Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
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 repay, with interest, funds diverted from the Big Lottery Fund to National Lottery distributors in 2007 to finance the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
As agreed from the outset, repayments to the National Lottery Distribution Fund will come from land development and sales in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Payments are expected to start in the early 2020s, and distributors will receive payments pro-rata to their contribution. The BLF’s share of this money is £425m. This is set out in a legal agreement between DCMS SoS and the Greater London Authority (GLA) from 2012, which I attach.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps she has taken to increase the participation of people living with disabilities in (a) sports and (c) the arts.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Government recognises the importance of sport and physical activity to disabled people who take part at both grassroots and the elite level. Our new sport strategy, 'Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation', published in December 2015, emphasises the importance of getting people active, particularly those groups currently under-represented, including disabled people.
Between 2011 and 2017 Sport England is investing over £170 million to get more disabled people playing sport. It published its own strategy for England,Towards an Active Nation on 19 May, which sets out how it intends to deliver against the government’s sport strategy. This includes a specific focus on disabled people who are less likely to regularly take part in physical activity.
We believe that everyone should have access to arts and culture - having a disability should not be a barrier to enjoying Britain’s awe-inspiring cultural treasures. That is why we are working with venues and organisations representing disabled people to identify barriers to access. Arts Council England has also made a significant change in its approach to diversity by launching The Creative Case for Diversity, which asks the organisations it funds to make themselves and their work more reflective of the communities they serve. As part of Arts Council's investment in diversity and The Creative Case, four new strategic funds for diversity were announced in December 2015, totaling £8.6 million. This included a new £2.6 million Change Makers fund to build long-term relationships between National Portfolio Organisations and aspiring arts leaders from the BME and deaf and disabled communities, and Unlimited, which will support the development of a range of new work by deaf and disabled artists.
Asked by: Natalie McGarry (Independent - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which reports commissioned by her Department from external bodies between 1 January 2015 and 31 August 2016 have not yet been published; when each report was commissioned for research; what the nature of the research commissioned was; from which external body or individual person the research was commissioned; what the value was of each such piece of research commissioned; on what date each report was received by her Department; for what reasons the research has not yet been published; and when she plans to publish each report.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We do not hold this information centrally, and the information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.