Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of loneliness in the workplace.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Employment can be a vital lifeline for social contact. As part of the cross-government loneliness strategy, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Campaign to End Loneliness established the Loneliness Employers Leadership Group to deepen our understanding of workplace loneliness and identify what employers can do. This work was taken forward as part of the Tackling Loneliness Network. In 2021, we commissioned the Campaign to End Loneliness to carry out a consultation with a wide network of businesses and produce a good practice guide on employers and loneliness.
Government speaks regularly with business organisations, such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, on a range of issues including workplace wellbeing and how employers might look to improve it.
In the coming months we will publish the fourth annual report on the loneliness strategy, including a commitment to work with BEIS to engage with the APPG for Tackling Loneliness and Connecting Communities on their recent inquiry into workplace loneliness.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress she has made on the Government's loneliness strategy.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Tackling loneliness remains a priority for the government. Over the past year we have reached millions of people through our ‘Lift Someone Out of Loneliness’ campaign. We have grown our Tackling Loneliness Network of organisations from across sectors, and published new research into loneliness and its impacts. We have also brought together Ministers across government to continue to drive forward action to tackle loneliness. In the coming months we will publish the fourth annual report on the loneliness strategy reflecting on progress made since 2018 and committing to government action to tackle loneliness over the next two years.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps is he taking to investigate the potential merits of social prescribing in combatting loneliness.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We recognise the importance of social prescribing in tackling loneliness. Since the launch of the strategy, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have made great progress in improving the provision of social prescribing and there is growing evidence that social prescribing can help to reduce people's loneliness. Funding for social prescribing link workers through primary care has resulted in a robust support offer for recruitment, training, workforce development and service delivery. As of October 2022 there are 2,793 FTE Social Prescribing Link Workers in post and over 1.3 million referrals have been made to Social Prescribing as of November 2022.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential correlation between ill mental health and loneliness.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
In June 2022 we published qualitative and quantitative research showing that there is a bidirectional link between loneliness and mental ill health. Our research found that people who experienced prior mental distress were 4.2 times more likely to experience subsequent chronic loneliness than those who did not experience earlier mental distress. Furthermore, those who reported prior chronic loneliness were 3.7 times more likely to experience subsequent mental distress than those who were not previously lonely. We continue to work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to determine how we can prevent and tackle loneliness.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the contribution of village halls as community spaces, and (2) the risk of closures of such facilities; and what steps they are taking to support local authorities and community groups to keep village halls open.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra is committed to supporting village halls and is well aware of their role as important rural community buildings. This support is predominately delivered through our funding of Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE).
Through a network of skilled advisers, ACRE coordinates a nationwide information and advice service for the volunteers who manage halls. Advisers are based in every rural county of England and combine their specialist knowledge of running community buildings with extensive local knowledge. The advisers help with a wide range of queries, from holding AGMs to recruiting volunteers, applying for funding and building relationships with local councils.
ACRE does not collect data on the number of village halls but estimates this to be around 10,000 in England. ACRE surveys the halls known to its members every 10 years. The last survey was in 2020 and found that halls were not closing at the same rate as pubs and religious buildings. When a hall closes it is usually because a new one is being built or users have moved to use a new hall in another local village, making the old hall no longer viable.
ACRE reported that while there were concerns that some village halls may not re-open after being temporarily closed during the Covid lockdown, ACRE has no evidence that the closure of halls is significant. There was also concern that halls might close over the winter due to rising energy costs, but ACRE has received no reports that this has happened.
Village halls across England can now apply for grants to improve and modernise their facilities. Launched to mark the occasion of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, the £3 million Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund recognises the important role that village halls play in supporting rural communities.
The fund is managed by ACRE on behalf of Defra. It is anticipated that the fund will support around 125 village halls over a three-year period creating bigger, better and brighter village halls for communities to enjoy. The Fund opened in December 2022 to applications from projects aiming to deliver a positive impact on the local environment, reduce rural loneliness, support the rural economy and contribute to community life. Capital grants will be allocated to support infrastructure improvements and measures to improve energy efficiency.
ACRE also administers the £700,000 Rural Community Buildings Loan Fund on behalf of Defra. The Fund helps community groups with renovation, refurbishment and building projects. The Rural Community Buildings Loan Fund can be used to support a larger number of halls regularly carrying out maintenance, repair and small improvements, whereas a progressively smaller number of halls undertake more costly projects, which the Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund is designed to assist.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect data on the number of village halls in England; and if so, what estimate they have made of how many village halls closed in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) 2022.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra is committed to supporting village halls and is well aware of their role as important rural community buildings. This support is predominately delivered through our funding of Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE).
Through a network of skilled advisers, ACRE coordinates a nationwide information and advice service for the volunteers who manage halls. Advisers are based in every rural county of England and combine their specialist knowledge of running community buildings with extensive local knowledge. The advisers help with a wide range of queries, from holding AGMs to recruiting volunteers, applying for funding and building relationships with local councils.
