Oral Answers to Questions

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Stephanie Peacock]

My hon. Friend talks about the investment from the Government and the football foundation into Central Park. She is right; we know that the thing that is most likely to get young people active in sport is watching live sport. That is why we are so committed to investing in our community facilities.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

[Dame Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)]

I know that the Minister cares deeply about increasing sporting participation, so she must be as disappointed as I am that the Government’s rhetoric just does not match the facts. School sport funding has been cut; business rates rises mean that clubs and facilities are raising their participation fees, some by as much as 85%, making them less accessible for the poorest; local authorities are shutting their facilities; and the UK ranks near the bottom of EU expenditure on sport and physical activity. The Government say that this is important, but how can we believe them when existing facilities are shutting faster than they can invest in new ones?

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[Stephanie Peacock]

As my hon. Friend will have heard in my answer to the Chair of the Select Committee, we make no apologies for changing the system. Not enough young people are getting active. As a former secondary school teacher, I know how important that is. I am happy to speak to my hon. Friend and, of course, I speak regularly to the Schools Minister about this issue.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Mr Louie French (Old Bexley and Sidcup) (Con)]

I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

Making sport more accessible should be the ultimate goal of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and that is why we continue to urge the Government to stop raising taxes on sports clubs and to ensure that all sports, and especially female sports, champion fairness and safety. The Conservative party is clear: all UK sports and their governing bodies must follow the law when it comes to biological sex and ensure that there is a level playing field for female athletes to compete. Will the Government match the Conservative party’s commitment to women’s sport and remove public funding from sports bodies that refuse to follow the law?

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[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

Wareham is fortunate to be served by the fantastic Rex cinema, which is Dorset’s oldest cinema and one of the oldest in the country, and it is volunteer led. It shows two films every day and has been refurbished to maintain its art deco interior. However, its roof is now over 135 years old and will cost £400,000 to repair. The volunteers have funded a new projector, but they just cannot raise that sort of money. Will the Minister consider extending cultural capital grants to community cinemas?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am struggling because we only get a short time for these questions. I think we should have an hour, and I hope somebody will reflect on that.

[Ian Murray]

In the interests of time, I will just say that I am happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss that issue in more detail.

[Mr Speaker]

I welcome the shadow Secretary of State.

[Rebecca Paul (Reigate) (Con)]

Celebrating culture as a community can be an incredibly unifying experience, and many people will have enjoyed Notting Hill carnival this weekend, but 636 people were arrested for crimes including sexual offences and possession of weapons. Last year, it cost about £16 million just to police the carnival, and this year a further £4.6 million of taxpayers’ money was provided for additional safety measures. Given those figures, are the Minister and the Secretary of State satisfied that this particular cultural event represents good value for taxpayers? What discussions is the Secretary of State having with colleagues about whether the present approach is sustainable?

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[Lisa Nandy]

My hon. Friend is right to point to the UK’s need for sovereign capability in AI. I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall), whose work I have inherited in this area. I also thank my hon. Friend for the contribution of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee over a long period of time. We are taking the need to deal with the exposure of the UK very seriously, and I would be happy to meet her to discuss that further.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Anna Sabine (Frome and East Somerset) (LD)]

Frontier AI is supercharging misinformation online, but we still cannot get to grips with harms much closer to home. There are campaigners in the Public Gallery today, including Tulisa Contostavlos, who was the target of a fabricated story following an undercover tabloid sting, and is proof of the damage that an unregulated press can do. Such examples are why the Lib Dems want the full implementation of Leveson 1 and the commissioning of Leveson 2. Will the Secretary of State meet me and Tulisa to discuss finally getting proper regulation of the press?

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[Dr Simon Opher (Stroud) (Lab)]

7. What steps she is taking to support lidos.

[Mr Speaker]

It helps if you get up to say the question number, Dr Opher.

[The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Lisa Nandy)]

I will get up, Mr Speaker. I thank my hon. Friend for his long-standing work on this—[Laughter.] Let me start again!

I thank my hon. Friend for his intense work on this issue. The Minister for sport will be delighted to meet him. However, my hon. Friend will know that lidos are a personal passion for me, and reversing the neglect of these much-loved community assets is something that this Government intend to make a priority. We will be in a position to say more about that shortly, but in the meantime I pay tribute to him and to my hon. Friends the Members for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) and for Bournemouth West (Jessica Toale) for their campaign to ensure that lidos have their proper place in British public life.

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[Stephanie Peacock]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has been a strong champion on this issue. It was a delight to visit her constituency earlier this year to talk and to see at first hand the problem that it creates. As the Secretary of State has outlined, this Government are committed to that register, and we know the difference it will make to communities such as my hon. Friend’s and those up and down the country.

