Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has had recent discussions with Historic Royal Palaces on free public access to the grounds of Hampton Court Palace.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Historic Royal Palaces is a charity which raises its own funds and depends on the support of visitors, members, donors, sponsors, and volunteers to look after the extraordinary buildings in its care and share them with the widest possible public. As this is an operational matter for Historic Royal Palaces, the Department has not discussed it with the organisation.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department provides financial assistance to (a) uniformed youth organisations and (b) youth sports teams to enable them to provide (i) uniforms and (ii) sports kits at a reduced or no cost to children from families on low incomes.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people.
We have guaranteed that by 2025, every young person in England will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and volunteering opportunities. This is supported by over £500 million of investment in youth services.
As part of the National Youth Guarantee, in October 2022 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport awarded an initial £1.5 million to kickstart the Uniformed Youth Fund, targeting less advantaged areas of the country, with a further £16.9 million of funding launched in November to tackle existing teenager waiting lists. To date, over 2,000 new places have been created for young people in uniformed youth groups across England.
We recognise that not being able to access essential kit can act as a barrier to those wishing to participate in sport. Sport England has a number of funds that can provide support in this instance, including the £20 million Together Fund which was set up to reduce the negative impact of coronavirus and help community groups working with priority groups. Part of this funding was put towards providing kit to children who were not able to access the essentials required to participate.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the £100 million support for charities and community organisations announced in the Spring Budget 2023, when she plans to provide further information on (a) how that funding will be administered, (b) the proportion of the funding that will be allocated to assist with immediate operational costs, including energy bills and (c) when applications for that funding will be opened.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As announced in the recent Spring Budget, the government will provide over £100 million of support for charities and community organisations in England.
Around three quarters of the funding will be targeted towards those organisations most at risk, due to increased demand from vulnerable groups and higher delivery costs. Approximately one quarter of the funding will be used for measures over the next two years to increase the energy efficiency and sustainability of charities and community organisations.
Work is underway to finalise the delivery, timings and eligibility criteria. Further details will be announced as soon as possible.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential benefits of establishing a National Volunteer Corps to support emergency services.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Volunteering is critical to a vibrant and resilient civil society; it benefits volunteers and the organisations involving them and has transformational impacts on beneficiaries and their communities. This Government is committed to enabling people to take part in all forms of social action, including volunteering. We know the profound benefit that volunteering has on the individual, on communities and on society.
We also recognise the impact of volunteering in emergencies. As such, DCMS has committed to funding the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership (VCSEP) through to 2025. The partnership was established following 2017 crises including the Grenfell fire and Manchester terrorist attacks and aims to help people and organisations prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies. The VCSEP is a collection of voluntary and community sector organisations, and is co-chaired by the British Red Cross and the National Association of Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA). The partnership creates a network of networks, reaching thousands of volunteer-involving groups and organisations.
Given the effectiveness of this partnership and their existing reach into communities, DCMS is keen to support their resilience and emergency response work.
DCMS has considered other mechanisms, including a national volunteering reserve as was suggested in 2020 by Danny Kruger MP in his report 'Levelling Up Our Communities: Proposals for a New Social Covenant'. The Government response to this report outlined that a volunteering reserve would not be a solution to current barriers to volunteering such as work commitments, caring commitments, and people doing other things in their spare time. Evidence such as NCVO’s Time Well Spent research indicates volunteering is an activity inspired by a particular cause or purpose. For these reasons, we are focussing our efforts on supporting volunteering to grow and adapt, including through our active support of the Vision for Volunteering.We will continue to assess the value of approaches such as a national volunteering corps. However, given the evidence points to people stepping forward when demand exists, our current focus is on developing structures which coordinate a crisis response across organisations, rather than developing a national corps.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of rising inflation on the heritage and culture sector; and whether her Department has plans to increase funding to (a) museums, (b) galleries and (c) other heritage organisations to (i) support their continued operation and (ii) ensure their employees are paid an adequate wage.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the Prime Minister stated to Parliament on 8 September, and as the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy set out in a written ministerial statement on the same day, the government is acting to protect the UK from the spiralling costs of energy. The Government will support all business, charities and public sector organisations with their energy costs this winter, offering an equivalent guarantee to that for households for six months.
The written ministerial statement can be found here.
The Government continues to support the UK’s world-leading culture and heritage sectors, building on unprecedented support during the pandemic, and our long-term investment in these areas. My department is currently engaging with museum and heritage stakeholders to understand the impact of energy and inflation increases on the sector.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the merger of BBC News and BBC World News on the effectiveness of public service news broadcasting (a) in the UK and (b) overseas; and what discussions she has had with representatives of the BBC on funding to maintain those services.
