Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which leisure centres have been recipients of the funding under the Swimming Pool Support Fund.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing access to leisure facilities lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.
In 2023/24, the Government provided over £60 million in additional funding to support operating costs and help improve energy efficiency of facilities through the Swimming Pool Support Fund, delivered via Sport England. In total, the Swimming Pool Support Fund (£60 million exchequer, £20 million of Sport England National Lottery funding) will fund 442 individual facilities and 788 individual pools across 269 Local Authorities by March 2025.
Further details of local authorities and swimming pools/leisure centres awarded funding from Phase I and Phase II of the Swimming Pool Support Fund are available on Sport England’s website at:
https://www.sportengland.org/news/swimming-pool-support-fund-keeps-leisure-centres-afloat
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which tennis courts have been selected for improvement under the Park Tennis Court Renovation Programme.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As part of the Park Tennis Court Programme, the UK Government and Lawn Tennis Association are investing £30 million pounds between 2022-2024 to deliver improvements to up to 3,000 park tennis courts across Great Britain. The renovation works include the installation of digital access gates, re-surfacing, and re-painting - all of which aim to improve access and increase participation in tennis, whilst prioritising the courts in the most deprived communities.
Since the start of the programme, over £70k has been invested in Cheshire, with 14 tennis courts across five parks renovated directly as a result of investment from the Programme.
Further details of the completed projects for the Park Tennis Court Programme can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/park-tennis-court-programme-completed-projects. We will confirm details of further sites receiving funding later in the year.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which sport facilities have been successful in their application for funding under the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme is investing over £325 million between 2021 and 2025 to level up facilities across the whole of the UK. The programme provides funding to make essential facility improvements, so that communities have a high-quality pitch to play on, and is a clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to levelling up all corners of the United Kingdom.
Since 2021, over £200 million has been invested in over 2,400 sites across the UK, improving the natural and artificial grass pitches on offer to communities and upgrading floodlights, goalposts, changing rooms and toilet facilities. All funded projects are listed on gov.uk at this link:
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 estimate of the average age of attendees at Premier League football matches in the 2022-23 season.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Premier League does not publish data on the average age of spectators, and the government does not intend to make an assessment of this figure at the current time.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding per person has been allocated to (a) Ellesmere Port and Neston constituency and (b) all other constituencies under the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to delivering top class sports facilities across the country, so that everyone can take part in sport and physical activity. As part of this commitment, the Government is delivering an historic level of direct investment to build or upgrade thousands of grassroots sport facilities across the UK.
The Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme is investing over £325 million between 2021 and 2025 to level up facilities across the whole of the UK. It is a rolling programme and potential applicants can discuss an application with the Foundation at any time. Their website sets out the different grants available.
In regards to Ellesmere Port and Neston, £1,440 has been invested into the constituency since 2021 (£0.02p per capita based on the constituency total population data on House of Commons Library). £1,440 was awarded to Groves F.C for new goal posts in 2022-2023.
Constituencies across the UK have received a share of the funding delivered so far, delivering real change in communities UK-wide. Sites that have already benefited from the funding, including Groves FC, are listed on gov.uk at the link below, and can be used to calculate the investment per capita for all other UK constituencies, with further projects due to be announced later this year.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the expenditure on TV licence reminder letters was in each year since 2020.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Communications Act 2003, the BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee, not the Government. The BBC’s role in enforcing the Licence Fee is set out in the Royal Charter. The BBC carries this out under the trading name TV Licensing.
Data on the cost of licence fee collection for TV Licensing is contained in their published annual reviews. The cost of collection data does contain partial disaggregation into different cost categories, however exact data on the cost of administering TV licence reminder letters is unavailable.
Further information on costs and administering the licence fee can be found directly on the TV Licensing website: https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/our-performance-AB6
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her planned timetable is to respond to her Department's consultation on Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department’s consultation on measures relating to the land-based gambling sector sought further views on a number of key policy proposals within the Gambling Act Review white paper. A response detailing the government’s position across each area will be published in due course.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people over the age of 75 have been subject to court action for the non-payment of TV Licence in each of the last five years.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Collecting and enforcing the Licence Fee is the responsibility of the BBC. The BBC has recently confirmed that no enforcement action has been taken against over-75s for TV licence evasion at this stage.
The Government has been clear that the BBC must ensure that it supports those affected by its decision on the over-75s concession, and we expect them to do so with the utmost sensitivity.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the data on Ministerial travel for her Department, January to March 2023, last updated on 27 July 2023, how much was spent for the visit by the Minister of State for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries to Barcelona from 27 February to 1 March on (a) flights and (b) accommodation.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Minister Lopez travelled to Barcelona to attend Mobile World Congress. The return flight cost £334.46 and her accommodation cost £928.54.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 implement the policies in the white paper entitled High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age, published on 27 April 2023.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Our white paper set out a range of proportionate measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm and ensure that people who are at risk of gambling harm and addiction are protected. These include new player protection checks, a stake limit for online slots games, improvements to consumer redress and a statutory levy on operators to fund research, education and treatment.
We are working with the Gambling Commission and other stakeholders to bring these measures into force as soon as possible, subject to further consultation where appropriate. The Government will publish a number of targeted consultations this summer, with the Commission also consulting on a number of priority areas.