Jonathan Davies

This Government is committed to making sure that cultural venues up and down this country are supported to reach their full potential.

That is why the Secretary of State announced a new £270 million Arts Everywhere Fund on the 20th February, to support museums, arts venues, libraries, and heritage sites nationwide. This major investment will create jobs, boost local economies, and expand access to arts and culture for communities.

As part of this package, £45 million will be going to local and civic museums through the Museum Renewal Fund and Museum Estate and Development Fund to help tackle urgent infrastructure issues, preserve community programmes and protect these treasured institutions for generations to come. This is a major step being taken by this Government to support regional museums.

The large, diverse collections held by civic museums serve as a rich source of creativity and inspiration, fuelling our Creative Industries ecology and inspiring the creatives of tomorrow. Museum and industry partnerships can be hugely beneficial. To give a local example, Derby’s Museum of Making has a well-established partnership with Rolls Royce, supporting its ‘Institute of Steam’ learning programme, aiming to equip young people with crucial design, technology and engineering skills.

The Secretary of State announced a new £270 million Arts Everywhere Fund on 20 February. This will include support to museums, arts and music venues across the country and is a critical step that this Government is taking to help create jobs, boost local economies, and expand access to arts and culture for communities.

This is in addition to steps already being taken to support arts and culture via the Arts Council England (ACE). In the East Midlands, ACE is providing regular National Portfolio funding to 72 organisations from 2023-2027. This includes more than £8.7 million to nine museum services including Derby Museums and Creswell Crags. £4.8 million has been awarded to eight music organisations including Derby based Baby People and Sinfonia Viva (the orchestra of the East Midlands).

Across the East Midlands, since 2021, ACE has also awarded £37.5 million to music organisations and projects via the Grassroots Music Fund, and £7.5 million to regional museum projects via the Museum Estate and Development Fund.

In the Mid Derbyshire constituency, ACE has supported eight individual artists since 2021 through its Developing your Creative Practice grants, providing a total of £73,111 of funding across visual arts and music. ACE has also made six awards across combined arts, literature, theatre and museums in the constituency through National Lottery Grants, totalling more than £272,000.

The Government has set out its ambition for the United Kingdom to welcome 50 million international visitors per year by 2030, as part of its plans for the country to remain one of the most visited worldwide, driving economic growth. The new Visitor Economy Advisory Council has been appointed to identify ways to drive economic growth and remove barriers to opportunities in DCMS sectors.

Many tourists cite our vibrant culture and heritage offer as one of their main motivators for visiting the UK. We are providing additional support to our national museums and galleries with a 5% uplift to their budgets, along with £120m for critical estates maintenance in 2025/26, to help our most visited sites across the country to continue to be open to the world.

Our historical and creative heritage are crucial in driving tourism to all parts of the country; alongside continued Arts Council England and Local Authority investment, we are also supporting our regional museums via the new £20 million Museum Renewal Fund, and a new £25m round of the Museum Estate and Development Fund.

On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education. A key part of the National Centre’s role will be helping schools maximise the opportunities available with and through the cultural sector, through partnerships and relationships, which both schools and cultural providers tell us is needed.

The department’s intention is to launch the National Centre in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details will be released in due course.

The creative industries grew by 35.4% between 2020 and 2023, which is approximately 1.5 times the 22.3% growth rate that the UK economy experienced during the equivalent period. In 2023, the creative industries contributed over £124 billion to the economy, accounting for approximately 5.2% of the UK’s total gross value added. By widening access to a high quality arts education, the National Centre will not only enrich our children’s lives, but also support a globally respected creative economy by opening up and encouraging career paths to a new generation of musicians, artists, film-makers and creatives.

In addition to the National Centre, the department announced the intention to develop an Enrichment Framework to support schools to offer pupils high quality creative and other extracurricular activities. We will work closely on this with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in collaboration with a panel of experts. We have committed to publishing the new Enrichment Framework by the end of 2025. Further details will be released in due course.

