Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to require all Scotland association football matches to be shown for free on television.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government believes that certain sporting events of national interest should be shown on free-to-air television rather than behind a paywall, so that they can be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible. That is why we have the listed events regime.
In determining what events form part of this regime, a balance between accessibility and the ability of sporting organisations to generate revenues from commercial broadcast arrangements to invest in the development of their sports from the grassroots up. The Government believes that the current list strikes an appropriate balance, and has no current plans to undertake a full review of the events on the list.
In this instance, it would be for the Scottish Government to consider whether this balance is struck, and the UK Government would then take those considerations into account.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the support provided by the BBC for local radio in the Scottish Highlands.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC is editorially and operationally independent, and any decisions over its radio services in Scotland are for the BBC to make. However, the Government has been clear with the Chair of the BBC Board and the Director General that the BBC must make sure it continues to provide distinctive and genuinely local radio services, with content that reflects and represents people and communities from all corners of the UK. These services are a key part of the BBC’s public service remit and an example of how the BBC can use its licence fee funding to provide content that is directly relevant to audiences, particularly in areas that may be underserved by the market.
The Government also expects Ofcom, as regulator of the BBC, to ensure the BBC is robustly held to account in delivering its public service duties. Ofcom has noted that, if it has concerns about the BBC’s provision for audiences in Scotland, it would look at whether it is necessary to introduce new requirements into the BBC’s Operating Licence. The BBC also publishes information on how it is delivering for Scottish audiences in its Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has had discussions with the BBC on coverage of the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd on BBC Parliament.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The BBC is operationally and editorially independent, and the Government has no say on the BBC’s day-to-day decisions, including on the content it shows. Any decisions on this matter are for the BBC to take independently.
Asked by: Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party - West Dunbartonshire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the contribution of the Scotch Whisky industry to the tourist industry in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Research by VisitBritian found that 82% of international respondents said that ‘a good variety of food and drink to try’ is a key driver when selecting a destination for an international break. This is why the UK’s unique food and drink experiences are a key pillar of their international marketing campaigns and PR activity.
The whisky industry is recognised as the UK’s largest single food and drink sector, accounting for 25% of the UK’s food and drink exports and 80% of Scottish food and drink exports, impacting 200 markets worldwide. The whisky sector generates £3.3 billion directly to the UK economy, and totals £5 billion when Gross Value Added (GVA) is added to the overall to UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Research by VisitScotland found that 20% of respondents stated they visited awhisky distillery on their holiday in Scotland, making it one of the top activities for overnight tourists on their trip to Scotland.
Visits to whisky distilleries in Scotland have increased by two thirds since 2010, and over 1000 people are now directly employed in tourism roles which equates to 10% of the industry’s direct employment in Scotland.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he has had discussions with the Scottish Parliament on arrangements for the return of the Stone of Scone for the Coronation.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
Under the terms of a Royal Warrant granted in 1996, the Commissioners for the Safeguarding of the Regalia are charged to safeguard, repair and preserve the Stone of Scone and to ensure the Stone can be used in the Coronation of future Sovereigns. The Cabinet Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are working with the Scottish Government, Historic Environment Scotland and the Commissioners on the movement of the Stone for the Coronation of King Charles III, as part of the preparations for the Coronation proceedings.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the provision of funding for the refurbishment of the Kings Theatre in Edinburgh.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
Ministers and officials from this department have attended a number of meetings with counterparts from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, regarding the future of the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh.
The UK Government appreciates the historical and cultural importance of this remarkable building. However, as culture is a devolved matter, any further funding campaign would need to be led by the Scottish Government.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she is taking steps to support (a) Backstage At The Green in Ochil and South Perthshire constituency and (b) other grassroots music venues.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government values the strong contribution of grassroots music venues as centres of research and development for the UK’s world leading music industry.
As a devolved policy, the Devolved Administrations receive funding for culture through the Barnett formula. It is for the Scottish Government to decide how to allocate these resources across all its devolved responsibilities.
Support in England is provided for grassroots music venues through Arts Council England (ACE). ACE’s Supporting Grassroots Live Music fund provides a ring-fenced £1.5m to eligible venues (accepting applications for between £1000 and £40,000) and has been extended until 31 March 2023.
DCMS supported culture (including grassroots music) during Covid-19 through the unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund (CRF). As part of this package, funding was included for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula. In England, the CRF provided immediate assistance to prevent 136 of our most loved and enduring grassroots music venues closing their doors for good.
