Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Captain Matthew Webb swimming the English Channel.

As the first person recorded to swim unaided across the Channel, Captain Matthew Webb’s achievement has no doubt inspired many people to undertake record breaking challenges of endurance. My department is not planning to commemorate the anniversary. Parliamentarians may choose to mark the occasion in other ways, for example by tabling a debate or an Early Day Motion to mark the achievement.