The government has committed £79 million per year funding for the Music Hubs programme over the last three academic years, from 2022/23 to 2024/25, and a total of £25 million capital funding for musical instruments from academic year 2024/25. Future funding for the Music Hubs programme and National Centre is subject to the ongoing spending review.

On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education. A key part of the National Centre’s role will be helping schools maximise the opportunities available with and through the cultural sector, through partnerships and relationships, which both schools and cultural providers tell us is needed.

The department’s intention is to launch the National Centre in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details will be released in due course.

The creative industries grew by 35.4% between 2020 and 2023, which is approximately 1.5 times the 22.3% growth rate that the UK economy experienced during the equivalent period. In 2023, the creative industries contributed over £124 billion to the economy, accounting for approximately 5.2% of the UK’s total gross value added. By widening access to a high quality arts education, the National Centre will not only enrich our children’s lives, but also support a globally respected creative economy by opening up and encouraging career paths to a new generation of musicians, artists, film-makers and creatives.

In addition to the National Centre, the department announced the intention to develop an Enrichment Framework to support schools to offer pupils high quality creative and other extracurricular activities. We will work closely on this with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in collaboration with a panel of experts. We have committed to publishing the new Enrichment Framework by the end of 2025. Further details will be released in due course.

The government has committed £79 million per year funding for the Music Hubs programme over the last three academic years, from 2022/23 to 2024/25, and a total of £25 million capital funding for musical instruments from academic year 2024/25. Future funding for the Music Hubs programme and National Centre is subject to the ongoing spending review.

On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education. A key part of the National Centre’s role will be helping schools maximise the opportunities available with and through the cultural sector, through partnerships and relationships, which both schools and cultural providers tell us is needed.

The department’s intention is to launch the National Centre in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details will be released in due course.

The creative industries grew by 35.4% between 2020 and 2023, which is approximately 1.5 times the 22.3% growth rate that the UK economy experienced during the equivalent period. In 2023, the creative industries contributed over £124 billion to the economy, accounting for approximately 5.2% of the UK’s total gross value added. By widening access to a high quality arts education, the National Centre will not only enrich our children’s lives, but also support a globally respected creative economy by opening up and encouraging career paths to a new generation of musicians, artists, film-makers and creatives.

In addition to the National Centre, the department announced the intention to develop an Enrichment Framework to support schools to offer pupils high quality creative and other extracurricular activities. We will work closely on this with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in collaboration with a panel of experts. We have committed to publishing the new Enrichment Framework by the end of 2025. Further details will be released in due course.

The government has committed £79 million per year funding for the Music Hubs programme over the last three academic years, from 2022/23 to 2024/25, and a total of £25 million capital funding for musical instruments from academic year 2024/25. Future funding for the Music Hubs programme and National Centre is subject to the ongoing spending review.

On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education. A key part of the National Centre’s role will be helping schools maximise the opportunities available with and through the cultural sector, through partnerships and relationships, which both schools and cultural providers tell us is needed.

The department’s intention is to launch the National Centre in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details will be released in due course.

The creative industries grew by 35.4% between 2020 and 2023, which is approximately 1.5 times the 22.3% growth rate that the UK economy experienced during the equivalent period. In 2023, the creative industries contributed over £124 billion to the economy, accounting for approximately 5.2% of the UK’s total gross value added. By widening access to a high quality arts education, the National Centre will not only enrich our children’s lives, but also support a globally respected creative economy by opening up and encouraging career paths to a new generation of musicians, artists, film-makers and creatives.

In addition to the National Centre, the department announced the intention to develop an Enrichment Framework to support schools to offer pupils high quality creative and other extracurricular activities. We will work closely on this with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in collaboration with a panel of experts. We have committed to publishing the new Enrichment Framework by the end of 2025. Further details will be released in due course.

The government has committed £79 million per year funding for the Music Hubs programme over the last three academic years, from 2022/23 to 2024/25, and a total of £25 million capital funding for musical instruments from academic year 2024/25. Future funding for the Music Hubs programme and National Centre is subject to the ongoing spending review.

All pupils and staff should feel safe and protected at school, and nobody should face violence or abuse. The department will always support our hard-working teachers to ensure they can work in safe and calm classrooms. All school employers, including trusts, have a duty to take reasonable steps to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees.

