Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the University of Manchester's blog entitled Addressing the UK’s heritage skills crisis: why we must act now, published on 23 January 2025, what steps she is taking to preserve heritage buildings.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
My response to PQ 30997 sets out how we are considering heritage skills in relation to the University of Manchester's blog and associated report.
On preserving heritage buildings, there is funding and a protection regime in place. In particular, the Secretary of State announced in February £15 million of additional funding for Heritage at Risk, building on Historic England's existing Repair Grants for Heritage at Risk programme - providing grants for repairs and conservation to heritage buildings at risk, focusing on those sites with most need, and a new £4.85 million Heritage Revival Fund to enable local people to take ownership of heritage they love and bring historic buildings back into use. The National Lottery Heritage Fund also delivers project-based heritage funding. Since 1994, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has distributed £8.6bn of National Lottery funds to more than 47,000 projects.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
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 the effectiveness of the School Games Organisers in supporting school children.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Our mission-led Government puts children and young people at the heart of our priorities.This includes breaking down barriers to opportunity for every child to access high-quality sport and physical activity, especially those who are less likely to be active.
The School Games Organisers (SGOs) are essential in ensuring that all children have the opportunity to take part in local and accessible sport and physical activity.
In the 2023/24 academic year, the country-wide network of 450 SGOs provided 2.3 million opportunities for school children to engage in local and inclusive sporting competitions across 40 different sports and activities.
We are currently undertaking a review of the School Games Organisers network, which will address the impact and value for money of a variety of school sport models in place across the network of 450 SGOs, and develop and appraise different delivery models of a future school sport network. Findings from the review will be published in due course.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help support (a) youth centres and (b) youth services in the Forest of Dean.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This government recognises the value of youth centres and youth services, and has committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy. This is an opportunity to move away from one-size-fits all approaches from central government, bringing power back to young people and their communities and rebuilding a thriving and sustainable sector. We plan to publish the strategy in the summer.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the Community Wealth Fund benefits (a) Cinderford West in the Forest of Dean and (b) other deprived communities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government has allocated £87.5 million of dormant assets funding to the Community Wealth Fund and is committed to ensuring it delivers meaningful benefits to communities across England. DCMS and MHCLG are working to shortly publish the government response, 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.