Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is undertaking to prevent illegal gambling; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of its proposed gambling reforms on the level of illegal gambling.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I refer to my answer to WPQ 4645 on 1 December 2023.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an estimate of the impact of the horseracing sector on the UK economy in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the significant contribution that racing makes to British sporting culture and its particular importance to the British rural economy. Horseracing is the second biggest sport in the UK in terms of attendance and according to its governing body, the British Horseracing Authority, racing is worth over £4 billion to the economy in direct, indirect, and associated expenditure every year.
Government reforms to the Horserace Betting Levy in 2017 resulted in Levy income almost doubling to £83 million in 2018/19, and racecourses have also accessed £21.5 million of support from the Sports Survival Package through a loan to the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB).
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the horseracing sector.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the significant contribution that racing makes to British sporting culture and its particular importance to the British rural economy. Horseracing is the second biggest sport in the UK in terms of attendance and according to its governing body, the British Horseracing Authority, racing is worth over £4 billion to the economy in direct, indirect, and associated expenditure every year.
Government reforms to the Horserace Betting Levy in 2017 resulted in Levy income almost doubling to £83 million in 2018/19, and racecourses have also accessed £21.5 million of support from the Sports Survival Package through a loan to the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB).
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made a recent assessment of the contribution of the seventh and eighth tiers of English football to the economy.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Football is an integral part of our national life, and local football clubs, including those in the seventh and eighth tiers of English football, are the lifeblood of communities. The Government wants to see them protected for fans now and in the future.
While the independent regulator for football will be focused on the top five tiers of the men’s game in England, the whole football pyramid will benefit from improvements in financial regulation and sustainability, and increased standards.
Additionally, the Government issued a Competition Law Exclusion Order in 2021 to maintain funding stability within the English football pyramid. In exchange, the Premier League agreed to increase their solidarity funding by at least £100 million to the football pyramid across 2022-2025 seasons, including the creation of a Club Development Fund to increase the sustainability of National League system clubs, improve the playing experience and enhance connections with the local grassroots community; and additional funding to the the Football Stadia Improvement Fund to support ground grading improvements within the National League system and the women’s pyramid.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with the EFL and Premier League on adequate funding and support for the seventh and eighth tiers of English football.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Football is an integral part of our national life, and local football clubs, including those in the seventh and eighth tiers of English football, are the lifeblood of communities. The Government wants to see them protected for fans now and in the future.
While the independent regulator for football will be focused on the top five tiers of the men’s game in England, the whole football pyramid will benefit from improvements in financial regulation and sustainability, and increased standards.
Additionally, the Government issued a Competition Law Exclusion Order in 2021 to maintain funding stability within the English football pyramid. In exchange, the Premier League agreed to increase their solidarity funding by at least £100 million to the football pyramid across 2022-2025 seasons, including the creation of a Club Development Fund to increase the sustainability of National League system clubs, improve the playing experience and enhance connections with the local grassroots community; and additional funding to the the Football Stadia Improvement Fund to support ground grading improvements within the National League system and the women’s pyramid.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 of the adequacy of funding for the seventh and eighth tiers of English football.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Football is an integral part of our national life, and local football clubs, including those in the seventh and eighth tiers of English football, are the lifeblood of communities. The Government wants to see them protected for fans now and in the future.
While the independent regulator for football will be focused on the top five tiers of the men’s game in England, the whole football pyramid will benefit from improvements in financial regulation and sustainability, and increased standards.
Additionally, the Government issued a Competition Law Exclusion Order in 2021 to maintain funding stability within the English football pyramid. In exchange, the Premier League agreed to increase their solidarity funding by at least £100 million to the football pyramid across 2022-2025 seasons, including the creation of a Club Development Fund to increase the sustainability of National League system clubs, improve the playing experience and enhance connections with the local grassroots community; and additional funding to the the Football Stadia Improvement Fund to support ground grading improvements within the National League system and the women’s pyramid.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number and proportion of children and young people meeting the UK Chief Medical Officers' recommended levels of physical activity.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and this government is committed to ensuring every child, no matter their background or ability, should be able to play sport and be active.
That is why in ‘Get Active: A strategy for the future of sport and physical activity’ we introduce an ambition that all children should meet the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines on physical activity, with a target of getting 1 million more active children by 2030.
Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport, setting them up for a lifetime of physical activity. In July we published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This builds on the announcement we made in March that set out new ambitions for equal access to PE and sport, with guidance on how to deliver 2 hours of quality PE a week, alongside over £600 million funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium and School Games Organiser network.
Outside of the school day, the £57 million Opening School Facilities programme will support the most inactive young people to access facilities that will enable them to play sport and take physical exercise. By opening school sport facilities, including swimming pools, disparities in access to opportunities seen between socio-economic groups will begin to be tackled through the programme.
Over the school holidays, the Government offers £200 million of support per year to the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides disadvantaged children in England with enriching activities (including physical and creative activities) and healthy meals. Last summer, the programme reached over 685,000 children and young people in England, including over 475,000 children in receipt of free school meals.
We are also investing over £300 million in grassroots football and multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025 which will further support youth participation in sport.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 potential implications for her policies of the closure of Crockfords casino in Mayfair.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is taking action to support elite casinos, recognising their significant contribution to the economy.
Recognising the challenges the sector faces around their ability to offer credit, as set out in the gambling white paper, we will amend the relevant legislation to remove the prohibition on the giving of credit in land-based casinos to high net worth overseas visitors when Parliamentary time allows.
We are in the process of implementing a range of proposals that will support the whole casino sector, as outlined in the Government’s consultation on measures relating to the land-based sector. The Government’s response to the consultation will be published early next year and we expect to implement these measures by summer 2024.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to support elite casinos.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is taking action to support elite casinos, recognising their significant contribution to the economy.
Recognising the challenges the sector faces around their ability to offer credit, as set out in the gambling white paper, we will amend the relevant legislation to remove the prohibition on the giving of credit in land-based casinos to high net worth overseas visitors when Parliamentary time allows.
We are in the process of implementing a range of proposals that will support the whole casino sector, as outlined in the Government’s consultation on measures relating to the land-based sector. The Government’s response to the consultation will be published early next year and we expect to implement these measures by summer 2024.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the draft Media Bill, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposals to remove requirements on local analogue radio services to feature local music on (a) up and coming artists, and (b) the music industry.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Provisions in the Media Bill will update the regulatory framework for commercial radio, to reflect the significant evolution in the radio sector over recent years. In particular, the changes will make it easier for local commercial stations holding analogue licences to adapt their services in response to listener preferences, while ensuring that protections for local news and information remain, recognising that these services are fundamental to the public value of radio.
The provisions also reflect the huge growth in the radio sector over the last twenty years. In that time, the Government has put in place funding and legislation to support the development of digital radio, including enabling the rollout of small-scale DAB across the UK, and this has provided opportunities for a number of new local services to broadcast - many of which regularly feature local music. Community radio has also grown significantly since its inception in 2005, with more than 300 stations providing hyperlocal services to communities throughout the UK.