To prevent the most serious cases, we have invested in specialist support in both mainstream and alternative provision (AP) schools in the areas in England where serious violence most impacts the community. The taskforces work with schools and APs to improve attendance, behaviour and wellbeing, and to reduce serious violence.

In order to give teachers confidence in responding to the rare cases of violence, the department is now consulting on the revised update to the 2013 ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance, which aims to help schools proactively minimise the need to use reasonable force and other restrictive interventions through early support, prevention and de-escalation strategies.

While the department expects schools to take immediate and robust action if incidents of violence occur, any decision on how to sanction the pupil involved is a matter for the school.

In the most serious cases, suspensions and permanent exclusion may be necessary to ensure that teachers and pupils are protected from disruption and to maintain safe, calm environments. Should the incident constitute a criminal offence, the school should report it to the police.

This is a devolved matter with regard to Scotland and Northern Ireland; hunting with dogs is a reserved matter with respect to Wales and therefore, the information provided relates to England and Wales only.

The Government made a manifesto commitment to ban Trail Hunting as part of a set of measures to improve animal welfare. Work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing. Details on the implementation and enforcement of the policy are part of this policy development. Announcements will be made in due course.

Trail Hunting is a devolved matter with regard to Scotland and Northern Ireland; hunting with dogs is a reserved matter with respect to Wales and therefore, the information provided relates to England and Wales only.

The Government made a manifesto commitment to ban Trail Hunting as part of a set of measures to improve animal welfare. Work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing. Announcements will be made in due course.

The Government also committed to a hunting trophy import ban in its manifesto and we intend to deliver on this. We are currently engaging with relevant stakeholders to ensure that we can deliver on this commitment in the most effective way.

As part of the Government’s New Deal for Farmers, it was announced that, where possible, we will back British produce, including that grown in Derbyshire. Over the next year, for the first time ever, the Government will review food currently bought in the public sector and where it is bought from. This work will start right away and be a significant first step in understanding how to capitalise on the Government’s purchasing power: informing any changes to public sector food procurement policies in due course.

Our biosecurity is paramount – it underpins safe food; protects human, animal and plant health; and supports a prospering economy and trade. We have in place robust measures to maintain and improve our ability to understand, detect, prevent, respond and recover from outbreaks, both those that affect animals and those that affect plants.

The government has announced it will set up a new National Biosecurity Centre, which will strengthen the UK's defences against animal diseases that threaten farming, food security, trade and public health.

As the Chancellor announced in the Autumn 2024 budget, there is £208 million in funding over 2024-2026 to transform the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) animal health facility at Weybridge.

Defra is playing its part in responding to the recommendations of Module 1 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry. We have been reviewing our plans and processes within the department which will be tested through the upcoming national pandemic response exercise.

It is important that road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point a person drives unsupervised for the first time.

The maximum duration of two years between passing the theory test and a subsequent practical test is in place to ensure that customers’ road safety knowledge and ability to identify developing hazards is current. This validity period is set in legislation, and the Government has no current plans to lay further legislation to extend it.

Ensuring learner drivers have current relevant knowledge and skills is a vital part of the learning to drive process as casualties on our roads are disproportionately new drivers. Learners therefore need to pass another theory test if their two-year theory test certificate expires.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency sends renewal reminders around three weeks in advance of expiry to remind and encourage vehicle keepers to renew their Vehicle Excise Duty on time.

Vehicle keepers who have a Driver and Vehicles Account can also choose to receive email or text reminders. These are issued up to 21 days in advance of the Vehicle Excise Duty expiring. If the vehicle is not relicensed further emails or texts are sent seven days before expiry, on the day of expiry, and one day after expiry.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to make a licensing decision within 90 working days in 90% of cases where a medical condition(s) must be investigated before a licence can be issued. During this financial year the average time to make a licensing decision in such cases is 44 working days.

