Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to support University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust in the context of that Trust declaring a critical incident on 9 October 2024 and standing down that critical incident on 10 October 2024; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the review of the New Hospital Programme on support for that Trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the pressures that the National Health Service is facing, as made clear in the recent independent report undertaken by Lord Darzi. The report, published on 12 September 2024, will inform the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan to reform the health service and ensure the NHS is fit for the future.
The NHS’s operational pressures escalation levels (OPEL) framework provides a standardised approach to support an effective, integrated, and coordinated response to acute trust operational pressures. This includes the actions locally, regionally, and nationally that support the depressurising of services, and ensure patient safety. Further information about the OPEL framework is published by NHS England, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PRN00551-OPEL-Framework-2023.24-V2.0.pdf
The new hospital scheme for this trust is included in a review of the New Hospital Programme. This review will ensure the scheme is put on a sustainable footing, including a realistic timetable for delivery, and clarity on the funding required.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of levels of funding for (a) women's cricket and (b) grassroots cricket infrastructure.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding.
This includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, the National Governing Body for cricket, which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives that will benefit everyone, including disabled people, women and girls and older people. Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign has also inspired millions of women and girls to get active, including through cricket.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the potential impact of prohibiting outdoor smoking and vaping on the hospitality sector.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will soon introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which stands to be the most significant public health intervention in a generation. The bill will put us on track to a smoke-free United Kingdom, helping to reduce 80,000 preventable deaths, reduce the burden on the National Health Service, and reduce the burden on the taxpayer.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had a range of discussions with ministers from other Government departments on the contents of the bill, including with my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. Officials have also been in regular contact with counterparts across the Government during the development of the bill. More details will be set out soon.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) Police and Crime Commissioners on updating the funding formula for police forces.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government continues to have ongoing discussions representatives from the policing sector, including Police and Crime Commissioners on a range of topics.
This engagement will continue through the current and future Spending Review processes, including discussions on allocation of funding.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 October 2024 to Question 5439 on Arts: Tax Allowances, what grants are available to businesses in the creative industries; and what steps she is taking to help support businesses to access information about these grants.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The creative industries have access to a range of cross-economy business support mechanisms, as well as a number of industry-specific grants. Creative industry funding opportunities include the £30 million+ Creative Catalyst programme, designed to support business innovation and growth, the £100m BridgeAI programme, which accelerates AI adoption and productivity for sectors including the creative industries, and the Create Growth Programme (CGP) which offers grants to creative businesses in 12 English regions outside London alongside support to scale-up and become investment ready.
Other programmes that offer grant funding to creative businesses include the UK Games Fund, UK Global Screen Fund, and Music Export Growth Scheme. The UK Games Fund supports independent games studios across the UK with £13.4m for grant making and talent development programmes. £21 million has been committed for the UK Global Screen Fund to promote independent UK screen content in international markets (2022-2025). The Music Export Growth Scheme issues grants (worth £3.2m from 2022-2025) to support UK artists to break into new international markets.
The government engages closely with sectors, trade bodies and businesses, and makes all information on all grant schemes available online.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has had recent discussions with industry stakeholders on increasing investment in the creative industries; and what steps her Department is taking to support new investors.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Yes, ministers and officials have had many such discussions and we are committed to increasing investment in the creative industries from a variety of sources.
One of the ways that the Government incentivises investment in the sector is through the creative industry tax reliefs, which provide generous support for production costs of theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries and film, TV and video games companies. The reliefs delivered £2.2 billion of support to these industries in the financial year 2022-23.
DCMS also works with other government departments and bodies including the Department for Business and Trade and UK Research and Innovation to encourage new investors to consider investing in the creative industries. This includes work through the activity of DCMS’s Create Growth Programme and the Seed Enterprise Investment and Enterprise Investors Schemes, which are available for those looking to invest in start-up and scale-up creative industries businesses, offering tax reliefs to individual investors.