Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of the National Youth strategy; what steps she is taking to involve youth sector organisations in the development of that strategy; and how her Department plans to consult young people on that strategy.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are developing our plans for the new National Youth Strategy, in partnership with young people and with organisations within the youth sector, to bring power back to young people and rebuild a thriving and sustainable sector. We know there is excellent existing work across the sector to understand issues faced by young people, propose solutions, and promote youth voice in decision-making, and we are working with the youth sector to build on this to co-produce the strategy.
We will be holding a series of youth-led roundtables, conducting a youth survey and setting up a youth advisory board to work alongside us. The Youth Advisory Group comprises young people with diverse lived experiences from across the country, with the first meeting scheduled for January 2025. The Secretary of State, Minister Peacock and officials have already met with a number of young people and youth sector organisations to hear their thoughts on the Strategy and we will continue to build on this work over the coming weeks and months.
We plan to publish the Strategy in summer with an interim report planned for the spring.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
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 support the comedy industry.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Comedy is a serious business. It is a vital performing art and contributes to the mental health and wellbeing of people, not just in the UK, but around the world. It forms part of our cultural landscape, enriching lives, shaping our collective identity and often providing a necessary corrective to political pomposity.
Arts Council England funds numerous organisations and venues that support comedy. For the purposes of ACE funding, comedy is considered under the broad term of ‘theatre.’ This means that as long as a performer, club or promoter meets the eligibility criteria for specific programmes, then ACE welcomes funding applications. Between the financial years covering 2010/11 to 2024/25 ACE has awarded £12,296,254 in funding where an applicant name, project title or subclassifier contains the word “comedy”.
Venues such as theatres also benefit from tax relief. The government believes tax relief is essential to help incentivise investment in productions, and to contribute to innovation and economic growth, enabling arts organisations to continue to produce new content which is vital in keeping them competitive on an international stage.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
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 effectiveness of grassroots sports programmes in strengthening mental health (a) literacy and (b) resilience of men and boys.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Grassroots sports programmes provide important opportunities to bring communities together and to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of participants. Active lifestyles are also associated with 375,000 fewer people being diagnosed with depression.
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, has access to and can maximise the benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
The Government has committed to continue funding for grassroots facilities through the £123 million UK-wide Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme throughout 2024/25. The evaluation of this programme, which has already published a first interim report and will publish a further two reports in April 2025 and 2026, will consider the impacts on mental wellbeing and physical health. These future reports will seek to demonstrate a causal link between the programme and positive outcomes for mental wellbeing.
The latest report from Sport England’s Active Lives Adult Survey (November 2022-23) notes that there is a positive association between activity levels and mental wellbeing, and provides data split by gender. Being physically active can improve mood, decrease the chance of depression and anxiety and lead to a better and more balanced lifestyle.
The Active Lives Adult Survey (November 2022-23) survey shows 14.9 million men who are active have higher mental wellbeing scores than those who are inactive. Active Lives Children and Young People Survey (Academic year 2022-23) indicates that boys are more likely than girls to have three or more positive attitudes towards sport and physical activity.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with UNESCO on the proposed application for Dr Edward Jenner's house in Berkeley to receive world heritage statue.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for nominating sites across the United Kingdom to UNESCO for World Heritage status. The Department last updated the Tentative List of prospective World Heritage nominations in 2022/23 and it is not due to be updated until at least 2033.
Following the conclusion of this exercise, guidance was published on GOV.UK, which sets out the process for sites seeking World Heritage status and emphasises that the UK is looking to reduce the amount of World Heritage nominations that we submit to UNESCO.
Recognising the important contribution that Dr Edward Jenner’s house makes to our country’s heritage, Historic England, as the body in England responsible for designating heritage assets, is best placed in the first instance, to advise on and explore the range of potentially suitable heritage designations.