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Written Question
Sports: Girls
Monday 29th January 2024

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

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 increase participation of young girls in competitive sports (a) at and (b) outside school.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to supporting women and girls’ sport at every opportunity including pushing for greater participation across all sports, at every level. In our new Sport Strategy ‘Get Active’, we set an ambitious target of getting 1 million more active children and 1.25 million more active women by 2030.

We are determined to maximise the potential of women’s sport in the future so we can sustain that pipeline of talent and expand it. We are investing over £600 million in school sport across the next two academic years todrive up the quality of physical education and ensure girls have equal access to opportunities to play sport.

The School Games programme offers children the opportunity to take part in competitions in over 40 sports at local and regional level, including inclusive, modified versions of the sports. In the 2022/23 academic year, the country-wide network of 450 School Games Organisers provided over 2.2 million opportunities for children to take part. The introduction of new equality criteria to the School Games Mark encourages and recognises schools providing equal access to girls and boys.

Outside of school, we are investing over £300 million in grassroots football and multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025 which will further support women and girls accessing sport. The new £30 million Lioness Futures fund will deliver approximately 30 new state of the art 3G pitches at sites supporting women’s and girls’ teams across England. Projects in England will need to have a clear women and girls plan to receive this funding and will be monitored regularly to ensure the objectives are met.


Written Question
Culture: Disadvantaged
Tuesday 19th September 2023

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

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 ensure the adequacy of funding for cultural activities for (a) adults and (b) children in low-income areas.

Answered by John Whittingdale

His Majesty's Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to high-quality arts and cultural opportunities and activities, regardless of their background or where they live.

With the encouragement of the government, Arts Council England has developed a focus on Priority Places and Levelling Up for Culture Places to address historic imbalances in investment. As part of this, priority places receive dedicated Arts Council staff resources to build local capacity. The Arts Council’s Investment Programme for 2023–26, which is funding a record number of organisations in more places than ever before, has resulted in funding of £42.9 million per year in Levelling up for Culture Places. Stockton-on-Tees is a Levelling Up for Culture Place, and Tees Valley Combined Authority is a Priority Place.

The government’s Cultural Development Fund supports culture-led regeneration projects in areas across the country with the lowest levels of investment and engagement in arts and culture. This fund has provided £76 million of capital investment to 20 transformative, place-based creative and cultural projects over three rounds (2019 to 2023). In addition to this, in January 2023, the Government awarded £546 million to 31 culture and heritage projects as part of the second round of the Levelling Up Fund.


Written Question
Gambling: Young People
Tuesday 27th June 2023

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help prevent addiction to gambling among young people.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises that it is particularly important to take steps to protect young people at risk of gambling harms and addiction.

We recently published a white paper following our Review of the Gambling Act 2005, and are working with the Gambling Commission and other stakeholders to bring these measures into force as soon as possible, subject to further consultation where appropriate. The paper introduces a range of proportionate measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm and ensure that people who are at risk of gambling harm and addiction are protected, including young people. These include strengthening the land-based age verification regime, especially around gaming machines in pubs, bringing society lotteries and football pools into line with the National Lottery by raising the minimum age to 18, and putting new expectations on operators to consider age as a potential factor in customer vulnerability.

Over recent years, the Government has worked with the Gambling Commission and others on a range of measures to protect young people from gambling related harm. This includes tightening the age verification requirements for both land-based and online operators in 2019, and raising the minimum age to play the National Lottery to 18 and over in 2021. Last year the Committees of Advertising Practice updated advertising rules so that gambling adverts cannot have strong appeal to children even if they appeal more to adults.

In addition to these regulatory changes, specific steps have been taken to prevent and treat gambling harm in young people. Since September 2020, teaching young people about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt, has been included in the curriculum for all schools under Health Education in all state-funded schools, alongside Relationships Education (primary) and Relationships and Sex Education (secondary). In 2019 the NHS young person gambling addiction service was also launched.


Written Question
Gambling: Regulation
Tuesday 23rd May 2023

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

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 adequacy of gambling regulation to protect people from the risk of gambling addiction.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We recognise that while millions of people gamble without experiencing problems, for some it becomes an addiction with serious consequences.

We recently published a white paper following our Review of the Gambling Act 2005. The paper introduces a range of proportionate measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm and ensure that people who are at risk of gambling harm and addiction are protected. These include new player protection checks, a stake limit for online slots games, improvements to consumer redress and a statutory levy on operators to fund research, education and treatment.

We will work with the Gambling Commission and other stakeholders to bring these measures into force as quickly as possible, and where further consultations are necessary, our aim is to publish them by summer 2023.


Written Question
Sports
Thursday 1st December 2022

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to promote British sport.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to building on the UK’s world-leading sporting reputation, and we are supporting our athletes and international sport activity through over £77 million investment per year in UK Sport for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic cycle.

We also ensure the UK is a global focus for sport through our hosting of major sporting events. This year has seen us successfully host a number of major sporting events, including the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, UEFA Women’s Euros and the Rugby League World Cup.

Looking ahead, we continue to build on our pipeline of events hosted in the UK between now and 2030. These include the UCI World Cycling Championships in Glasgow in 2023, the return of the UEFA Champions League Final to Wembley in 2024, the women’s Rugby World Cup in England in 2025, the European Athletics Championships 2026 in Birmingham, as well as both the 2026 Women's T20 Cricket World Cup (England and Wales) and the 2030 Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup (UK and Ireland). We are also supporting a UK & Ireland bid for the UEFA European Championships 2028.


Written Question
Sports
Thursday 1st December 2022

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage grassroots participation in sport.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority. We recognise that taking part in sport brings communities together and contributes to making people both happier and healthier.

