Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to promote UK sport.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to building on the UK’s world-leading sporting reputation.
This year has seen us successfully host a number of major sporting events, including this year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games, UEFA Women’s Euros and the Rugby League World Cup.
We aim to retain our world-leading hosting reputation in the years ahead, with a number of major sporting events due to be hosted in the UK between now and 2030.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding her Department has provided to the Rugby Football League since 2017; and on what projects that funding has been spent.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
I am looking forward to welcoming teams from across the world to the Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup which will take place in October and November. As part of this, the government has provided £10 million worth of funding to the CreatedBy legacy programme to support the development of large and small scale projects.
The Rugby Football League has received support from the government’s £600 million Sport Survival Package which ensured the survival of sports organisations throughout the pandemic. The Rugby Football League received £16.7 million loan support and £1.95 million grant support from the package, totalling £18.6 million of combined funding. This funding has safeguarded the immediate future of the sport for the communities it serves.
Furthermore, rugby league clubs will have benefitted from the £220m of National Lottery and Exchequer funding committed by Sport England since March 2020 to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support the disability sports sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government’s sport strategy, 'Sporting Future'', stresses the importance of helping under-represented groups and isolated communities, including disabled people, to take part in sport and physical activity.
Sport England, DCMS's arm’s length body for grassroots sport in England, launched their ten year strategy earlier this year, ‘Uniting the Movement’. The strategy reinforces their commitment to tackle inequalities in sport and physical activity, and provide opportunities to people that have traditionally been left behind, including disabled people. Sport England have also ensured that each of their programmes impact directly on disabled people, along with specific initiatives like the 'We Are Undefeatable' campaign, the Tackling Inequalities Fund and partnerships with groups such as Disability Rights UK, Activity Alliance, Aspire, Sense, International Mixed Ability Sport.
In addition, we are committed to championing disability sport at the highest levels, with continued support for Paralympic sports through UK Sport funding. We support the hosting of major sporting events in the UK such as the Rugby League World Cup in 2022, which will, for the first time in the event’s history, concurrently host the Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair tournaments. We are also hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham which will be the most inclusive Games ever, featuring the largest ever integrated para sport programme and which builds on the Games’ ambition of being the ‘Games for everyone’. We have also ensured the continued visibility of the Paralympics by adding the games to the list of protected sporting events that must be available to free-to-air broadcasters.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of Australia and New Zealand withdrawing from the Rugby League World Cup.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government was extremely disappointed by the decision to postpone this year’s Rugby League World Cup, but recognises that this was the inevitable result of a number of factors outside of the organisers’ control, including the decision of the Australian and New Zealand teams not to participate. DCMS continues to work closely with the Rugby League World Cup organisers, as they now work towards the rescheduled tournament which will be held between Saturday 15 October – Saturday 19 November 2022.
Asked by: Gary Sambrook (Conservative - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the announcement that the National Lottery will form a commercial partnership with the Rugby Football League, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the allocation of funds from the National Lottery promotional fund to that partnership on the ongoing Fourth National Lottery Licence Competition.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The National Lottery's partnership with the Rugby Football League is a commercial arrangement entered into by the current operator of the National Lottery under the terms of its current (third) licence. Promotional deals are a valuable part of the National Lottery proposition as they strengthen the National Lottery brand and associated positivity.
The Gambling Commission, as the independent regulator, approved the release of funding for a range of promotional deals such as this, as they were satisfied that in the short term, they would benefit National Lottery players (through relevant prizes), while over the longer term, they would generate benefits for the National Lottery brand. The budget is from a promotional fund, and is therefore separate from the money allocated to National Lottery good causes.
The Gambling Commission launched the competition for the 4th licence on 28 August 2020. The next licence comes into force in August 2023.
Asked by: James Grundy (Conservative - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support the Government plans to provide to rugby league clubs to ensure the safe return of local sport following the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
To date, the government has provided an unprecedented £300 million Sport Winter Survival Package to give a lifeline to organisations that would otherwise not survive the winter as a result of the restriction on spectators announced from 1 October. This included a provisional allocation of £12 million to support rugby league which is in addition to the £16 million cash injection government announced in May 2020 to safeguard the immediate future of the sport for the communities it serves.
Furthermore, rugby league clubs will have benefitted from the £220m of National Lottery and Exchequer funding committed by Sport England since March 2020 to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic. This sector support was recently boosted by an extra £50million to help grassroots sports clubs and organisations as part of Sport England’s new strategy Uniting the Movement. Further details of Sport England funding including the organisations that have benefited can be found at: https://www.sportengland.org/why-were-here.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to make a decision on the timescale for the resumption of grassroots rugby during the period of covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus. That’s why we made sure that people could exercise at least once a day even during the height of the first period of enhanced national restrictions and why we opened up grassroots sport and leisure facilities as soon as it was safe to do so.
However, as the Prime Minister said on 23 November national restrictions will end on Wednesday 2 December. This will allow both rugby union and rugby league to resume in accordance with their return to play guidance. Higher risk activity such as scrums have been removed from both codes of the game to ensure the risk of transmission is reduced.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) the Access to Work programme, and (2) related programmes, give participants the opportunity to volunteer at major UK sporting events, including (a) the Rugby League World Cup 2021, (b) the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and (c) the UEFA Women's Euro 2022.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Access to Work support is available for disabled people and those who have a health condition whose disability or health condition affects the way they do their job. To be eligible for Access to Work the customer must be aged 16 years or over and satisfy certain criteria. As volunteering does not satisfy all the eligibility criteria, volunteers are not eligible for Access to Work support. Where individuals are employed into paid roles, the government will assist applications to the Access to Work programme if requested.
The Rugby League World Cup 2021 Board has launched a volunteer programme called The Power Squad. This programme makes a commitment to celebrate the inclusive and diverse population of England as well as the rich history of host towns and cities.
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games provides a fantastic opportunity to accelerate employment and skills opportunities for residents of the West Midlands. A comprehensive volunteering programme is due to launch in 2021, with up to 1000 roles ring-fenced for West Midlands residents and with a focus on disadvantaged groups.
UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 will create a number of paid employment opportunities, plus a sizeable volunteer programme of stadium and host city volunteers. These paid and voluntary roles will be open to all and will enable as many people as possible to be part of the tournament.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to provide financial support to professional (a) football, (b) rugby and (c) cricket clubs during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government recognises the impact that Covid-19 is having on the sporting sector, and has supported elite sports to return to "behind closed doors" competition, which enabled vital broadcast revenue, retained competitive integrity and brought joy to millions of sports fans. The government also ensured Project Restart was shared with everyone by getting Premier League football on the BBC for the first time ever.
The safety and security of players and spectators remains of paramount importance.
The government recognises that fans will be disappointed that sports pilot events were paused and that spectators were not able to be admitted to stadia from 1 October. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is working with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what can be done to provide further support. The Department will also continue to work with colleagues across Whitehall to support the sector.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had on additional specific financial support for rugby league clubs, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
On 1 May this year the Government announced that the Rugby Football League would receive a £16 million cash injection to safeguard the immediate future of the sport for the communities it serves. This emergency loan will help the sport deal with the extreme financial impact of COVID-19. We are continuing to engage with the Rugby Football League and other sporting bodies on the consequences of the decision not to reopen stadia to spectators on 1 October.
Government is also supporting rugby league through more than £11m of Sport England investment in the Rugby Football League over 2017-21 and investment of up to £10m in rugby league facilities to help drive a legacy from the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.