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Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Automation
Wednesday 28th June 2023

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish details on the sixty-five scaled and transitioned automations created by the Intelligence Automation Garage.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Since its inception in 2018, the Intelligent Automation Garage (IAG) has delivered 65 automations. This has enabled DWP to save money and operational hours as well as increasing accuracy through transforming DWP services, making processes easier for users to deliver better outcomes for our citizens. It has a culture of pioneering new and innovative technologies to reduce the reputational risk and citizen impact across our systems.

The IAG works predominantly in large scale processing supporting customer facing colleagues in quickly reducing backlogs with improved accuracy and compliance. It does this across a range of benefit lines including: Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseekers Allowance, Social fund, Carers Allowance and Pension credit.

Automations to date include: Bundle Builder, Letters of Entitlement, Think Secure Chatbot, Budgeting Loans, Employment and Support Allowance Fit Notes, Faster Payments and Department for Communities in Northern Ireland mail scanning. Other supported functionalities include: sending SMS text messages to citizens, generating letters to notify citizens about a change in benefit status and processing benefit payments.


Written Question
Youth Services: Finance
Thursday 25th May 2023

Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Honiton)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the real-terms change to funding for youth services has been in each year since 2015.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people. In England, between 2015 - 2021, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), including the National Citizen Service (NCS), provided over £1.1 billion to the youth sector. Over this Spending Review Period, DCMS is investing over £500 million in youth services to deliver the National Youth Guarantee, a government commitment that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer.

As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, Local Authorities have a statutory duty to ‘secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people’. This is funded from the Local Government settlement, the majority of which is un-ringfenced, allowing local authorities to spend on services according to local priorities, including on youth services. The settlement is anticipated to be almost £60 billion this year (FY 23/24) for councils in England - a 9% increase on the previous year. Details of all Local Authorities’ annual spending on youth services in England can be found in Section 251 data published on gov.uk.

DCMS is committed to working with Youth Sector organisations and Local Authorities to review and improve the Local Authority Statutory Duty Guidance for Youth Services. We will publish the outcomes of the review in due course.

The devolved administrations of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are responsible for their own youth services.


Written Question
Youth Services: Finance
Thursday 25th May 2023

Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Honiton)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to make additional funding available for youth services in the UK.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people. In England, between 2015 - 2021, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), including the National Citizen Service (NCS), provided over £1.1 billion to the youth sector. Over this Spending Review Period, DCMS is investing over £500 million in youth services to deliver the National Youth Guarantee, a government commitment that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer.

As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, Local Authorities have a statutory duty to ‘secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people’. This is funded from the Local Government settlement, the majority of which is un-ringfenced, allowing local authorities to spend on services according to local priorities, including on youth services. The settlement is anticipated to be almost £60 billion this year (FY 23/24) for councils in England - a 9% increase on the previous year. Details of all Local Authorities’ annual spending on youth services in England can be found in Section 251 data published on gov.uk.

DCMS is committed to working with Youth Sector organisations and Local Authorities to review and improve the Local Authority Statutory Duty Guidance for Youth Services. We will publish the outcomes of the review in due course.

The devolved administrations of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are responsible for their own youth services.


Written Question
Churches: Finance
Tuesday 16th May 2023

Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding has been provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and its predecessor bodies to Christian places of worship excluding cathedrals in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five financial years.

Answered by John Whittingdale

Since the financial year 2018-19, a total of £99,701,003 has been awarded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to Christian places of worship across the UK which are not cathedrals. The annual breakdown is as follows, with a more detailed breakdown included in the table below.

  • In 2018-19, £42 million was provided to England, £1.4 million to Scotland, £1.7 million to Wales and £900,000 to Northern Ireland.

  • In 2019-20, £20 million was provided to England, £360,000 to Scotland, £1.2 million to Wales and £1.7 million Northern Ireland.

  • In 2020-21, £7 million was provided to England, £240,000 to Scotland, £380,000 to Wales and £109,000 to Northern Ireland.

  • In 2021-22, £11.3 million was provided to England, £140,000 to Wales and £200,000 to Northern Ireland.

  • In 2022-23, £9.3 million was provided to England, £20,000 to Scotland, £1.4 million to Wales and £611,000 to Northern Ireland.

