Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to reduce the barriers for disabled people accessing cultural events.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government supports the Arts Councils of each UK nation and Ireland and the British Film Institute in launching All In, a free, UK wide arts access scheme. This scheme will help remove barriers for disabled, deaf and neurodivergent people in music venues, festivals, theatres, museums, galleries, libraries and more. It will introduce the UK and Ireland’s first set of industry standards to improve access to arts and culture as well as launch new digital tools to support accessible ticket booking. Work so far has included consultation with potential users, as well as feasibility studies to inform how the scheme can address access barriers faced by disabled audience members.
The Office for Equality and Opportunity has also appointed David Stanley as Disability and Access Ambassador for arts and culture - to drive improvements in the accessibility and quality of services and facilities in the sector for disabled people, helping to ensure businesses are doing all they can to support disabled customers.
We are continuing to support Arts Council England’s (ACE’s) Supporting Grassroots Music Fund (SGMF), which as well as aiming to bolster the grassroots music ecosystem, aims to promote inclusivity within the sector. For example, through support from the SGMF, a music venue in Bristol has become the first grassroots music venue in the country to secure an Attitude is Everything Gold Award, a widely-coveted Industry award, given only to those that show a significant and ongoing commitment to improving accessibility.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
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 reduce the number of National Archives documents misplaced while on loan to Departments.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Section 4(6) of the Public Records Act 1958 gives departments the right to recall records that they have transferred to The National Archives. In 2018, The National Archives put in place a framework for safeguarding public records that establishes firm controls around such recalls. Officials at The National Archives are unaware of any records going missing since the establishment of this framework.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress her Department has made on the establishment of the community wealth fund.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government announced in November 2024 that it is allocating £87.5 million of dormant assets funding to the Community Wealth Fund and is committed to ensuring it delivers meaningful benefits to disadvantaged communities across England. DCMS and MHCLG are working to shortly publish the government response to the Community Wealth Fund technical consultation. This will set out the final design of the Community Wealth Fund, including further information on how beneficiary communities will be selected, and other elements of its delivery.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2025 to Question 26736 on Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Bidfood, what contracts (a) under the value of £12,000 and (b) tendered before 2015 and subsequently extended (i) the BFS Group Limited and (ii) subsidiary companies of BFS Group Limited holds with (A) her Department and (B) agencies of her Department.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Core Department:
DCMS does not hold any active contracts, nor any contracts since 1st April 2015 with BFS Group Limited and its subsidiaries. To the best of our knowledge, we do not hold any information on Bidfood contracts tendered before 2015, noting that we do not hold consistent contract records before 2015, as this is prior to the migration to our previous electronic contract management software.
Executive Agencies:
DCMS does not hold executive agency contractual information.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what contracts (a) BFS Group Limited and (b) subsidiary companies of BFS Group Limited hold with (i) her Department and (ii) agencies of her Department.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
All Government Awarded contracts are published on Contracts Finder (for awarded contracts above £12,000) and Find a Tender services for above threshold contracts.
Details can be found at https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder and https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Search.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Birmingham City Council's consultation entitled Libraries Consultation 2024, published on 4 April 2024, what role officials in her Department had in the development of the options presented in that consultation.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS officials have met with Birmingham City Council officers to ensure that they are aware of their responsibilities to provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ library service across the area as required by the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, and to advise on superintendence processes.
However, the development of options for future library service provision in Birmingham is the responsibility of the Council.