The majority of funding to grassroots sports projects is delivered through our Arms Length Body, Sport England. Last year, Sport England received almost £350 million from the Exchequer and National Lottery.

The government also invests £18 million a year into community sport facilities via the Football Foundation, alongside the English Football Association and the Premier League. We have committed an additional £230 million UK-wide between 2021 and 2025 to increase participation, particularly for under-represented groups including women and girls and disabled players.

Since 2019, Sport England has invested over £1.6 million in Stockton South and provided funding to the Football Foundation to invest nearly £190,000 in 20 projects across the constituency.


Written Question
Technology
Thursday 1st December 2022

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to promote growth in the British tech sector.

Answered by Paul Scully

We are committed to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a technology business and to ensure the benefits are felt in all corners of the country. Our Digital Strategy, published in June 2022, sets out our vision and the actions required to deliver on it.

The Digital Strategy outlined the government’s desire to support our digital tech sector by ensuring that the next generation of innovative tech companies can access the capital they need to flourish in the UK and abroad. To accelerate the growth of start-ups and scale-ups, we have launched the Digital Growth Grant Competition, worth up to £12.09 million, which will support companies with access to finance, tailored advice, talent and markets across the regions and nations of the UK. We have also worked to expand the generosity of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, the Company Share Option Plan and to ensure R&D tax credits will extend to data and computing costs for the first time.

We are also working to provide British tech companies with the infrastructure they need to grow. The government is investing in digital infrastructure to extend 4G mobile coverage and deliver gigabit-capable broadband across the UK through our £5 billion Project Gigabit delivering at least 85% gigabit-capable broadband coverage by 2025 and nationwide coverage by 2030.

Ensuring that British tech companies have access to a highly skilled workforce is critical to the growth of the sector. We are funding AI and Data Science Conversion Courses to support underrepresented groups from non-STEM backgrounds to undertake a masters in AI and Data Science, quickly upskilling to secure employment in the UK’s cutting-edge sectors. Earlier this year we announced up to a further 2,000 scholarships for the programme. We have also announced £117 million in funding to create 1,000 more PhDs through Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs).

To support further action on digital upskilling, we launched the Digital Skills Council in June. The Council brings together industry leaders and training experts and l will review what more government and industry can do collaboratively to improve workforce digital skills in the UK.

We are also driving growth in key areas of UK specialism. As part of the £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy the government is driving growth and innovation in the UK cyber security sector. This includes the Cyber Runway programme to grow, develop and scale cyber security businesses, and our network of regional cyber clusters which are driving growth across all regions of the UK by supporting businesses in areas such as Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and the North West.


Written Question
Broadband: Low Incomes
Wednesday 30th November 2022

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support low income households with their broadband bills.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS has taken steps to address the affordability concerns of people from low-income households by successfully negotiating with broadband providers to introduce a range of low-cost, high-quality social tariffs, available in 99% of the UK, for as little as £12 for those on Universal Credit and other means-tested benefits.

We also secured a set of commitments from broadband providers to support people through the global rise in the cost of living. These commitments include more manageable payment plans and allowing households to switch to cheaper packages without penalty.

We continue to engage with the sector. On 29 November, DCMS convened a ministerial roundtable of leaders from across the sector, Ofcom as well as consumer groups to discuss further steps to support low-income families.


Written Question
Film and Television
Wednesday 30th November 2022

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the UK’s film and television industry.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government is committed to ensuring that British film and television industries are able to deliver for audiences, expand their businesses, and offer opportunities for cast and crew across the UK.

In recent years, the Government’s actions have helped the film and TV industry bounce back from the pandemic, with production now stronger than ever. This includes the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, supporting over 100,000 jobs and productions worth more than £3 billion. In addition, the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas supported over 200 independent cinemas to ensure that films could be screened in cinemas following the pandemic.

To build on this, and support the sector to not only survive but thrive, the government has taken further action. This includes the Government’s current £1.6 million annual funding of the British Film Commission, which has driven a near doubling of UK studio capacity, the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, which is expanding the global reach of UK independent content, and the continued success of our screen sector tax reliefs (for film, high-end TV, animation and children’s TV), which in 2021-22 provided £792 million of support for over 1000 projects. HM Treasury has published a consultation on reforms to the audio-visual tax reliefs, which aims to ensure they remain world leading and continue to best serve the needs of creative companies.

In addition, the Government intends to update the existing legislative framework to ensure that our public service broadcasters have the tools to grow and flourish in the digital age. Our proposed reforms will, for example, ensure that public service content is always carried and easy to find on connected devices and major online platforms, including on smart TVs, set-top boxes and streaming sticks.

These and other reforms set out in our Broadcasting White Paper, published earlier this year, will ensure that our television and film industries continue to prosper in our new media landscape – an outcome that is good for both audiences and the creative economy.


Written Question
Digital Technology: Business
Wednesday 30th November 2022

Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to increase use of digital documentation to reduce business costs.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government recognises that the UK’s economic future, prosperity and productivity are all reliant on continued and growing success in digital technology.

DCMS is playing its part by taking steps to create a secure and trusted digital identity marketplace that can operate across economic sectors. Enabling the use of trusted digital identities in the UK will provide individuals with an alternative to offline manual identity proofing, which are estimated to cost between £800 million to £2 billion per annum*. This work is strongly supported by businesses as it is estimated that a fully functioning digital identity market that could generate direct annual economic benefits to the UK economy between £743m and £938m*.

The Central Digital and Data Office is also working with government departments to baseline service performance and capture any opportunities for efficiency through digital transformation. This includes opportunities to reform non-digital transactions and processes such as manual handling of paperwork.

*Digital identity and attributes De Minimis Assessment (2022)

*Economic Benefits of Digital Identity, Deloitte, 2020 (unpublished)