Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether an official portrait has been commissioned following the Coronation of His Majesty The King.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As is usual practice, an Official Portrait has been taken of His Majesty The King to mark the start of the new Reign, for use in public buildings and for other official purposes. The portrait has been commissioned by the Royal Household and will be published by them in due course. His Majesty’s Government will provide this portrait for the Official Portrait Scheme, announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in April this year. The scheme opened earlier this month and enables certain Public Authorities across the UK to obtain a free, framed official portrait of His Majesty The King for display in their buildings.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government which institutions have received university title since 2018; what their titles are; when each received university title; what they were called before they received university title; and where each is located.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
According to the Office for Students (OfS) Register, nine providers have been granted the right to use ‘university’ in their title since 2018. The OfS Register is available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/the-register/the-ofs-register/#/.
Information regarding these providers’ legal names, their trading names, their contact addresses, and the year the use of the word ‘university’ was granted, has been extracted from the OfS Register and is included in the table below.
Information on the names of providers prior to them receiving their university title is not available on the OfS register, but is included in the table.
Provider’s legal name | Provider’s trading name(s) | Previous name | Provider’s contact address | Date use of 'university' granted |
St. George's Hospital Medical School | St. George's, University of London | St. George's Hospital Medical School | St. George's Hospital | 2022 |
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College | Royal Holloway, University of London | Royal Holloway and Bedford New College | Egham Hill | 2022 |
Arts University Plymouth | Arts University Plymouth | Plymouth College of Art | Tavistock Place | 2022 |
The London School of Economics and Political Science | Not applicable | The London School of Economics and Political Science | Houghton Street | 2022 |
Ravensbourne University London | Not applicable | Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication | 6 Penrose Way | 2018 |
BIMM University Limited | BIMM University | BIMM Institute | 2 Bartholomew’s | 2022 |
Hartpury University | Not applicable | Hartpury College | Hartpury House | 2019 |
Northeastern University – London | Northeastern University London | New College of the Humanities | Devon House | 2022 |
Regent's University London Limited | Regent's University London | Regent's College | Inner Circle | 2020 |
Asked by: Lord Holmes of Richmond (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have used or tested tools, such as Pol.is or CitizenOS, as a way of gathering public opinion on different issues.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
There is no centrally held record of government use of tools such as Pol.is or CitizenOS used as ways of gathering and understanding public opinion. The use of such is devolved to individual departments.
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), within Cabinet Office, is responsible for supporting departments to build and operate modern, state of the art, highly responsive, cost-effective technology that meets the needs of our end users and delivers the cross-government digital strategy.
CDDO is working with departments to establish the frameworks and policies to guide the responsible adoption of new technologies.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
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 identify (a) stolen and (b) confiscated (i) treasures, (ii) art and (iii) other cultural assets that were lost during the Second World War.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The UK has endorsed the Washington Principles on Nazi-confiscated art, which include identifying looted art and establishing mechanisms to consider claims for its return. Our national museums have undertaken detailed research of their collections to identify objects with uncertain provenance between the years 1933–45. The results have been published in a fully searchable spoliation database which is regularly updated.
HM Government has also established the Spoliation Advisory Panel which advises on claims for the return of cultural objects lost during the German Third Reich and which are now in UK collections. The Panel currently holds the Presidency of the Network of Restitution Committees on Nazi-looted art which works to increase the effectiveness of provenance research and the sharing of information on Nazi-looted art, in the spirit of the Washington Declaration.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest spent on equality and diversity training in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by John Whittingdale
On 2 October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a value for money audit of all equality, diversity and inclusion expenditure in the Civil Service. The audit will dovetail with the public sector productivity review, aiming to deliver a leaner, more efficient Government. The audit forms part of our drive to improve productivity across the public sector by driving down waste and improving performance. The findings and actions of the audit will be announced by the Chancellor in the autumn.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools are sharing facilities with other schools for (a) design and technology, (b) art, (c) drama, (d) music, (e) sport and (f) other specialist subjects as a result of their own facilities being unavailable due to the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, as of 19 September 2023.
Answered by Nick Gibb
An updated list of schools and colleges with confirmed cases of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) was published on 19 September, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/updated-list-of-education-settings-with-raac.
Every school or college with confirmed RAAC is assigned dedicated support from the Department’s team of 80 caseworkers who work with them to assess what support is needed and implement mitigation plans. Mitigation plans could include using other spaces on the school site, in nearby schools or elsewhere in the local area, until structural works are carried out or temporary buildings are installed. A bespoke plan is put in place to ensure that each school and college receives the support that suits their circumstances.
Project delivery teams are on site to support schools and colleges, whether that is finding short term accommodation options or designing and putting in place structural solutions for affected spaces. The Secretary of State has also visited several schools and colleges affected by RAAC.
The Department has increased the supply of temporary buildings, working with three contractors, and accelerated the installation of these. The Department also met key water and utility companies between 30 August and 5 September 2023 to ensure the easy connection to temporary services. The Department has secured significant capacity to meet current needs and can increase this if necessary. The Government will fund the emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970 in relation to (1) their responsibilities for the governance of the British Museum, and (2) the role and responsibilities of its Trustees.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government expects UK museums to have and to follow appropriate policies and procedures to prevent the acquisition of cultural property contrary to the provisions of the UNESCO 1970 Convention.
The British Museum requires compliance with the Convention and with all other national and international standards, as stated in its ‘Acquisitions of Objects for the Collection’ policy and its ‘Due diligence procedures for works of art and cultural objects on loan from abroad for temporary exhibitions’.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay on 20 September (HL9874), what plans they have to support the International Training Programme; how many African museum curators have benefited from it in each of the past three years; and from which countries they have come.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Over the past three years, 16 museum curators from across Africa have participated in the British Museum’s International Training Programme; this includes participants from the following countries and institutions:
2023
Archeological Enfidha Museum, Tunisia
National Museum, Nigeria
Unity Museum, Nigeria
National Museums of Kenya, Kenya
Imhotep Museum, Egypt
Alexandria National Museum, Egypt
2022
Luxor Museum, Egypt
Akhenaton Museum, Egypt
Sudan National Museum, Sudan
Unity Museum, Nigeria
The National Institute of Heritage, Tunisia
2021
Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Ghana
Edo Global Art Foundation, Nigeria
Sudan National Museum, Sudan
Gebal Barkal Museum, Sudan
More details on the International Training Programme, including its funders, can be found in the annual reports that the British Museum publishes: https://www.bmitpglobalnetwork.org/publications/annual-reports/.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Minister for immigration has artwork from the Government art collection in his office.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Yes; this has been the case under successive Administrations of all political colours.
To assist the hon. Member, I refer her to the answer of 17 March 2009, Official Report, Col. 1090W which lists the artwork in Home Office Ministerial Offices under the last Labour Government.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support community-led initiatives for dementia support in Solihull constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst the Department does not promote specific clubs or societies for people living with dementia and their carers, we recognise that clubs and societies can be important in supporting people to engage with their community and reduce social isolation.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s Quality Standard on Dementia, published in June 2019, includes guidelines for offering activities such as exercise, aromatherapy, art, gardening, baking, reminiscence therapy, music therapy, mindfulness and animal assisted therapy to help promote wellbeing. Local authorities are also required to provide or arrange services that meet the social care needs of the local population, including unpaid carers, under the Care Act 2014.
There are a number of local initiatives provided via third sector charitable organisations that focus on support within their community living with dementia, allowing them to engage closer with the communities they live in. For example, within Solihull there is the facility of a Dementia Café and the ability to attend a Singing for the Brain event.