Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it his policy to consult on any changes to (a) actors' and (b) performers' employment rights within the cultural sector.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are committed to giving British creators increased security at work, and providing the creative industries with a regulatory and fiscal environment where imagination and innovation can flourish. To support this aim, DCMS is working closely with the sector to understand the implications of the Government’s Plan to Make Work Pay on the Creative Industries.
The Plan to Make Work Pay will represent the biggest upgrade in employment rights in a generation, bringing the UK back into line internationally. It tackles poor working conditions and job security, and by making work more flexible and more family-friendly, will support our wider programme across employment, health and skills policy to get Britain working.
This includes a commitment to consult on a simpler, two-part framework for employment status. Some reforms in The Plan to Make Work Pay will take longer to undertake and implement, and we see this consultation as a longer-term goal.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has taken to assess the impact of the proposed streamlining of workers definitions on the creative industries.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are committed to giving British creators increased security at work, and providing the creative industries with a regulatory and fiscal environment where imagination and innovation can flourish. To support this aim, DCMS is working closely with the sector to understand the implications of the Government’s Plan to Make Work Pay on the Creative Industries.
The Plan to Make Work Pay will represent the biggest upgrade in employment rights in a generation, bringing the UK back into line internationally. It tackles poor working conditions and job security, and by making work more flexible and more family-friendly, will support our wider programme across employment, health and skills policy to get Britain working.
This includes a commitment to consult on a simpler, two-part framework for employment status. Some reforms in The Plan to Make Work Pay will take longer to undertake and implement, and we see this consultation as a longer-term goal.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what advice her Department provides to creative industries considering the use of legal recourse when artificial intelligence has been used in breach of copyright.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
It would be inappropriate for the Government to provide direct legal advice to individual creators or organisations, but we fully recognise the serious and evolving challenges posed by the use of copyrighted material in AI development.
The current UK Copyright Framework enables creative rights holders to prevent the unauthorised use of protected works, but this can be very difficult to implement in the context of AI, especially for individual firms and creators. We encourage rights holders who believe their work has been used unlawfully to seek independent legal advice.
More broadly, the Government is working to ensure that copyright and intellectual property frameworks remain robust and fit for purpose in the age of AI. We have received over 11,500 responses to our consultation, principally from creators. It is only right that we take the time to read and understand those responses and use them to shape our approach. We have been clear that AI developers must be more transparent about the content they use to train their models and that rights holders should have effective control of their works.
Addressing this is an urgent priority for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, but no decisions will be taken until we are absolutely confident we have a practical plan that delivers for the creative industries.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme projects (a) were completed between 5 July 2024 and 27 March 2025 and (b) were incomplete on 27 March 2025; how much and what proportion of the funding allocated for the provision of multi-sport grassroots facilities in this financial year has (i) been and (ii) not been committed.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Since 5 July, a total of 728 Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities projects were completed in England (as of 13 March), 14 projects were completed in Scotland, 17 projects were completed in Wales and 11 projects were completed in Northern Ireland (all as of 27 March).
A total of 513 Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities projects remained incomplete in England, 16 remained incomplete in Scotland, 37 remained incomplete in Wales and 4 remained incomplete in Northern Ireland.
For the financial year 2024/25, other than a £1.2k underspend, the full £125m proposed investment into the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme has been committed, with delivery of projects funded ongoing. The Programme has sought to maximise value for money to ensure this funding directly impacts communities across the UK by providing high-quality sports facilities and offering places for people of all backgrounds to get active.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an impact assessment of the decision to allow up to 80 gaming machines in certain casinos.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department has considered the available evidence and a full impact assessment will be published for the measure which allows casinos to site up to 80 gaming machines. The Government’s Better Regulation Framework classifies the sports betting measure as a de minimis measure, and therefore a de minimis assessment will be completed for this measure, although this won’t be published.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an impact assessment of the decision to allow sports betting in all casinos.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department has considered the available evidence and a full impact assessment will be published for the measure which allows casinos to site up to 80 gaming machines. The Government’s Better Regulation Framework classifies the sports betting measure as a de minimis measure, and therefore a de minimis assessment will be completed for this measure, although this won’t be published.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish a list of the sports governing bodies she has met with since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS publishes transparency data on GOV.UK, including details of ministers’ meetings with external organisations. Details of all meetings between 1 July and 30 September 2024 were published on 30 January 2025 and details for the following quarter will be published in due course.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to renew funding for the Park Tennis Courts programme.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
All future funding of sports facilities will be considered as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing funding for the provision of padel courts.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
Sport England provides long term investment to the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for padel tennis in Britain, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years to invest in community tennis and padel initiatives that will benefit everyone.
All future funding of sports facilities will be considered as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Park Tennis Court project on encouraging more people to take up tennis.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities. We recognise that everyone should have access to high quality facilities and opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity.
The previous Government commissioned an independent impact evaluation assessment of the Park Tennis Court Programme in August 2023, with a key focus being the impact of the programme on participation. We expect the full evaluation impact report to be published during April 2026.