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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
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 - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
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.