Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking with broadcasters to ensure the (a) political impartiality of news commentators and (b) live disclosure of affiliations where impartiality is not possible.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Trusted news is vital to a strong and fully functioning democracy. It has an essential role in holding power to account and keeping the public informed of local, national and international issues. We expect news broadcasters and their journalists and commentators to adhere to the highest standards of accuracy, whilst respecting their right to freedom of expression.
Decisions on broadcasting regulation, including impartiality in broadcast news, are a matter for Ofcom. Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code contains rules to ensure that broadcast news is reported with due accuracy and impartiality. The Broadcasting Code clarifies that any personal interest of a reporter or presenter, which would call into question the due impartiality of the programme, must be made clear to the audience.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department plans to take to encourage visits to zoos as soon as relevant covid-19 restrictions are eased.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
My Department plans to take a number of steps to encourage a range of tourism activities following the easing of restrictions.
The Global Travel Taskforce last year committed the Government to publish a Tourism Recovery Plan in support of the sector. The Government intends to set out proposals in the Spring, including plans for a marketing campaign to welcome visitors back to the UK as soon as it is safe to do so.
When holidays are permitted again, we will work with VisitBritain, VisitEngland and local partners to champion the UK’s diverse tourism offer once again - just as we did with last year’s Enjoy Summer Safely and Escape The Everyday campaigns.
We will continue to work with industry to provide assurance regarding when people can safely visit attractions - as demonstrated through the We’re Good to Go industry standard, which has been used by over 45,000 businesses, including several zoos.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to publish the outcome and data of the consultation on decriminalising TV licence evasion, which closed on 1 April 2020.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The consultation closed in April 2020 after receiving 150,000 responses.
The government intends to publish the response to the consultation on decriminalisation of TV licence evasion shortly.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government plans to take to help Dudley benefit from increased trade and tourism from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is working in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority to deliver a Tourism, Trade and Investment Programme to run alongside the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The Government is investing £21.3m, alongside £2.6 million from the West Midlands Combined Authority, into the programme, which will attract investment, businesses and visitors to the region.
This significant investment demonstrates the Government's commitment to ensuring that we maximise the economic legacy of the Games for the city, the West Midlands and the whole of the UK.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the accessibility of (a) community and (i) green-space amenities for children in (i) Dudley and (ii) England with special education needs and/or disabilities.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The provision of community and green space amenities, including their design and equipment is the responsibility of the Local Authority. The Local Authority has a duty of care under the Equality Act of 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to prevent those protected characteristics, including disability, experiencing a disadvantage. Section 149 of the Act places an over-arching duty on Local Authorities to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. The duty expressly includes taking steps to meet the needs of disabled persons. Further detail can be found in the Act which can be accessed here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents. The responsibility for local authorities falls to MCHLG.
The Children and Nature Programme is a major programme funded by Department for Education which aims to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds to have better access to natural environments. The programme prioritises pupils’ mental health and wellbeing, and engagement with school. The main target audience for the programme are schools with the highest proportion of disadvantaged pupils, Alternative Provision Institutions (API) including but not limited to Pupil Referral Units, and importantly special schools, so many of the children who are impacted by the programme will have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
The Programme comprises three delivery projects and an evaluation project. The largest project in the programme is the Nature Friendly Schools Project, which is delivering greener grounds and pupil visits to green spaces for schools with the highest proportion of disadvantaged pupils. The Government is planning to start delivery to two schools in the Dudley area from April; Hawbush Primary School in Brierley Hill and Crestwood Secondary School in Kingswinford. We are also supporting the Community Forest and Woodland Outreach Project, which aims to increase and help sustain community forest and woodland outreach activities being delivered to school children, particularly those in disadvantaged areas. In addition to this the Growing Care Farming Project aims to achieve a transformational change in the scale, scope and uptake of care farming services in England for children and adults facing disadvantage or social exclusion, to benefit their health and wellbeing and their social and educational development. The evaluation project will deepen our understanding of the effectiveness of nature-based interventions and how activities in nature impact pupils’ health and wellbeing. We are also supporting national landscapes in their aim of helping everyone, including children and young people, discover and engage with protected landscapes to benefit the health and wellbeing of the whole nation. The responsibility for these programmes falls under DEFRA.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to ensure that long-term unemployed people in Dudley benefit from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth games.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games provide a unique and significant opportunity to accelerate employment and skills opportunities for residents across the West Midlands. The government is working closely with our Games partners to ensure we make the most of these opportunities.
The West Midlands Combined Authority has recently launched a Commonwealth Games Jobs and Skills Academy which seeks to link West Midlands residents to the thousands of training, volunteering and employment opportunities that the Games will create, with a focus on the most vulnerable at risk groups, including the long-term unemployed.
We are working with the local Chamber of Commerce's and other West Midlands business groups to promote procurement opportunities locally.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to make an assessment of the effectiveness of the TV licence fee.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC’s funding model is agreed with the BBC as part of the Royal Charter. It was last considered as part of Charter Review 2015-16, following which the Government committed to maintain the licence fee funding model for the BBC for the duration of the current Charter period, until 2027.
The Government is committed to ensuring that the BBC and the wider public service broadcasting system adapt to a fast changing market, remaining at the heart of our world class TV sector. We have been clear that, ahead of the next Charter Review process, we will undertake a detailed look at the future of the TV licence model itself.
The Government recently announced the formal opening of the process to agree the level of the licence fee from 2022. This will determine the BBC and S4C’s public funding for at least 5 years from April 2022. The full announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/negotiations-on-the-future-cost-of-the-tv-licence-kick-off
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what funding his Department has (a) made available and (b) allocated in 2020 within the Dudley North constituency to promote exercise and fitness.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sport England has had a number of public funds available in 2020, including their Small Grants Fund, Community Asset Fund, and Community Emergency Fund.
Sport England made 8 awards in the Dudley North constituency from January to June 2020, totalling £29,895. All 8 awards were through Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund. Please note that this does not include awards in the period July to September which are yet to be published.
The £35 million Community Emergency Fund has delivered immediate financial support to those grassroots and physical activity clubs or community organisations most in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including those across the Dudley North constituency.