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: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 discussions she has had with HM Treasury on consultation with creative industry stakeholders on changes to cultural tax reliefs.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Since 2010, the Government has supported the success of the creative industries with tax reliefs across the board: from film and TV, to animation, video games, children’s TV, animation, orchestras, museums and galleries, and theatre.
All in all, our screen sector tax reliefs alone are estimated to have delivered over 200,000 new jobs and more than £13 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA).
These tax reliefs have played a vital role in making the UK’s creative industries world leading, attracting investment and generating jobs and economic growth across the country.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Ministers and officials regularly engage with my HM Treasury counterparts on matters relating to the creative industries, including on cultural sector tax matters.
Reforms to the film, TV and video games tax reliefs were announced at Autumn Statement 2022 and were subject to a 12-week policy consultation. HM Treasury met with creative industry stakeholders during this consultation period.
Draft legislation for these reforms, and for separate technical clarifications to the cultural tax reliefs for theatres, orchestras and museums and galleries tax reliefs were published in July 2023. The draft legislation was also subject to a 12-week consultation. HM Treasury met with creative industry stakeholders during the consultation period.
To maximise the potential of the UK’s cutting-edge production industry and help incubate unique British talent, the Government’s Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit and the Video Games Expenditure Credit came into force on 1 January 2024.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
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 adequacy of funding provided by Arts Council England for cultural activities in the East Midlands.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
His Majesty’s Government is deeply committed to supporting access to high-quality arts and culture across the country, including through public funding to organisations in the East Midlands via Arts Council England.
Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 National Portfolio, public funding is being provided to 72 organisations (an increase from 54 in the 2018–22 portfolio) in the East Midlands, encompassing theatre, dance, museums, visual arts, literature and libraries. The total investment in the East Midlands through the national portfolio is currently £22.6 million per year – an increase of more than £5.4 million per year compared to the last portfolio.
Between 2020/21 and 2023/24, Arts Council England will have invested over £198 million in arts and cultural organisations in the East Midlands. This includes £8.7 million of public funding through the Government’s Cultural Development Fund, Libraries Improvement Fund and Museum Estate and Development Fund, administered by Arts Council England. Arts and cultural organisations in the East Midlands also benefited from over £43 million through the Culture Recovery Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
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 adequacy of funding provided by Arts Council England for cultural activities in the North East.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
His Majesty’s Government is deeply committed to supporting access to high-quality arts and culture across the country, including through public funding to organisations across the North East via Arts Council England.
Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 National Portfolio, public funding is being provided to 56 organisations (an increase from 47 in the 2018–22 portfolio) in the North East, encompassing theatre, dance, museums, visual arts, literature and libraries. The total investment in the North East through the national portfolio is currently £24.4 million per year – an increase of more than £2.5 million per year compared to the last portfolio.
Between 2020/21 and 2023/24, Arts Council England will have invested over £181 million in arts and cultural organisations in the North East. This includes £8.5 million of public funding through the Government’s Cultural Development Fund, Libraries Improvement Fund, and Museum Estate and Development Fund, administered by Arts Council England. Arts and cultural organisations across the North East also benefited from over £36 million through the Culture Recovery Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has taken steps to support local authorities to (a) maintain and (b) expand community libraries (i) nationally and (ii) in Romford constituency.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting a sustainable long-term future for public libraries in England.
The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 requires all local authorities in England to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. In considering how best to deliver this statutory duty, each local authority is responsible for determining local needs and delivering a modern and efficient library service that meets the requirements of their communities within available resources. Public libraries are funded by local authorities, not central government, and it is for each local authority to determine the model of delivery for its statutory library service.
The Arts Council England dataset for libraries indicates that as of 31 December 2022 the statutory library service in Havering consisted of 10 static libraries, all of which were local authority run.
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.