The DVLA’s online services are the quickest way to apply for a driving licence and drivers with diabetes, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, visual impairments, sleep conditions, or heart conditions can apply online. However, the DVLA is very often reliant on receiving information from third parties, including doctors, other healthcare professionals or the applicant themselves, before a decision can be made on whether to issue a driving licence. To help with this, the DVLA has introduced a simplified licence renewal process for drivers with glaucoma and some mental health conditions. This has significantly reduced the need for the DVLA to seek further information from medical professionals and enabled more licensing decisions to be made based on the information provided by the driver. The DVLA will consider including more medical conditions in this simplified process, as well as adding more medical conditions to its online channels.

I refer the honourable member to the answer given on 5 December 2024 to question UIN 16635.

There is no target timeframe for completing investigations into estates of deceased individuals, some cases are more complex than others and take time to conclude. The Recovery from Estates (RFE) team within Debt Management contacts executors to provide historic financial information in order to carry out posthumous reviews of benefit entitlement. This often takes time to progress, which can extend the customer journey.

There has been an increase in the number of DWP RFE cases which has impacted on the length of time to respond to customers. More staff have been trained to deal with the increase in cases and delays to customer responses are being reduced. We are also reviewing our current processes to identify any further improvements to continue to reduce the time to process RFE cases.

NHS England provides no guidance to National Health Service trusts to ensure the appropriate monitoring of individuals entering and leaving hospital wards, and data is not collected on how many reported security incidents relating to unauthorised access to wards there have been in the last five years. NHS trusts formulate policy at a local level to determine the best security for their estate.

The provision of care and management for people with facial palsy, also known as Bell’s palsy, is the responsibility of general practices, under local integrated care boards.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has produced a clinical knowledge summary on Bell’s palsy, last revised in February 2023, which provides primary care practitioners with a readily accessible summary of the current evidence base and practical advice on best practice for Bell’s palsy. This clinical knowledge summary is available on the NICE’s website, at the following link:

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/bells-palsy/

Our 10-Year Health Plan will consider what actions are needed to improve patient access and reduce waiting times for patients, including those with facial or Bell’s palsy, by setting out a bold agenda to deliver on the big shifts needed, including the shift from the hospital to the community.

National Health Service staff should have the confidence to speak out and come forward if they have concerns. There is support in place for staff who wish to raise concerns, including a network of more than 1,200 local Freedom to Speak Up Guardians across healthcare in England, whose role it is to help and support NHS workers. In November 2024, the Department launched a consultation on options for regulating NHS managers, with the aim of improving leadership quality and accountability. This will help ensure that the NHS has strong and effective leadership in place, and that leaders and managers are held accountable for their practise.

Discrimination and bullying are unacceptable in any workplace and have no place in the NHS. All employers across the NHS should have robust policies in place on how these behaviours should be handled, and what support should be made available to staff.

In June 2023, NHS England published their Equality Diversity and Inclusion Improvement Plan, which set out a series of High Impact Actions, including the requirement for NHS organisations to review data by protected characteristics on bullying, harassment, discrimination, and violence, and to develop plans to improve staff experience. NHS England has also developed an NHS Civility and Respect programme to tackle bullying and harassment in the NHS, and to create a culture of civility and respect.

The Department funded the Cancer 2.0 initiative in 2021, delivered by Genomics England in close partnership with NHS England. The three-year programme demonstrated that nanopore sequencing-based brain tumour classification demonstrates significant promise for the National Genomic Test Directory. Full validation is required before full clinical implementation can be considered.

Other genomic testing for brain cancer is already included in the National Genomic Test Directory. This testing can be delivered using a range of technologies, including whole genome sequencing (WGS) or Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology, namely large cancer gene panels, to ensure that a patient receives the most appropriate genomic testing depending on their individual circumstances.

To date no application has been made to NHS England to evaluate nanopore sequencing-based brain tumour methylome classification. If an application were received, NHS England would assess the evidence in line with the Test Directory policy.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as cauda equina syndrome. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community: these include improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs.  We remain committed to delivering under the Framework and published the annual England action plan in February 2025.

The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is a national NHS England programme designed to improve the treatment and care of patients through in-depth review of services, benchmarking, and presenting a data-driven evidence base to support change.

