Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps he is taking to co-ordinate cultural diplomacy across Departments.
Answered by Michael Ellis
I refer the Hon Member to my response during Topical questions today in the Chamber.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps he has taken to promote tourism in the UK.
Answered by Michael Ellis
VisitBritain and VisitEngland are responsible for promoting the UK as a tourist destination, through a range of different initiatives and campaigns. VisitBritain receive grant-in-aid totalling £19.4m from DCMS and VisitEngland receive £7m. They also receive £22.8m of GREAT funding to support promotion activities. For every £1 the Government has invested in VisitBritain for international marketing, an overseas visitor spends £20 in Britain.
These include the £40m Discover England Fund, which is targeted at developing high quality tourism products across England. The “Make Great Memories in England’s National Parks” that targets the Australian and German markets is one project from this fund.
Additionally, in 2017 VisitBritain participated in travel trade missions across the world such as Destination Britain: China, the World Travel Market, World Routes and Destination Britain: North America. They also hold a variety of domestic promotion events throughout the country.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what future funding she plans to make available to BBC Monitoring.
Answered by Matt Hancock
BBC Monitoring is funded from the television licence fee, which is set by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport under Section 365 of the Communications Act (2003). The BBC is operationally and editorially independent of Government and funding for the Monitoring scheme is a matter for the BBC.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on the gathering of statistics on digital trade; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Matt Hancock
DCMS publish exports of services figure for the Digital Sector at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/544789/DCMS_Sectors_Economic_Estimates_2016.xlsx, as part of DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which Government Department holds primary responsibility for policy on artificial intelligence.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport holds primary responsibility for Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy. DCMS and BEIS jointly support the industry-led review of Artificial Intelligence announced in the Digital Strategy.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to make a decision on new funding arrangements for the Horse Race Betting Levy.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Government intends to introduce the replacement for the current Horserace Betting Levy in April 2017. We will make a further announcement shortly.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what additional support and resources her Department is providing to assist West Sussex County Council in meeting its universal broadband obligations.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government has implemented a basic broadband scheme to enable all premises to gain access to speeds of at least 2Mbps. This enables residents to gain access to every government service available online. Funding for subsidised connections through the scheme is provided by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) as part of the government's superfast broadband programme. Consumers in eligible premises can access services from any of the suppliers who have been entered onto the scheme by BDUK.
In addition it is the Government's intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation. This will give people the legal right to request a broadband connection, no matter where they live, by the end of this Parliament. Our ambition is that the minimum download speed should initially be set at 10 Mbps.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to paragraph 3.2 of his Department's document, Implementing the replacement for the Horserace Betting Levy, published in March 2016, what progress has been made on the independent report on the value of the common interest between betting and racing; and when he expects to publish the findings of that report.
Answered by David Evennett
The rate payable by gambling operators will be informed by this independent economic analysis of the funding of horseracing and further discussion with the betting and racing industries. We will be consulting on the findings of the report with both industries within the next few weeks and intend to publish the report in due course.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to paragraph 3.2 of his Department's document, Implementing the replacement for the Horserace Betting Levy, published in March 2016, how his Department plans to use the independent report on the value of the common interest between betting and racing to inform the construct of the proposed levy replacement and recover revenues lost from remote offshore betting.
Answered by David Evennett
The rate payable by gambling operators will be informed by this independent economic analysis of the funding of horseracing and further discussion with the betting and racing industries. We will be consulting on the findings of the report with both industries within the next few weeks and intend to publish the report in due course.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the Royal Parks about the Plantation and the Royal Park Estate Yard in Hyde Park.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I have had no discussions with the Royal Parks about the estate yard in Hyde Park. Following my decision this year to increase the capital allocation for the parks, my officials have been in discussion with TRP about rebuilding the existing ageing Hyde Park nursery facility. Planning on this is underway and, subject to relevant permissions, when complete will enable the estate to grow 95% of its plants on site in a new more efficient building.