programme. Learnings will be shared across the youth and local government sectors to establish national best practices.
We have also worked to ensure that metrics covering youth services are included within the Local Outcomes Framework under the priority outcome very Child Achieving and Thriving’ to increase consistency and quality of youth service delivery across local areas.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 National Lottery on the potential merits of uplifting lottery grants that fund improvements to (a) churches and (b) historic buildings.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
National Lottery funding for churches and historic buildings is primarily given via the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF). NLHF’s decision-making on grant funding is independent from DCMS.
The Department is working closely with funders in the sector to ensure that opportunities for funding places of worship throughout the UK are maximised. The NLHF already offers grants for places of worship across all the UK and is currently investing £100m over 3 years through National Lottery Heritage Grants and a strategic initiative designed to provide targeted support to build capacity.
On 1 July the UK Government launched a major call for evidence on lottery good causes funding, seeking views from people, organisations and communities across the country on future funding. This is currently live on GOV.UK and will close on 23 September 2026.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing funding to Mountstewart Gardens to help enable Mountstewart to take her place as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS does not provide any discretionary capital funding for local heritage projects, however the National Lottery Heritage Fund has capital funding streams available.
We are proud to already boast a large number of existing UK World Heritage Sites and are committed to supporting UNESCO’s ambition for a more globally balanced, representative World Heritage List. The UK Government does not currently have any plans to consider additional sites for nomination to UNESCO, beyond those already included on the UK’s Tentative List.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 (a) help support young people who gather in public spaces for want of any other dedicated location to do so and (b) reassure those local communities of their safety.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Through Youth Matters, this Government is delivering better spaces and more engaging activities for young people. We are investing in 250 new or refurbished youth centres alongside 50 Young Futures Hubs in areas to give young people the spaces they deserve. We are streamlining local funding by merging our major youth funds, while injecting Every Child Can funding into more enriching activities. Our Enrichment Expansion Programme is on track to boost after-school opportunities across the country.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what support programmes exist to encourage greater participation in the arts among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), alongside its partners Arts Council England (ACE) and the Department for Education (DfE), support a range of programmes designed to increase participation in the arts among young people from disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds.
ACE invests around £444 million in it’sNational Portfolio Organisation (NPO) Investment Programme and 79% of those organisations delivered in-person workshops, events or sessions which were aimed at, and attended by children and young people aged 0-19 between 2023 and 2024.
DCMS has directly invested £3.2 million to continue four key cultural education initiatives in 2026/27: the Museums and Schools Programme, the Heritage Schools Programme, the BFI Film Academy, and the Art & Design National Saturday Club. These programmes help young people access creative opportunities, develop skills, and engage with culture both in and outside school.
Additionally, The Music Hubs Programme, funded by the DfE and run by ACE, works through 43 Hub Lead Organisations across England. These hubs partner with schools, music services, community groups, and professional musicians to offer a wide range of musical opportunities and provide high-quality music education to children and young people, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn and engage with music, regardless of their background or circumstances.
Lastly, the government has announced Every Child Can, an investment of £132.5 million of dormant assets funding to increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities in the arts, culture, sports and wider youth services. We are designing the remaining funding and will share further details in due course and are committed to working with areas of greatest need across England.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries have closed in England in the past five years.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
As the libraries development agency for England, Arts Council England (ACE) collects and publishes data on library closures, openings and relocations in its annual English Public Libraries Location Dataset. The dataset can be found at the following link: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/supporting-arts-museums-and-libraries/supporting-libraries
DCMS estimates the number of static libraries that have permanently closed (and not been replaced by or relocated to a new static library) in England in each of the last 5 years (for which data is available) is as follows:
Calendar Year | Estimated Permanent Static Library Closures |
2020 | 13 |
2021 | 16 |
2022 | 17 |
2023 | 10 |
2024 | 17 |
This data is based upon ACE’s English Public Libraries Location Dataset 2024, which shows the number of static libraries open as at 31 December 2024 is 2,866. The 2025 basic library dataset is expected to be published later this year.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities in maintaining access to community library services.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Local authorities are responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources, including how community libraries may form a part of that.
Where a community library is part of the Local Authority service statutory network it can benefit from wider government initiatives such as the improved Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26, and could also benefit from library specific funding such as the Libraries Improvement Fund.
In January 2026 the Secretary of State announced funding for Arts Everywhere which included a commitment of £27.5 million between 2025-2030 for the Libraries Improvement Fund which supports public libraries to upgrade their buildings and technology to meet changing needs to better serve their communities.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposed reforms to gambling regulation on consumers experiencing harms associated with gambling disorder.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is acutely aware of the impact that gambling harm can have on individuals, families and communities. We therefore consider a wide range of evidence when assessing the impact of gambling regulation on those experiencing harm.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding has been allocated in the current financial year to support regional museums.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Museums funding is fully devolved to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In England, DCMS announced earlier this year that it would allocate £160 million to accredited local museums in England from 2026/27 to 2029/30. Funding programmes for the current financial year include:
£25.5 million of Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) to support infrastructure projects across 28 regional museums in England.
£13.6 million will be invested in a Museum Transformation fund to support English museums in achieving a more sustainable business model.
£4 million will be allocated amongst the 24 recipients of the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund to help local and regional museums across England improve their displays and increase the accessibility of exhibitions.
Arts Council England also provides roughly £44m per year through their National Portfolio and Museum Development Programme to regional museums in England.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps are being taken to support freelance workers in the creative sector.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The self-employed workforce is crucial to the success of the UK's world-leading creative industries, which employ nearly twice the number of self-employed workers as a proportion of the workforce compared to the rest of the economy.
We understand that many self-employed workers in the creative industries desire greater job security. That is why we committed in the Creative Industries Sector Plan to appoint a Freelance Champion, who will advocate for the creative sector’s freelancers within government and be a member of the Creative Industries Council.
More broadly, with the Employment Rights Act we have committed to helping the self-employed thrive in good quality work through additional measures to strengthen protections - including the extension of health and safety and blacklisting protections, and right to a written contract. The Government has also announced measures to address the misuse of non-disclosure agreements by employers to silence workplace harassment and abuse, and a power to extend the protections to wider groups than employees and workers.