Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has contributed £930,182.04 in apprenticeship levy fees between September 2021 and August 2023. During the same period, the department has spent £404,438.47 from its levy pot.
To note, the period requested covers a significant period prior to the Machinery of Government change which took place in 2023 and DCMS still pays the apprenticeship levy on behalf of Building Digital UK as they currently remain on DCMS payroll.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the impact of the UK Men's Shed Association on loneliness rates among older men.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Many older men experience loneliness and social isolation. Having strong social relationships play an important role in our physical and mental wellbeing, and there are a number of local voluntary and community sector organisations, such as the UK Men’s Shed Association, that are playing an important role in tackling this.
The Government is also taking action to tackle loneliness and social isolation, particularly among older men. This includes investment in our national loneliness campaign, building the loneliness evidence base, and supporting the Tackling Loneliness Hub. In March 2023, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched the Know Your Neighbourhood Fund of up to £30 million, with £19 million of funding from Government, to widen participation in volunteering and tackle loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. The fund will run until 2025.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the export opportunities for the creative industries.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s creative industries are world-leading. They generated £108 billion for our economy in 2021 and employ over two million people across the country. But our creative industries also represent a powerful export opportunity, where they accounted for £8.9 billion exports in goods and £41.4 billion in services in 2020.
The Government’s Export Strategy sets the goal for the UK to reach £1 trillion in total annual UK exports by the mid-2030s and to boost competitiveness and jobs across the UK. The creative industries are identified as a priority sector to deliver this ambition.
Ministers from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Business and Trade, alongside industry representatives, attended the Chancellor’s Creative Industries Treasury Connect Conference in May, where discussions included export opportunities for the sector.
The Government provides targeted support to boost creative exports through programmes including the £21 million Global Screen Fund, and the Music Exports Growth Scheme. The upcoming publication of the Creative Industries Sector Vision will set out the Government’s approach to creative exports in more detail.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to promote (a) viable, (b) long-term and (c) year-round careers in the heritage and tourism sector to (i) young people and (ii) lifelong learners.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The diverse range of jobs in the heritage and tourism sectors can bring fulfilment and enjoyment to those who perform them as well as helping to share our rich heritage and fantastic destinations with the widest possible audience, and preserve them for the benefit of future generations.
The Government’s arm’s-length bodies play a valuable role in delivering initiatives and projects to promote and develop sustainable careers in tourism and heritage to both young people and life-long learners.
Since 1994, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested in a range of projects to develop training and career opportunities in the heritage sector for people of all backgrounds.
Historic England’s approach to skills and employability in heritage is a tiered set of initiatives for both young people and lifelong learners. Programmes delivered across these tiers include the Heritage Schools programme, work experience and and T-Level industry placements, and specialist skills development programmes, including developing future leadership capacity within the heritage sector.
The Tourism Recovery Plan sets out our ambition for a more productive, innovative, and resilient industry, employing more UK nationals in year-round quality jobs. As part of this, the Government is investing £2.5 billion in the National Skills Fund until 2025 to help people gain skills to improve their job prospects, including in sectors such as hospitality.
The Hospitality & Tourism Skills Board will continue to pursue an employer-led, coordinated and proactive approach towards recruitment, retention and upskilling.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage school groups from abroad to visit the UK.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK Government wants to see a growing, dynamic, and sustainable tourism sector reach its full potential and drive growth in every nation and region of the UK. Educational travel plays an important part in this.
The Tourism Recovery Plan recognises educational travel as an important part of the visitor economy, and a driver of the UK’s soft power on the world stage.
The Government updated the International Education Strategy, renewing a commitment to attract international students. The Strategy also recognises the crucial contribution of English Language Training to the UK’s soft power.
Furthermore, VisitBritain runs a number of campaigns to attract visitors from around the world, including school groups.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish the Creative Industries Sector Vision.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK’s creative industries are world-leading, generating £108 billion for our economy in 2021, and employing two million people. The Government wants to maximise the potential of these industries, and will be publishing our Creative Industries Sector Vision imminently. It will set out this Government's plan to grow the creative industries by £50 billion and support a million more jobs by 2030.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many young people aged eighteen or younger have undertaken work experience in her Department in the last 12 months; and what proportion of those young people were (a) girls and (b) boys from state schools.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS does not have a formal work experience scheme for young people aged eighteen or younger and does not hold central records of any informal work experience organised by individual business areas.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 increase domestic tourism.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Our Tourism Recovery Plan (TRP) sets out an ambition to recover domestic tourism to pre pandemic levels of 99m overnight trips and spend of £19 billion by the end of 2022. We have been committed to supporting the sector to remain resilient through the pandemic and have provided over £37 billion to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
The Tourism Recovery Plan also announced plans for a new rail pass which, which we hope to launch this year, to help make it easier and more sustainable for domestic tourists to get around Scotland, England, and Wales.
VisitEngland launched the next phase of its domestic marketing campaign, Escape the Everyday, in February. The campaign will focus on cities as they are impacted by lower numbers of international visitors and it will target a ‘pre-nester’ audience (18-34 year olds), encouraging them to book a short city-break.
2022 also promises a host of unmissable events, including Her Majesty’s Jubilee, with a programme of events over the extended Jubilee Bank holiday; Unboxed, which aims to engage millions of people through in person and digital events; as well as the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which will drive domestic and international visitors to the region.
English Tourism Week from 18th-27th March 2022 is a great opportunity to showcase the best of what the English tourism industry has to offer. I have been visiting some of England’s fantastic tourist destinations and attractions during the week. The government is committed to the sector’s recovery post-pandemic and English Tourism Week is an opportunity to celebrate the resilience of the sector and demonstrating our world-class offer.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate her Department has made of the length of time it will take for the inbound tourism market to return to pre-covid-19 pandemic levels.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Tourism Recovery Plan (TRP), published in June 2021, sets out the role of the UK government in assisting and accelerating the tourism sector’s recovery from COVID-19. The TRP sets out ambitious and stretching targets to recover inbound visitor numbers and spend to 2019 levels by the end of 2023 and recover domestic overnight trip volume and spend by the end of 2022 - at least a year faster than independent forecasts predict.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 on businesses in the tourism sector of the temporary measures in respect of the wearing of face coverings and self-isolation approved by the House on 30 November 2021.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has put in place a measured and proportionate set of restrictions.
Hospitality businesses are exempt from enforcing customers to wear masks and this assessment has been made from a practical point of view as the nature of hospitality visits is to eat and drink.
The Government has worked to strike a balance with introducing new measures.
Face coverings will be required in shops including ones located in larger premises and retail travel agents. Masks will also be required in transport hubs.
In terms of international travel, the government has sought advice from the UK Health Security Agency (UKSA) and travellers into the UK must now take a PCR test on Day 2 instead of a lateral flow test. There is also mandatory isolation in place to ensure we have the strongest safeguards against importing the new variant. This is to allow time for operational implementation.
Businesses still have a legal duty to manage risks to those affected by their business by carrying out a health and safety risk assessment, including the risk of COVID-19.
We are continuing to listen to stakeholders during this time.