Answered by Matt Warman
The BBC’s proposal to merge BBC News and BBC World News means that the BBC will continue to provide a 24 hour news channel both domestically and abroad. This forms part of the BBC’s plan announced on 26 May to keep the BBC relevant and offer value to all audiences in an on-demand age, with a particular focus on plans to build a digital-first BBC.
We believe the recent licence fee settlement is a fair settlement for the BBC, which will see the BBC continue to receive £3.7bn in annual public funding to deliver its Mission and Public Purposes and continue doing what it does best. We recognise the BBC, just like individual households, businesses and other organisations across the UK, is having to make difficult financial decisions. But the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government, and decisions over its spending and services are a matter for them.
The Government strongly values the BBC’s work in promoting UK values globally through its independent and impartial broadcasting. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office will also continue to provide the BBC World Service with £94.4m p/a for the period 2022-2025.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
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 tackle digital exclusion.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is focused on building a world-leading digital economy that works for everyone. As the overall lead department for digital, DCMS works closely with the rest of the government to ensure that all departments consider the needs of digitally excluded people when making policy.
To improve access to the internet, help is available for low income households to access broadband, mobile and landline services. A range of low-cost social tariffs are available to those on Universal Credit, and a number specifically include individuals on Pension Credit. These tariffs are available to eligible households in 99% of the UK.
To improve access to vital digital skills, the government has introduced a digital entitlement for adults with no or low digital skills. This allows adults wishing to acquire essential digital skills to gain specified digital qualifications, up to level 1, free of charge. Essential Digital Skills Qualifications (EDSQs), introduced alongside the digital entitlement, are based on new national standards which set out the digital skills people need to get on in life and work. We also support the provision of essential digital skills training in community settings through the Adult Education Budget.
Public libraries play an important role in tackling digital exclusion. Around 2,900 public libraries in England provide a trusted network of accessible locations with staff, volunteers, free wifi, public PCs, and assisted digital access to a wide range of digital services.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many public swimming pools have remained closed since being closed in 2020 in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and all generations and communities should be able to enjoy the health, wellbeing, social and other benefits of being active
The Government has provided a range of support for swimming pools during the pandemic. The £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country. In addition, Sport England have made 139 Covid support awards to the Swimming & Diving community (totalling £1,178,198). However, information from Swim England shows that since June 2021 there have been 14 public pools that have not reopened after closing during the pandemic.
Beyond Covid, Sport England have awarded £24,190,440 to swimming and diving projects since January 2017, which includes £15,724,500 of funding directly to Swim England.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to help ensure that (a) TV news broadcasters and (b) print news outlets report responsibly to reduce the negative impact of panic-buying.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is committed to a free and independent media. It is not appropriate for the government to arbitrate on what should or should not be published or broadcast.
Ofcom is the UK’s independent regulator of television services. The Ofcom Broadcasting Code covers standards in programmes and has rules to ensure that broadcast news is reported with due accuracy and impartiality. The government does not interfere in broadcasters’ editorial decisions and it is for content makers to decide what to include in their programmes, provided that they comply with the Broadcasting Code.
There is also an independent self regulatory regime to ensure that the press adheres to a wider set of clear and appropriate standards, and to offer individuals a means of redress where these are not met. The regulators, IPSO and IMPRESS, enforce codes of conduct which provide guidelines on a range of areas, including discrimination, accuracy, privacy, and harassment. If they find that a newspaper has broken the code of conduct, they can order corrections. IPSO can also order critical adjudications and Impress can levy fines.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the evidential basis was used by his Department when determining the timing for when spectators will be permitted to watch grassroots sports under Step 3 of the Government’s roadmap for the easing of covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity are crucial for our mental and physical health. That’s why we made sure that people could exercise throughout the national restrictions and why we ensured that grassroots and children’s sport was at the front of the queue when easing those restrictions.
On Monday 22 February, the Prime Minister announced a roadmap out of the current lockdown in England. The government has introduced a step approach to the return of outdoor and indoor sport areas across England. Each full step of the roadmap is informed by the latest available science and data and has been five weeks apart in order to provide time to assess the data and provide one week’s notice to businesses and individuals.
Spectators must adhere to legal gathering limits at Step 3. Outdoors, spectators can gather in groups of up to 30. Indoors, unless an exemption applies, spectators may only gather in groups of up to 6 people, or as a group of two households. A group made up of 2 households can include more than 6 people, but only where all members of the group are from the same 2 households (and each household can include an existing support bubble, if eligible).