Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many MP surgeries have Ministers in her Department had with MPs (a) in the period July 2024 to January 2025 and (b) since January 2025.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Our records show that in the period between July 2024 and January 2025, DCMS Ministers held four MP surgeries.
In the period between January 2025 and 17 July 2026, DCMS Ministers held 34 MP surgeries.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what role she considers broadcast infrastructure plays in ensuring that the Government can communicate with the public during national emergencies.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The government understands how important it is that citizens can access information in times of national emergency. Resilient radio and television play an important role in a range of different emergency scenarios.
The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its infrastructure is able to support emergency communications.
DCMS works with the Cabinet Office and other Departments to ensure the BBC’s public emergency messaging capabilities are integrated into wider cross government resilience planning.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
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 support the heritage and listed buildings sector in East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government remains dedicated to safeguarding our historic environment for both current and future generations. We continue to provide substantial public investment to support heritage across the nation, working alongside key partners including the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) and Historic England.
This includes a £250,000 grant in August 2024 from NLHF to the Bluebell Railway in this constituency, in support of Railway 200.
In January we announced an additional £200 million funding over four years for heritage as part of the Arts Everywhere programme to bring historic buildings in the hearts of our communities back to life. This funding includes the Heritage at Risk Capital Fund (£60m), Heritage Revival Fund (£42m) and the Places of Worship Renewal Fund (£92m).
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of youth club and youth services providers funding in the East Grinstead and Uckfield Constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We’re working across government to expand access to enriching and meaningful activities, as we know that strong offline connections are essential to tackling loneliness and supporting young people’s wellbeing.
Our ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’ will ensure every young person across the country, including those in East and West Sussex, has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is funded by over £500 million from DCMS and will include support for youth clubs and youth services providers.
Organisations across East and West Sussex have received funding through the Million Hours Fund, a c.£40 million programme which has provided over a million additional hours of positive activities for young people in areas with higher levels of anti-social behaviour.
Young people from East and West Sussex also benefited from the Adventures Away From Home Fund, which provided bursaries for disadvantaged or vulnerable young people to participate in day trips and residentials to outdoors spaces.
We are also pleased to have Brighton and Hove as an early adopter for our Young Futures Hubs, which will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with the social media ban for under 16s, what assessment has she made of the adequacy of youth club and youth services providers funding in East Sussex.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We’re working across government to expand access to enriching and meaningful activities, as we know that strong offline connections are essential to tackling loneliness and supporting young people’s wellbeing.
Our ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’ will ensure every young person across the country, including those in East and West Sussex, has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is funded by over £500 million from DCMS and will include support for youth clubs and youth services providers.
Organisations across East and West Sussex have received funding through the Million Hours Fund, a c.£40 million programme which has provided over a million additional hours of positive activities for young people in areas with higher levels of anti-social behaviour.
Young people from East and West Sussex also benefited from the Adventures Away From Home Fund, which provided bursaries for disadvantaged or vulnerable young people to participate in day trips and residentials to outdoors spaces.
We are also pleased to have Brighton and Hove as an early adopter for our Young Futures Hubs, which will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with the social media ban for under 16s, what assessment has she made of the adequacy of youth club and youth services providers funding in West Sussex.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We’re working across government to expand access to enriching and meaningful activities, as we know that strong offline connections are essential to tackling loneliness and supporting young people’s wellbeing.
Our ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’ will ensure every young person across the country, including those in East and West Sussex, has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is funded by over £500 million from DCMS and will include support for youth clubs and youth services providers.
Organisations across East and West Sussex have received funding through the Million Hours Fund, a c.£40 million programme which has provided over a million additional hours of positive activities for young people in areas with higher levels of anti-social behaviour.
Young people from East and West Sussex also benefited from the Adventures Away From Home Fund, which provided bursaries for disadvantaged or vulnerable young people to participate in day trips and residentials to outdoors spaces.
We are also pleased to have Brighton and Hove as an early adopter for our Young Futures Hubs, which will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps is she taking to increase funding for youth clubs and youth providers in East Sussex.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
In December 2025, DCMS launched “Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy”. This ten year strategy will ensure every young person across the country has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is funded by over £500 million from DCMS.
We are currently designing how this funding will be spent, with input from a wide range of stakeholders, and are committed to working with areas of greatest need across England.
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of youth services in their area. We will explore reviewing this duty as part of a wider review of local statutory duties.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps is she taking to increase funding for youth clubs and youth providers in East Grinstead and Uckfield Constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
In December 2025, DCMS launched “Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy”. This ten year strategy will ensure every young person across the country has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is funded by over £500 million from DCMS.
We are currently designing how this funding will be spent, with input from a wide range of stakeholders, and are committed to working with areas of greatest need across England.
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of youth services in their area. We will explore reviewing this duty as part of a wider review of local statutory duties.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps is she taking to increase funding for youth clubs and youth providers in West Sussex.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
In December 2025, DCMS launched “Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy”. This ten year strategy will ensure every young person across the country has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is funded by over £500 million from DCMS.
We are currently designing how this funding will be spent, with input from a wide range of stakeholders, and are committed to working with areas of greatest need across England.
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of youth services in their area. We will explore reviewing this duty as part of a wider review of local statutory duties.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
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 support the tourism and leisure sectors in West Sussex.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS is committed to ensuring tourism drives growth and jobs across the country, including the constituency of East Grinstead and Uckfield alongside both East and West Sussex, home to attractions including the historic Bluebell Railway and the iconic South Downs.
DCMS collaborates closely with VisitEngland and the Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) network - including the Sussex and Brighton LVEP - to embed the distinct needs of coastal and rural tourism into national policy. Locally, the Sussex and Brighton LVEP bridges the public and private sectors to drive investment and promote the region as a premier destination to visit, live, work, and invest.
Through VisitBritain’s ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ campaign, we are showcasing the UK’s film and TV locations, like the Bluebell Railway featured in The Women in Black and Downton Abbey, to global audiences while promoting diverse experiences available across all regions.
To support domestic tourism, VisitEngland launched the latest phase of its ongoing coastal campaign in June. The ‘My coast has the most…’ campaign calls on voices from across the tourism industry to take part in a nationwide social media activation, sharing short videos that celebrate what makes their local coastlines special and inspiring people to visit this summer and beyond.
Through a temporary VAT cut on eligible attractions, the Great British Summer Savings Scheme drives family footfall and provides vital support to seasonal tourism businesses over the summer months.