In addition, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme has provided support to all businesses across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including grassroots music venues, protecting all non-domestic consumers from soaring energy costs, cutting the cost of power bills and providing them with the certainty they needed to plan through the acute crisis this winter.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to her Department’s publication of spending over £500 with an electronic purchasing card for September 2022, what item her Department purchased from Click Netherfield Ltd. on 1 September 2021, and for what purpose that item is used by her Department.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In September 2021, the Department hired a glass vitrine to display a ceramic cockerel in the Scottish Parliament building during the Edinburgh International Culture Summit. The ceramic was a gift from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Boris Johnson during a visit to Ukraine.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of the Inverness-model for the rapid increased delivery of access to full-fibre broadband within communities.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Building Digital UK (BDUK) is working with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Highland Council, with the support of the Scottish Government, to identify where Project Gigabit might support the Inverness and Highland City Region Deal and improve digital connectivity in the region. A Public Review to confirm suppliers’ commercial plans was carried out from 7 October to 14 November 2022 and the results of this review are currently being assessed, alongside engagement with broadband providers, to identify the potential scope of a gigabit broadband procurement in the Inverness area.
BDUK is also working with the Scottish Government on options for Project Gigabit procurement activity across the rest of Scotland.
Asked by: Sam Tarry (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion civil service staff are employed (a) on zero hours contracts, (b) on fixed-term contracts, and (c) via employment agencies broken down by Government Department.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The number of civil servants employed on zero hour contracts is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office. Zero hours contracts are not the normal practice within the Civil Service. Departments may use them in very limited circumstances to help meet exceptional or fluctuating demands on the business.
The number of civil servants by department on a fixed-term contract of up to 12 months, including those on casual contracts, is published quarterly by Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of their quarterly public sector employment statistics and is available at:
An extract of the relevant data published by ONS is presented at Table 1 below. Information on civil servants on contracts of more than 12 and less than 24 months are not held centrally as these employees are counted as permanent in the statistics, in line with official ONS public sector headcount methodology.
Civil servants are employed by departments and their agencies and not by employment agencies. However, information on the numbers of employment agency staff working at departments are published by individual departments each month for transparency purposes on their gov.uk departmental webpages as part of their Monthly Workforce Management Information.
Table 1: Civil servants on temporary/casual contracts [1] as at June 2022
Department | Headcount | Full-Time equivalent |
Attorney General’s departments | 200 | 190 |
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | 70 | 70 |
Cabinet Office | 10 | 10 |
Other Cabinet Office agencies | 40 | 40 |
Charity Commission | 20 | 20 |
Competition and Markets Authority | 20 | 20 |
Defence | 20 | 20 |
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport | 50 | 50 |
Education | 210 | 200 |
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 210 | 200 |
Estyn | 0 | 0 |
Export Credits Guarantee Department | 10 | .. |
Food Standards Agency | 30 | 30 |
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | 60 | 60 |
Health and Social Care | 1,820 | 1,680 |
HM Land Registry | 10 | 10 |
HM Revenue and Customs | 560 | 550 |
HM Treasury | 30 | 30 |
Chancellor’s other departments | 0 | 0 |
Home Office | 1,220 | 880 |
International Trade | 0 | 0 |
Justice | 1,240 | 1,190 |
Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | 50 | 40 |
The National Archives | 20 | 20 |
National Crime Agency | 0 | 0 |
Northern Ireland Office | 0 | 0 |
Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills | 20 | 20 |
Office of Gas and Electricity Markets | 150 | 150 |
Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation | 20 | 20 |
Office of Rail and Road | .. | .. |
Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland | 0 | 0 |
Office of the Secretary of State for Wales | .. | .. |
Ofwat | 10 | 10 |
Transport | 580 | 550 |
UK Statistics Authority | 120 | 110 |
UK Supreme Court | 10 | 10 |
Work and Pensions | 3,520 | 3,450 |
Scottish Government | 1,940 | 1,450 |
Welsh Government | 30 | 30 |
TOTAL | 12,280 | 11,080 |
Temporary or casual employees are those with a fixed term contract of 12 months or less, or employed on a casual basis
Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten, and numbers less than five are represented by “..”. Data not available are represented by “-”.
Department totals include Executive Agencies, Ministerial and Non-Ministerial Departments
Source: Public Sector Employment Statistics, Office for National Statistics