Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of leisure and sport facilities in Tooting constituency.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority. Last year, Sport England received almost £350 million from the Government and National Lottery to fund grassroots sports projects so that everyone is able to access quality sport and physical activity opportunities, and enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that exercise provides.
Since 2019, Sport England has invested more than £117,000 across 24 projects into grassroots sport in Tooting. This includes £17,500 of funding which was used to resurface the Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) at Ravenstone Primary school. In 2022, funding from the government via the Football Foundation helped develop a new 3G pitch for the AFC Wimbledon Foundation, where they run walking football, a girls pathway and more.
The availability of leisure facilities is a matter for the Local Authority. At the Spring Budget, we announced a £63 million package to support public swimming pools, to be delivered through Local Authorities.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has committed to delivering a new sport strategy that will set the direction for the Government's priorities and its role in the sport sector. This strategy will support grassroots sport by having a specific focus on ensuring that everyone has access to appropriate and accessible opportunities to get active.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of the cost of TV licenses for elderly people during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Matt Warman
The global cost of living is rising and this Government is committed to supporting households as much as possible during these difficult times. When setting the level of the licence fee earlier this year, the Government had to think very carefully about the impact that any increase would have on households.
Therefore, on 17 January, the Secretary of State announced that the licence fee will be frozen at £159 until April 2024, before rising with inflation until April 2028. This settlement aims to support all households at a time when they need that support the most.
The Government remains deeply disappointed with the BBC's decision to restrict the over 75 licence fee concession to only those in receipt of Pension Credit. We recognise the value of free TV licences for over-75s and believe they should be funded by the BBC. The BBC must look at how it uses its substantial licence fee income to support older people.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding has been allocated to Black-led charities and/or Black-led community organisations in each year from 2015 to 2021.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
DCMS has not routinely collected this data across all of our programmes. Policy officials are currently reviewing how DCMS captures data on civil society organisations that are black-led, as well as other inclusivity and diversity metrics going forward.
DCMS’ Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF) granted £200 million to small and medium sized charities) in 2020. The National Lottery Community Fund awarded 12% of all grants to organisations which benefited BAME people/groups and had leadership with relevant lived experience. The value of these contracts was £21,859.432.00.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what funding the Government has allocated to tackle hate speech in sport; and what proportion of that funding has been spent, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Adams
It is not possible to isolate government funding to tackle hate speech in sport. Government and its arm's length body for grassroots sport, Sport England, work with National Governing Bodies of Sport and organisations such as Kick It Out, Stonewall and Women in Football to tackle discrimination in local, national and international sport. Grassroots sports clubs can also access free support and learning in tackling discrimination through Sport England's "Club Matters" programme.
There is no place in sport or society more generally for any acts of discrimination, including hate speech. Sports clubs and fans must continue to embrace diversity and report incidents of discrimination wherever it occurs.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the central Government contribution to youth club spending in the Borough of Wandsworth in (a) 2010 and (b) 2018.
Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes
Local authorities are responsible for allocating public funding to youth services in their area, including youth clubs. We believe they are best placed to know what is required in their communities and therefore we do not hold this data.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
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 received representations from health experts on the health risks of rubber crumbs from artificial sports pitches.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government is working closely with Sport England, officials from the Environment Agency, Public Health England and many of the major National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of sport on the subject of playing surfaces in England, including rubber crumb pitches.
The department is aware of, and feeding into the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) consultation on the restriction of microplastics. We will continue to work closely with experts in this field and will monitor the situation closely.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Sporting Future: A Strategy for an Active Nation, published in December 2015, what progress the Inter-Ministerial Group for Healthy Living has made on implementing a joined-up approach to delivery and funding for sport and physical activity.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I meet regularly with my ministerial colleagues to discuss our joint working on sport and physical activity. Cross-government working continues to be a key priority, given the immense role sport and physical activity plays in a range of important agendas across government. For example, it can help improve learning and educational attainment, and contribute to reducing the burden on health and social care services.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate the Government has made of the number of children sexually abused by sports coaches in each year for which information is available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My department does not collect information about the prevalence of child sexual abuse in sport. Child sexual abuse investigations and statistics are managed by the police.
The latest figures from Operation Hydrant, which coordinates non-recent child sexual abuse and exploitation investigations concerning institutional settings, show 329 sport institutions as being on the Operation Hydrant database up to and including 30 September 2018.
Operation Hydrant has also published separate statistics relating to non-recent child sexual abuse in football, up to and including 29 March 2018. These show that, at the time of publication, there were 849 alleged victims and 300 alleged suspects of non-recent child sexual abuse in football. These figures do not show in which years the alleged abuse took place, nor the relationship between the alleged perpetrator and victim. Since March 2018, football-related statistics have been captured in the Operation’s broader quarterly statistics.
Ensuring that sport is a safe environment for all young people is one of my top priorities, and my department works closely with Sport England and the Child Protection in Sport Unit to strengthen provision wherever possible. To support these efforts, I am committed to working closely with the Ministry of Justice to extend the definition of a ‘position of trust’ in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to include sports coaches who hold a position of trust in relation to a child aged 16 or 17 under their care.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on the number of victims of child sexual abuse by sports coaches that have come forward in the last five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My department does not collect information about the prevalence of child sexual abuse in sport. Child sexual abuse investigations and statistics are managed by the police.
The latest figures from Operation Hydrant, which coordinates non-recent child sexual abuse and exploitation investigations concerning institutional settings, show 329 sport institutions as being on the Operation Hydrant database up to and including 30 September 2018.
Operation Hydrant has also published separate statistics relating to non-recent child sexual abuse in football, up to and including 29 March 2018. These show that, at the time of publication, there were 849 alleged victims and 300 alleged suspects of non-recent child sexual abuse in football. These figures do not show in which years the alleged abuse took place, nor the relationship between the alleged perpetrator and victim. Since March 2018, football-related statistics have been captured in the Operation’s broader quarterly statistics.
Ensuring that sport is a safe environment for all young people is one of my top priorities, and my department works closely with Sport England and the Child Protection in Sport Unit to strengthen provision wherever possible. To support these efforts, I am committed to working closely with the Ministry of Justice to extend the definition of a ‘position of trust’ in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to include sports coaches who hold a position of trust in relation to a child aged 16 or 17 under their care.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will increase the resources provided to UK Anti-Doping.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) is an Arm's Length Body of DCMS and acts as the UK's National Anti-Doping Organisation. A Tailored Review of UKAD has been conducted with a report being published last year making a number of recommendations. As part of this process, the Government awarded an additional £6.1m funding to UKAD over two years which consolidates its position as one of the best resourced National Anti-Doping Organisations in the world.