2018-2019

2019-2020

2020-2021

2021-2022

2022-2023

Grand Total

England

£41,968,119

£20,307,609

£6,870,591

£11,266,819

£9,337,623

£89,750,761

Wales

£1,725,000

£1,151,900

£370,700

£137,701

£1,133,727

£4,519,028

Scotland

£1,360,000

£350,900

£243,700

£0

£20,318

£1,974,918

Northern Ireland

£866,800

£1,650,900

£109,300

£218,568

£610,728

£3,456,296

Grand Total

£45,919,919

£23,461,309

£7,594,291

£11,623,088

£11,102,396

£99,701,003

This information can be found on the National Lottery database, a publicly available source of National Lottery data.


Written Question
Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme
Wednesday 10th May 2023

Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding has been provided by the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme to Christian places of worship other than cathedrals in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) England, (c) Scotland, (d) Wales and (e) Northern Ireland in each of the last five financial years.

Answered by John Whittingdale

Since the financial year 2018-19, a total of £145,008,534 has been provided through the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme to Christian places of worship across the UK which are not cathedrals. The annual breakdown is as follows:

  • In 2018-19, £27,492,816 was provided to England, £2,376,216 to Scotland, £1,045,648 to Wales and £1,524,146 to Northern Ireland.

  • In 2019-20, £28,418,267 was provided to England, £2,828,133 to Scotland, £1,041,038 to Wales and £1,928,120 to Northern Ireland.

  • In 2020-21, £21,874,083 was provided to England, £1,563,280 to Scotland, £1,154,037 to Wales and £1,309,810 to Northern Ireland.

  • In 2021-22, £22,422,595 was provided to England, £1,617,947 to Scotland, £726,675 to Wales and £787,620 to Northern Ireland.

  • In 2022-23, £23,698,179 was provided to England, £1,235,955 to Scotland, £978,360 to Wales and £985,601 to Northern Ireland.


Written Question
Youth Services
Tuesday 9th May 2023

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 recent steps her Department has taken to improve the provision of youth services in (a) York and (b) the UK.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, Local Authorities have a statutory duty to ‘secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people’. This is funded from the Local Government settlement, the majority of which is un-ringfenced, allowing local authorities to spend on services according to local priorities, including on youth services. The settlement is anticipated to be almost £60 billion this year (FY 23/24) for councils in England - a 9% increase on the previous year.

In England the government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities 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 opportunities to volunteer. This is supported by a three-year investment of over £500 million in youth services, reflecting young people's priorities and addressing the inconsistencies in national youth spending with a firm focus on levelling up.

Young people in York will benefit from elements of the National Youth Guarantee, for example, a year-round National Citizen Service programme; increased access to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award; expanded uniformed youth groups and volunteering opportunities through the #iwill Fund.

The devolved administrations of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are responsible for their own youth services.


Written Question
Sanitary Protection: VAT
Friday 28th April 2023

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding from the Tampon Tax Fund has been allocated to (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last two years.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

In 2020/21 and 2021/22, the Tampon Tax Fund was allocated between each administration using the Barnett formula.

2020/21

2021/22

England

£11,995,000 (inc £150k administration costs )

£9,000,000 (inc £150k administration costs )

Wales

£905,000

£675,000

Scotland

£1,570,000

£1,181,250

Northern Ireland

£530,000

£393,750

Total

£15,000,000

£11,250,000


Written Question
Sanitary Protection: VAT
Friday 28th April 2023

Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications from groups and organisations in Northern Ireland for funding from the Tampon Tax Fund have been received in each of the last two years; and how many and what proportion of those applications were successful.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The 2021/22 round of the Tampon Tax Fund (TTF) received six applications from organisations delivering solely in Northern Ireland. Of these, two did not meet eligibility criteria. Of the remaining four, one bid was successful in being awarded funding.

There were no applications to the 2020/21 round of Tampon Tax funding from organisations delivering solely in Northern Ireland.

The minimum application threshold was also reduced for the 2021/22 round of TTF to £350,000 specifically to enable more bids from organisations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.


Written Question
British Film Institute: Finance
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the British Film Institute has received in applications for funding from each region in each of the last three years.

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

The British Film Institute’s (BFI) ten year strategy, Screen Culture 2033, sets out the core principle for the work of the BFI to reach across all of our nation.