ACRE does not collect data on the number of village halls but estimates this to be around 10,000 in England. ACRE surveys the halls known to its members every 10 years. The last survey was in 2020 and found that halls were not closing at the same rate as pubs and religious buildings. When a hall closes it is usually because a new one is being built or users have moved to use a new hall in another local village, making the old hall no longer viable.
ACRE reported that while there were concerns that some village halls may not re-open after being temporarily closed during the Covid lockdown, ACRE has no evidence that the closure of halls is significant. There was also concern that halls might close over the winter due to rising energy costs, but ACRE has received no reports that this has happened.
Village halls across England can now apply for grants to improve and modernise their facilities. Launched to mark the occasion of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, the £3 million Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund recognises the important role that village halls play in supporting rural communities.
The fund is managed by ACRE on behalf of Defra. It is anticipated that the fund will support around 125 village halls over a three-year period creating bigger, better and brighter village halls for communities to enjoy. The Fund opened in December 2022 to applications from projects aiming to deliver a positive impact on the local environment, reduce rural loneliness, support the rural economy and contribute to community life. Capital grants will be allocated to support infrastructure improvements and measures to improve energy efficiency.
ACRE also administers the £700,000 Rural Community Buildings Loan Fund on behalf of Defra. The Fund helps community groups with renovation, refurbishment and building projects. The Rural Community Buildings Loan Fund can be used to support a larger number of halls regularly carrying out maintenance, repair and small improvements, whereas a progressively smaller number of halls undertake more costly projects, which the Platinum Jubilee Village Halls Fund is designed to assist.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to support (a) the Staffordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services and (b) other voluntary organisations with providing (i) training and (ii) other development opportunities for young people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to allocate funding to youth services in line with local need. This is funded from the Local Government settlement, which was over £12 billion last year. DCMS officials are currently reviewing the statutory duty and its associated guidance to assess its effectiveness after a call for responses from key youth stakeholders. We will publish the outcomes of the review in due course.
The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities, including of the type supported by the Staffordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services, play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people. The Government has committed to a National Youth Guarantee: that by 2025 every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and volunteering opportunities. This is supported by a three year £560 million investment in youth services, reflecting young people's priorities and addressing the inconsistencies in regional youth spending, with a firm focus on levelling up, including the £368 million Youth Investment Fund, for which over 20 wards in Staffordshire are eligible to apply.
To support the youth sector workforce, DCMS funds the National Youth Agency to set professional standards, qualifications and a curriculum for youth work, including a new youth work apprenticeship and free-to-access training, all of which are available to young people. DCMS has delivered a Youth Worker Bursary Fund with the NYA since 2019, distributing approximately £1.9 million facilitating over 1,700 individuals who would otherwise be unable to afford it to undertake training in Level 2 and 3 Youth Work qualifications. A further £1 million has been committed for FY 22/23.
Additionally, through the £7.4 million Volunteering Futures Fund, DCMS has created thousands more volunteering opportunities to improve accessibility of volunteering in the arts, culture, sports, civil society, youth and heritage sectors. The fund is helping a diverse range of people to access the benefits volunteering can bring. There is a strong focus on young people, those experiencing loneliness, those with disabilities and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
From 2023 onwards, the reformed NCS programme will offer a year-round choice of opportunities to young people, with a focus on skill development and volunteering. NCS will work with and fund a range of partners, including grassroots volunteering organisations, to deliver the programme across the country.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of partnering with Royal Mail to (a) help tackle wider civic challenges and (b) provide a service which supports people who are lonely or in need of regular contact for their own wellbeing.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government recognises the important role postal workers play in supporting local communities.
However, as a private business, it is for Royal Mail’s management to decide which initiatives it chooses to support. The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s business decisions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question
To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church is taking to help support (a) family relationships, (b) parenting and (c) marriage.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Families and Households is considering all aspects of this subject and will publish its report in early 2023. The Church of England’s support for families, parenting and marriage comes in many forms. Parishes offer:
Nationally the Church of England provides resources to clergy and couples considering marriage through the ‘Your Church Wedding’ website: https://www.churchofengland.org/life-events/your-church-wedding This gives advice for couples at all stages of marriage preparation.
Marrying in the local church remains one of the most cost-effective ways of having a relationship recognised in law and costs around £550 (approved by Parliament). This fee can be reduced for pastoral reasons at the discretion of the local Incumbent.
The National Churches Trust report ‘House for Good’ has updated its estimates of the contribution of churches to their local community. The report estimates the national value of the Church’s work on counselling and mental health support at over £4.5million, work with youth groups and young people at an additional £1.8million, support with food and foodbanks at £36million and drug and alcohol support at £0.5million. The full update is available here: House of Good 2021
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the public health impacts, including on loneliness, lack of opportunities for physical activity and provision of services locally to where people live, of the sale of public buildings and spaces each year in England.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Any decision involving the sale of public buildings will consider social cost and public value, in line with HM Treasury Green Book guidance. Property sales may form part of a wider programme. Where this is the case, the net social value will form part of the overall cost benefit analysis.