[Mr Speaker]

I call shadow Minister.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

The visitor economy is worth £147 billion, supporting millions of jobs, but this Government have hammered the sector with higher taxes and they now plan a holiday tax. Perhaps there is some hope, however, as on Monday the Prime Minister told the House that he wants to go further than business rate relief for pubs and music venues. Will the Minister urge him to take up Conservative policy and scrap business rates for those venues as well as for restaurants, cafes, hotels and leisure attractions, and support that vital sector?

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[Lisa Nandy]

The Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) has just reminded me that he and I are so old that we started out loading cassette tapes when we played video games as kids. I am aware that people feel very strongly about this issue. My hon. Friend will know that decisions around media formats are ultimately for companies, but we as a Government believe that companies should always be clear with customers about what they are paying for. That is why we have commissioned the Chartered Trading Standards Institute to develop guidance that will clarify people’s ownership rights when they purchase digital games, music and films.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Rebecca Paul (Reigate) (Con)]

I thank the Secretary of State for her warm words. I am looking forward to working constructively with her and her team.

May I begin by paying tribute to PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, who were killed in a horrific head-on collision on the A66 last month? The car that collided with them was travelling in the wrong direction. My thoughts are with their families and friends at this terrible, terrible time. Their deaths have renewed concern about videos on TikTok and other platforms that glorify dangerous driving and police chases. The behaviour these videos encourage can have fatal consequences. We know the Government recently raised this issue with social media companies, yet the content remains up. What more will the Minister and the Secretary of State do to ensure that TikTok and other platforms crack down on that before more lives are lost?

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Vicky Foxcroft)]

The Charity Commission takes very seriously concerns about the alleged misuse of charities in the UK to promote the interests of foreign states. The Government’s social cohesion action plan, published in March, set out our plans to strengthen the Charity Commission’s powers to tackle extremists’ abuse of charities. We are working with the Charity Commission to develop the necessary legislation, and we take this issue very, very seriously.

[Mr Speaker]

That completes DCMS questions. Some news for the House: when we return after the conference recess, the session will be for an hour.

The hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, was asked—

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[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

May I encourage the Church Commissioners to support the Church in facilitating community events? Wells cathedral and Wells bishop’s palace are at the centre of an amazing programme of year-round festivals, fairs and markets, but the Church Commissioners have suddenly served a stop notice on the Phelps’ family at Palace farm in Wells, which for decades has offered—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sorry, but the original question was about Palestine. What the hon. Member is saying is not relevant to that question. Let us move on.

The hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, was asked—

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[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab/Co-op)]

4. What assessment the Church of England has made of the level of persecution of Christians overseas.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I remind Members that they are meant to stand up when asking a question? We are back to school; this is the first day of term. Let’s get some memory power!

[Marsha De Cordova]

The Church remains deeply concerned about the ongoing worldwide persecution on the grounds of faith and belief, including recent cases in Sudan, Afghanistan, Palestine, India and many others, and all these countries have featured high on the most recent Open Doors world watch list. Alongside the UN Secretary-General, the Church believes that whenever one minority group is persecuted, no one is safe.

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[Sir Jeremy Wright]

I apologise to the hon. Gentleman that I cannot respond to him in Cornish.

[Mr Speaker]

Try!

[Sir Jeremy Wright]

I will not try, Mr Speaker. As the hon. Gentleman may know, the Electoral Commission is in discussion with his local authority at the moment, and I know it would welcome any further representations —[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Mr Perkins, you just walked right in front of the Member who is asking the question.

[Mr Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

Apologies, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

There is something going wrong with the House. Can we please get back to remembering our courtesies to other Members when they are asking questions?

[Sir Jeremy Wright]

I know the Electoral Commission will welcome any further representations that the hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon) wants to make. As I say, the commission keeps the languages it chooses to translate materials into under review.

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[The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Marsha De Cordova)]

The Church has a long history of working across faiths to ensure community cohesion. Most dioceses have an interfaith adviser who advises—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think I am being instructed on who sits where. Mr Perkins, when you came through the door, you walked directly into my line of sight to Perran Moon. It blocks my vision when you walk in front of another Member. I do not like being challenged on something when I am absolutely correct.

[Marsha De Cordova]

I will start from the top. The Church has a long history of working across faiths to ensure community cohesion. Most dioceses have an interfaith adviser who advises clergy and congregations about their interfaith engagement, promoting community cohesion. That work is supported through the national presence and engagement programme.