GIRFT has worked collaboratively with a multidisciplinary group of more than 60 health professionals to develop an interactive pathway for those patients with suspected cauda equina syndrome, designed to support clinical teams to diagnose and treat the condition without delay and improve patient outcomes. The pathway offers best practice along all stages of the patient pathway, including post-operative care and best practice for surgical techniques, pain control and other post-operative support, which includes a section on finances. More information is available at the following link:

https://girft-interactivepathways.org.uk/cauda-equina-1/

The Government recognises the important contribution cooperatives have made in serving local communities around the world.

Cooperatives are a tried-and-tested model in international development, that can enable citizens and producers to access services or markets and strengthen their voice in local processes. Cooperatives can enable sustainable and inclusive development centred on self-help, democratic ownership, and concern for the community. The UK has supported cooperatives and producer organisations in developing countries, including, for example in agriculture through funding to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), which supports producer organisations, and the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness Programme (CASA), which partners with cooperatives and small agribusinesses in low-income countries to improve smallholder farmers' access to markets.

Decisions on how the Official Development Assistance budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review, based on various factors including impact assessments.

I refer the honorable member to my response to UIN 41597.

Vehicle theft, including that of motorhomes, is a truly distressing crime for owners, businesses and industry.

This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime and we are closely working with the automotive industry and police to ensure our response is as strong as it can be.

We are working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, through a National Vehicle Crime Working Group, to take forward a programme of work to drive down vehicle crime, focusing on prevention and deterrence. This includes training police on the methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced measures to ban electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing and supplying them. The Bill also introduces a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically geolocation tracked, and it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court.

The Home Office holds data on the number of offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, including thefts of motor vehicles. However, statistics do not provide the level of detail necessary to separately identify thefts of motorhomes.

Vehicle theft, including that of motorhomes, is a truly distressing crime for owners, businesses and industry.

This Government is determined to drive down vehicle crime and we are closely working with the automotive industry and police to ensure our response is as strong as it can be.

We are working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, through a National Vehicle Crime Working Group, to take forward a programme of work to drive down vehicle crime, focusing on prevention and deterrence. This includes training police on the methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles, and working with industry to address vulnerabilities in vehicles.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced measures to ban electronic devices used to steal vehicles, empowering the police and courts to target the criminals using, manufacturing and supplying them. The Bill also introduces a new power for the police to enter and search premises to which items have been electronically geolocation tracked, and it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a warrant from a court.

The Home Office holds data on the number of offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, including thefts of motor vehicles. However, statistics do not provide the level of detail necessary to separately identify thefts of motorhomes.

The new Government inherited a crisis in recruitment and has made it a priority to address this with a series of work streams designed to improve Armed Forces recruitment, modernising and refining our policies and processes to attract the best possible talent. Our actions are designed to deliver the widest positive impact across our Armed Forces, but we also pursue activities aimed at the specific requirements of the single Services to maximise effect.

To provide the widest benefit across the Armed Forces, we have delivered a 35 per cent pay increase for new recruits; one of the largest pay increases in the last 20 years for existing personnel; scrapped over 100 outdated medical policies; introduced a new military direct-entry cyber pathway which is now recruiting; and set an ambition to make a conditional offer of employment to candidates within 10 days, and a provisional training start date within 30 days.

Furthermore, we have announced the award of the contract for the new tri-service Armed Forces Recruiting Service (AFRS) which will join the recruitment activity of the Services together. AFRS will provide a streamlined, single-entry point for prospective recruits, recruiting from the broadest spectrum of society to attract the best talent from across the country.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to PQ 42709 on 7 April 2025.

Midlands Engine have undertaken a range of valuable work and have supported collaboration on shared growth opportunities.

The English Devolution White Paper published in December 2024 last year sets out our intention in future to support mayors in working together across boundaries.

We have now consulted on our minded to decision not to extend funding for the six pan-regional partnerships beyond the agreed allocations to the end of the 2024-25 financial year. We are currently considering the responses received, and we expect to announce our decision very soon.