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Written Question
UK Games Fund
Monday 29th January 2024

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

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 potential impact of the UK Games Fund on (a) employment, (b) investment, (c) studio formation and (d) IP development.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS is currently evaluating the impact of the updated UK Games Fund, which is providing £13.4million over 2022-2025 to accelerate the growth of the UK games sector. In 2023, an independent evaluator, Alma Economics, was procured to produce a process, impact and economic evaluation of the fund between 2022-2025. This evaluation is due to be completed in Spring 2025 and will assess the impact of the fund across a range of metrics, including employment, investment, business formation and growth, and IP development.

It will also review the longer-term impact of earlier funding administered from 2015 onwards. A previous evaluation of the UKGF in 2019 found that the UK Games Fund had an estimated return on investment of £5 for every £1 spent.


Written Question
Video Games: Finance
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many games studios have been supported by the UK Games Fund since its inception.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The UK Games Fund supports the development of new intellectual property (IP) and graduate talent.

The UK Games Fund has provided 308 grants supporting the development of new games IP from UK studios. This includes grants for 27 studios that participated in Tranzfuser, and four studios that participated in the residential programme DunDev. It does not include grants from the new £5 million Content Fund which was launched in September 2023.


Written Question
Football Foundation: Finance
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding her Department has provided to the Football Foundation in each of the last three financial years.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The government has committed to delivering the facilities that every community needs and is investing over £300m across the UK between 2021 and 2025 as a step towards that ambition - including a £230m uplift, on top of an existing £18m annual commitment in England.

Since 2021, DCMS has provided £184.2m of funding to the Football Foundation:

2021/22 - £39m

2022/23 - £64.2m

2023/24 - £81m


Written Question
Sports: Facilities
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times Sport England has used statutory powers to restrict community access to sports (a) pitches and (b) other facilities in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Sport England does not proactively record the number of times they have used statutory powers to restrict community access to pitches or facilities.

Recent records show that between 2021 and 2023, Sport England introduced two planning conditions to limit community use to some degree, so as to not undermine the viability of nearby sites.


Written Question
Sports: Facilities
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress she has made on (a) increasing the provision of and (b) improving sports pitches in the last five years.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030.To help achieve this, Government is investing over £300 million between 2021 and 2025 to make essential facility improvements, so that communities have high-quality pitches to play on.

In 2021/22, 177 grassroots facilities projects across the UK were supported through the Football Foundation in England and the Football Associations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This includes the creation or resurfacing of over 80 artificial grass pitches, over 20 grass pitch improvements, and other projects such as changing rooms, floodlights and goalposts. Over 1,600 sites benefitted from funding in 2022/23 across a similar range of projects, improving both provision and quality of pitches.

2023/24 projects are currently being selected and we expect to publish this list of projects shortly.


Written Question
Sport England: Finance
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding her Department has provided to Sport England in each of the last three financial years.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The departmental funding in the form of Grant-in-aid to Sport England over the last 3 years is as follows:

Financial Year

£000s

2020-21

222,150 *

2021-22

163,761*

2022-23

113,571

*These figures include additional investment to deliver the National Leisure Recovery Fund (NLRF) and the Sport Survival Package (SSP).


Written Question
Local Broadcasting: Radio
Tuesday 13th December 2022

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to help ensure that regional media content is made available in the region to which it relates by radio stations in the context of localised opt-outs.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government recognises the positive impact that local public service broadcasting – particularly access to local radio and television services – has on local communities. On a local level, our public service broadcasters, local TV providers, news publishers and commercial and community radio stations all play a crucial role in disseminating accurate news and reflecting the unique interests of the audiences that they serve. Our Broadcasting White Paper published in April this year outlined our plans to support this diversity of content through a changing landscape.

The Government is disappointed that the BBC is planning to reduce parts of its local radio output. The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government as set out in its Royal Charter, and decisions on service delivery are a matter for the BBC. However, I have been clear with the Chairman of the BBC Board and the Director General that the BBC must make sure it continues to provide distinctive and genuinely local services, with content that reflects and represents people and communities from all corners of the UK.

The Government also expects Ofcom, as regulator of the BBC, to ensure the BBC is robustly held to account in delivering its public service duties. The Secretary of State has already asked Ofcom about how they are considering this issue, and Ofcom is continuing to discuss these proposals with the BBC.


Written Question
Football: Teachers
Tuesday 15th November 2022

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will meet with the Professional Footballers' Association to discuss what steps her Department could take to help encourage more ex-professional football players to pursue a career in teaching.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

I will be meeting the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) next month to discuss a range of issues. Football players have many options available to them when they retire and the PFA does important work to help them prepare for life after football, which may include a career in teaching.

We are continuing to invest in attracting the best teachers where they are needed the most through our teaching marketing campaign, support services for prospective trainees, and our new in-house teacher recruitment journey and associated digital services which are making it easier for great people to become teachers.

We will deliver 500,000 teacher training and development opportunities by 2024, giving all teachers and school leaders access to world-class, evidence-based training and professional development at every stage of their career.


Written Question
Broadband: Universal Service Obligation
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps she has taken to progress her policy to provide all households with broadband speeds which satisfy the Universal Service Obligation.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In March 2021, we launched our £5 billion Project Gigabit to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK. Project Gigabit’s objective is to level up the UK by giving hard-to-reach areas access to gigabit-capable internet speeds and, coupled with commercial gigabit delivery, ensuring almost all of the UK has access to gigabit-capable internet as soon as possible.

We have recently signed our first local Project Gigabit contracts in North Dorset and Teesdale, prioritising delivery to rural, hard-to-reach premises and to those with the lowest broadband speeds, and we will be awarding further contracts over the coming months.

Furthermore, up to £210 million is available for Gigabit Broadband Vouchers to support rural communities with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections.

Separately to Project Gigabit, the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) provides the legal right to request a decent broadband connection, helping to ensure full participation in both society and the economy.

Since its launch in 2020, the number of premises eligible for the broadband USO has fallen from 189,000 to 66,000 as of May 2022. Ofcom estimates that a further 17,000 premises are currently unable to receive a decent broadband connection, but are expected to receive an upgrade by a publicly funded rollout scheme within the next 12 months.


Written Question
Football Governance Fan-led Review
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with (a) with representatives of the Football Association (FA) and (b) other football bodies on the potential merits of establishing a football-led consensus to the fan-led review.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government published its response to the recommendations made by the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance in April 2022. We absolutely recognise the need for football to be reformed to ensure the game’s sustainability in the long term. We are now taking the time to consider the policy, and are continuing to engage with the Football Authorities and fan groups as this policy develops. We remain committed to publishing a White Paper, setting out our detailed response to the fan led review of football governance, and will set this out in due course.