The below table sets out the number of applications to the BFI for both their National Lottery funding and their government-provided Grant-in-Aid funding, broken down by region, in the past three years (2019-2022). The table also sets out the number of awards given over each of those years, also broken down by region based on beneficiary location (drawn from postcode data, in accordance with the methodology agreed with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport).

Region

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

3-Year TOTAL

Applications

Awards

Applications

Awards

Applications

Awards

Applications

Awards

ENGLAND East Midlands

4,708

5,397

15,043

8,175

5,013

5,339

24,763

18,911

ENGLAND Eastern

7,644

9,247

10,463

12,046

22,533

10,559

40,640

31,852

ENGLAND London

143,213

17,814

138,301

24,541

152,278

18,405

433,793

60,760

ENGLAND North East

1,935

2,301

1,099

2,159

2,705

2,720

5,740

7,180

ENGLAND North West

7,953

6,133

11,773

6,297

18,170

7,155

37,896

19,585

ENGLAND South East

19,484

8,445

20,407

10,630

18,800

11,473

58,692

30,548

ENGLAND South West

9,707

5,520

13,548

8,261

10,341

7,191

33,595

20,972

ENGLAND West Midlands

11,406

6,022

12,375

5,823

5,717

6,714

29,499

18,559

ENGLAND Yorkshire & Humberside

9,088

6,190

9,993

7,247

11,384

7,610

30,465

21,047

NORTHERN IRELAND

10,495

6,253

10,925

5,737

11,281

8,095

32,702

20,085

SCOTLAND

7,618

5,059

5,619

3,841

7,285

5,912

20,522

14,812

WALES

3,399

3,172

4,307

2,345

6,562

3,422

14,268

8,939

Total

236,652

81,553

253,854

97,102

272,067

94,595

762,572

273,250

To note, given the assessment process, applications may be made in one year, and processed or awarded in the following year. Therefore, a direct correlation cannot be established between the applications and awards made in any single year.

Extrapolated from the figures in the above table, the below table further provides the proportion of applications and awards over the three years 2019 - 2022, broken down per region.

Region

Proportion of Applications (over 3 years)

Proportion of Awards (over 3 years)

ENGLAND East Midlands

3%

7%

ENGLAND Eastern

5%

12%

ENGLAND London

57%

22%

ENGLAND North East

1%

3%

ENGLAND North West

5%

7%

ENGLAND South East

8%

11%

ENGLAND South West

4%

8%

ENGLAND West Midlands

4%

7%

ENGLAND Yorkshire & Humberside

4%

8%

NORTHERN IRELAND

4%

7%

SCOTLAND

3%

5%

WALES

2%

3%


Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Disability
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2023 to Question 153888 on Disability, which Ministerial Disability Champions attended the meeting on 14 March 2023; if he will publish the minutes of that meeting; and when the next meeting of Ministerial Disability Champions is due to take place.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Ministerial Disability Champions (MDC) roundtable took place on 14 March 2023. It was an opportunity for me to welcome the new cohort of MDCs who have been appointed across Government, to thank them for their commitment to improve disabled people’s lives and to emphasise how they and their departments are key to the development and delivery of the upcoming Disability Action Plan.

MDCs who attended:

Tom Pursglove MP - Dept for Work and Pensions (DWP) (Chair)

Trudy Harrison MP - Dept for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

Mike Freer MP - Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

Claire Coutinho MP - Dept for Education (DfE)

Kevin Hollinrake MP - Dept for Business and Trade (DBT)

Sarah Dines MP - The Home Office (HO)

The Rt Hon Stuart Andrew MP - Dept for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

The Rt Hon Johnny Mercer MP - Cabinet Office (CO)

The Rt Hon Dr Andrew Murrison MP - Ministry of Defence (MOD)

Richard Holden MP - Dept for Transport (DfT)

David Rutley MP - Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

Dr James Davies MP - Office of the Secretary of State for Wales

John Lamont MP - Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland

Steve Baker MP - Office of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

The Rt Hon Victoria Prentis KC MP - Attorney General (Attorney General’s Office)

We intend to hold a further roundtable meeting for those MDCs who could not attend the meeting on 14 March, ahead of the next full roundtable meeting.

The Government does not plan to publish the minutes from MDC roundtables.

The next full MDC roundtable is currently scheduled to take place on Monday 15 May 2023.