Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
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 promote the inclusion of deaf people in sport.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including d/Deaf people.
That is why, through our arm's length body, Sport England, we have provided £1.2 million between 2022 and 2027 to support deaf sport at the grassroots level, build wider participation, and develop strong governance within UK Deaf Sport.
Sport England are also exploring a series of small-scale talent pilots for d/Deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore these issues and suggest potential solutions.
The Government-funded School Games programme offers children the opportunity to take part in competitions in over 40 sports at local and regional level, including inclusive, modified versions of the sports. Since 2010, the School Games have offered 13.4 million participation opportunities for young people.
Outside of the school day, the £57 million investment in the Opening School Facilities programme allows schools to open their sport facilities outside of the core school hours. Up to 1350 schools across England have been targeted, with the funding aimed at having the most positive impact on their communities, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) has supported a range of funding to help widen access to heritage. For example, in 2020 they supported Funky Kids to enable families of children with D/deafness or hearing impairments to take part in social activities that taught them about local heritage, traditions and skills passed down through generations.
Arts Councils across the UK are working together with the British Film Institute to launch a free, UK-wide arts access scheme, called ‘All-In’. The pilot of this scheme is set to launch in spring 2024. This scheme will operate across the UK in arts and cultural venues, for seamless, barrier-free booking which is responsive to individual circumstances and needs, including those who are d/Deaf.
DCMS investment is enabling important accessibility upgrades in cultural venues across the country, including via infrastructure grants to DCMS-sponsored cultural bodies. The joint DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, which is available to a wide range of museums and galleries across England, also has improvements to access and/or interpretation for visitors with disabilities as a core criterion. Recent grants have supported projects at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford and the People’s History Museum in Manchester who are working with d/Deaf people, and other groups, to improve accessibility to their galleries and spaces.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
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 reduce barriers to entry for young deaf people in (a) sport and (b) other activities.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including d/Deaf people.
That is why, through our arm's length body, Sport England, we have provided £1.2 million between 2022 and 2027 to support deaf sport at the grassroots level, build wider participation, and develop strong governance within UK Deaf Sport.
Sport England are also exploring a series of small-scale talent pilots for d/Deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore these issues and suggest potential solutions.
The Government-funded School Games programme offers children the opportunity to take part in competitions in over 40 sports at local and regional level, including inclusive, modified versions of the sports. Since 2010, the School Games have offered 13.4 million participation opportunities for young people.
Outside of the school day, the £57 million investment in the Opening School Facilities programme allows schools to open their sport facilities outside of the core school hours. Up to 1350 schools across England have been targeted, with the funding aimed at having the most positive impact on their communities, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) has supported a range of funding to help widen access to heritage. For example, in 2020 they supported Funky Kids to enable families of children with D/deafness or hearing impairments to take part in social activities that taught them about local heritage, traditions and skills passed down through generations.
Arts Councils across the UK are working together with the British Film Institute to launch a free, UK-wide arts access scheme, called ‘All-In’. The pilot of this scheme is set to launch in spring 2024. This scheme will operate across the UK in arts and cultural venues, for seamless, barrier-free booking which is responsive to individual circumstances and needs, including those who are d/Deaf.
DCMS investment is enabling important accessibility upgrades in cultural venues across the country, including via infrastructure grants to DCMS-sponsored cultural bodies. The joint DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, which is available to a wide range of museums and galleries across England, also has improvements to access and/or interpretation for visitors with disabilities as a core criterion. Recent grants have supported projects at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford and the People’s History Museum in Manchester who are working with d/Deaf people, and other groups, to improve accessibility to their galleries and spaces.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
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 merits of the incorporation of Non-Fungible Tokens into cultural objects held by (a) the British Museum and (b) other museums to (i) confirm their authenticity and (ii) help prevent their theft.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not made a specific assessment of the merits of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in this context. The British Museum has noted that, due to the cost and resource requirements involved, and as they do not significantly mitigate risk, the Museum currently has no plans to adopt the use of NFTs in this way.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to support disabled access to venues.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is committed to improving the accessibility of cultural and heritage venues across the UK for everyone.
In June 2021, the Government Disability Unit launched an enhanced programme of Disability and Access Ambassadors. As part of this, David Stanley BEM was appointed as the Arts and Culture Disability and Access Ambassador. The Department is working closely with him to improve accessibility to the sector and its venues for people with disabilities.
DCMS investment is enabling important accessibility upgrades in cultural venues across the country, including via infrastructure grants to DCMS-sponsored cultural bodies. The joint DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund also has improvements to access and/or interpretation for visitors with disabilities as a core criterion, with recent awards including new accessible doors, lifts, ramps, and signage at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, amongst other projects.
Arts Councils across the UK are also working together with the British Film Institute to launch a free, UK-wide arts access scheme, called ‘All-In’. The pilot of this scheme is set to launch in Spring 2024. This scheme will operate across the UK in arts and cultural venues, for seamless, barrier-free booking which is responsive to individual circumstances and needs.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they last discussed the return of artefacts of disputed ownership held in the British Museum with (1) a visiting head of state, or (2) another government.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government has regular discussions with visiting heads of state and other governments about a range of issues. If items owned by the British Museum are raised in such discussions, HM Government makes clear that decisions about such items are a matter for the Trustees of the British Museum, that the Museum is prohibited by law from deaccessioning items from its collection, and that we have no plans to change the law. The Government also highlights the extensive work the British Museum does with scholars and cultural institutions around the world to deepen understanding about all the items in its collection, and to ensure that the widest possible audience can learn from and admire them.
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 British Museum 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: 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), how many of the 3.5 million items not in the British Museum's public database were looted from Africa in the course of British military actions launched against African nations.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
It is not possible to answer the Noble Lord’s question without unpacking the loaded terms contained within it. The British Museum, like so many other institutions, seeks to provide detailed contextual information about all the items in its collection, so that scholars, visitors, and members of the public from around the world can engage with them and form their own views about them. Examples of ways in which the Museum does that can be found on the sections of its website which deal with:
items taken during the punitive raid on Benin City in February 1897: https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/contested-objects-collection/benin-bronzes; and
items taken during the military expedition of 1867 to free British hostages and punish Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia: https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/contested-objects-collection/maqdala-collection
The British Museum’s African collections as a whole are well-catalogued, and the Museum has undertaken extensive documentation and history work, including on the collections highlighted above. The British Museum continues actively to research its collections, and its records are updated regularly with references to military looting where evidence is found.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to have discussions with senior staff at the British Museum about returning the Mold Gold Cape to Wales.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The British Museum operates independently of His Majesty's Government, and decisions relating to the care and management of its collections are a matter for the Museum’s trustees.
The British Museum, as well as some other national museums, is prevented by law from removing objects from its collections, with a limited number of exceptions, none of which apply in this case. The Government has no plan to change the law.
As the former Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, recounts in his A History of the World in 100 Objects (2010), it is thanks to the work of the British Museum over more than a century that so many fragments of the Mold Gold Cape have been reunited, following their dispersal shortly after it was discovered at Bryn-yr-Ellyllon in 1833.
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/.