Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to open a third phase of the youth investment fund.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State 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.
While local authorities are responsible for delivering youth provision, the Government has worked closely with local authorities to update statutory guidance to support this delivery. The Government additionally provides significant funding to support youth services, with over £1.1 billion provided to the youth sector from DCMS in England between 2015 and 2021.
Over this Spending Review Period, DCMS is investing over £500 million in youth services to deliver the National Youth Guarantee, a government commitment that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. This includes a significant number of interventions such as the Youth Investment Fund which is delivering grants to build, renovate and expand youth centres. Future funding commitments for the Youth Investment Fund beyond the current phase 2 will be subject to the next Spending Review Period.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the (a) Football Association and (b) his counterparts in the devolved administrations on the prospects for relaunching the British Home Football Championship.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The Government has not had any recent discussions with the FA or Devolved Administrations about a British Home Football Championship. Whilst our love of the sport unites the home nations, international fixtures are a matter for the relevant football authorities.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the (a) progress of the roll-out of full fibre digital infrastructure in the Peterborough constituency in the last 12 months and (b) progress towards nationwide full fibre coverage by 2025 and (c) the need to update the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review.
Answered by Matt Warman
According to ThinkBroadband, full-fibre coverage in the Peterborough constituency stands at 47%, compared to 29% in July 2019.
The Government remains committed to delivering nationwide gigabit connectivity as soon as possible. We support industry’s plans to deliver gigabit broadband to the most commercial parts of the UK (c.80% of the country) and will continue to take action to remove barriers to deployment to help them deliver this by 2025.
It is more challenging to deliver gigabit connectivity to the hardest to reach 20% of the country by 2025. This is why we have committed a record £5 billion of capital funding to
support deployment in these areas.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has provided (a) support and (b) guidance to escape room businesses during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The Government’s economic support measures have helped a wide range of visitor attractions through this crisis. Escape room businesses can continue to access schemes such as the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, the Bounce Back Loans scheme. Certain retail, leisure and hospitality businesses are also eligible for business rates relief and grants.
Indoor attractions will be permitted to reopen from 4 July, so long as they can do so in line with COVID-19 Secure guidelines for the Visitor Economy. People should only visit indoor attractions within their household group (or support bubble) or with one other household (or support bubble).
We have worked very closely with the tourism sector to develop Covid-secure guidance which will help visitor economy businesses reopen safely.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure a sustainable future for radio.
Answered by John Whittingdale
While radio stations across the UK are reporting increasing numbers of listeners tuning in to their broadcasts, many of these stations are operating against the backdrop of a rapid fall in advertising and other revenues due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Commercial radio stations have been able to take advantage of some of the unprecedented support measures that have been introduced across the wider economy, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. However, we acknowledge that commercial radio also faces some sector-specific pressures.
We are pleased that an agreement has now been reached with Arqiva that will result in a significant reduction in annual transmission costs for local commercial stations that use Arqiva’s services, and have worked with industry during this crisis to support efforts to reduce other costs. We note in particular the help secured by Radiocentre in the form of reduced music licensing payments to reflect the fall in stations’ revenues, and Ofcom’s announcement relaxing its enforcement of licensees’ programming and production requirements, which has been extended to December.
We have also worked with Ofcom to release emergency funding, through the Community Radio Fund, to help community radio stations continue to provide programming and outreach projects for the communities they serve. Ofcom announced details of 81 awards on 4 June.
We note that Ofcom plan to begin advertising small-scale multiplex licences later this year, which will provide a lower-cost digital transmission option for smaller stations, and we will shortly be publishing our response to our consultation on analogue commercial radio licences.
We will continue to liaise with stakeholders across the industry regarding ways in which the Government can reduce regulatory burdens further to support radio through Covid-19 and beyond.