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Written Question
Monuments: Slavery
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Mayor of London concerning the location of the memorial for victims of the transatlantic slave trade.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

His Majesty’s Government has had no discussions with the Mayor of London concerning this matter. At the recent Budget, HM Government provided £10 million to National Museums Liverpool, to help in part with its planned expansion of the International Slavery Museum.


Written Question
Cultural Heritage and Museums and Galleries: Children
Wednesday 20th March 2024

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 Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing people under of the age of 16 with free access to (a) museums, (b) galleries and (c) heritage assets.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS sponsored museums are already free to enter for people of any age. HM Government also operates a VAT refund scheme (known as section 33a), for other museums offering free entry across the UK, with 159 museums currently benefiting from it.

Many museums, galleries and heritage sites also offer free or discounted entry to young people specifically, both through general admission or educational events and activities inside and outside school. For example, English Heritage, which manages the National Heritage Collection, offers free entry to pre-booked schools and other learning groups at any of the 400+ historic places in its care.

HM Government recognises and celebrates the critical role that museums and heritage organisations have in delivering education and supporting the national curriculum, and funds Arts Council England and Historic England to deliver the Museums and Schools and Heritage Schools programmes.


Written Question
Arts: Children
Wednesday 20th March 2024

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 Culture, Media and Sport, whether she had discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on increasing children's access to (a) music, (b) drama, (c) dance and (d) other arts and cultural activities out of school.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Ministers in both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education have regular discussions on a range of subjects, including the development of their joint Cultural Education Plan, as committed to in the DfE’s Schools White Paper, which aims to support for all children and young people (aged 0–18) to access a broad range of high-quality cultural education subjects, activities, and experiences in and out of school. This includes encouraging engagement and partnerships between schools and cultural providers out of school, such as public libraries, theatres and museums.

The Government also published a new National Plan for Music Education in June 2022. This refreshed plan, The Power of Music to Change Lives, aims to level up music opportunities for all children and young people, regardless of circumstance, needs or geography, in addition to raising the profile and time spent on music lessons in school. We are making £25 million of new funding available to purchase hundreds of thousands of musical instruments and equipment for young people, including adaptive instruments for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities so more young people can find and explore a passion for music.


Written Question
Arts: Northern Ireland
Wednesday 13th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Dodds of Duncairn (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the economic benefit to creative industries in Northern Ireland of the tax measures announced in the Spring Budget.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government recognises the cultural and economic value of the UK’s world-leading creative sector. At Spring Budget 2024 the Government went further to support the sector through the creative sector tax reliefs, which companies in Northern Ireland benefit from.

The announcements include a new tax credit for independent UK films with budgets of less than £15 million and a 5 percentage point increase in tax relief UK visual effects costs in film and high-end TV.

The Government also announced that from 1 April 2025, orchestras, museums, galleries and theatres will benefit from tax relief set permanently at 45% (for touring productions and all orchestra productions) and 40% for non-touring productions).

These measures will apply UK-wide.


Written Question
Sports: Hearing Impairment
Thursday 29th February 2024

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.


Written Question
Sports: Hearing Impairment
Thursday 29th February 2024

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.


Written Question
Museums and Galleries: Pay
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a code of conduct to ensure that the remuneration provided to artists engaged by UK National Museums and Galleries meets or exceeds the national minimum living wage.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Creative and cultural practitioners are vital to the work of our museums and galleries: they bring independent visions and ideas, and offer highly developed specialist skills to the work of these institutions.

As the national museums and galleries operate at arm’s length from His Majesty's Government, the Department does not monitor payments made to artists or any other people working as contractors or freelancers at them.

While the Government has no plans to introduce a code of conduct, Arts Council England — the publicly-funded development agency for the arts and museums — has produced guidance outlining best practice for working with freelancers, without whom so much of the creative and cultural sectors could not operate. This is complemented by guidance from sector organisations such as the Museums Association.


Written Question
Museums and Galleries: Pay
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what guidelines, policies, or codes of conduct exist that govern the remuneration provided to artists engaged by UK National Museums and Galleries; and what mechanisms are in place to monitor and enforce adherence to these standards.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Creative and cultural practitioners are vital to the work of our museums and galleries: they bring independent visions and ideas, and offer highly developed specialist skills to the work of these institutions.

As the national museums and galleries operate at arm’s length from His Majesty's Government, the Department does not monitor payments made to artists or any other people working as contractors or freelancers at them.

While the Government has no plans to introduce a code of conduct, Arts Council England — the publicly-funded development agency for the arts and museums — has produced guidance outlining best practice for working with freelancers, without whom so much of the creative and cultural sectors could not operate. This is complemented by guidance from sector organisations such as the Museums Association.


Written Question
Public Libraries: Closures
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many libraries have closed in each year since 2015.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Arts Council England collects data from local authorities and publishes a basic dataset of information on public libraries in England. The libraries basic dataset for 2022 shows the number of static libraries in England (statutory and non-statutory) from April 2010 to 31 December 2022 and includes information on permanent library closures, as well as new library openings. It can be found here.


Written Question
Public Libraries
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many libraries have opened in each year since 2015.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Arts Council England collects data from local authorities and publishes a basic dataset of information on public libraries in England. The libraries basic dataset for 2022 shows the number of static libraries in England (statutory and non-statutory) from April 2010 to 31 December 2022 and includes information on permanent library closures, as well as new library openings. It can be found here.