Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what definition of Central Libraries his Department used in the 2020 Statement of Funding: Funding the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
In the Statement of Funding Policy, the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) concluded that ‘Central Libraries’ refer to ‘The British Library’ and public library spend that is not already captured as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. DCMS allocate a small amount of programme spend that relates to supporting public libraries in England outside of this settlement, therefore the majority of spend relates to ‘The British Library’ which benefits the entire United Kingdom.
‘The British Library’ was established through the British Library Act 1972 which effected, for the United Kingdom, a national library. It is absolutely clear that the legal extent of the British Library is the United Kingdom.
As outlined in the Statement of Funding Policy, where the UK government has responsibility for providing services across the UK, the comparability factor will be 0%.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the progress of plans for Festival UK 2022.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Plans for Festival UK 2022 are progressing well. The Festival will showcase the very best of UK creativity and innovation across science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM), both at home and abroad.
30 selected consortia, comprising almost 500 organisations and individuals from across the UK, are currently participating in the £3m R&D phase, which is investing in the creation of ideas for projects to take place across the UK in 2022. The ten final commissions will be announced in 2021.
Of the 30 teams, two are from Scotland and other Scottish organisations and individuals are involved in the 22 UK wide teams.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allocating financial support to members of the Scottish Section of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain who are based in northern England and therefore ineligible for Scottish Government grants for showpeople.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
DCMS officials continue to meet with representatives of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain to assess how we can most effectively support the fairground industry through this period. Any further support will need to be considered in the wider context of existing support for the tourism industry, and the effectiveness of measures already in place.
The Government has introduced a number of support measures to support businesses and individuals through COVID-19, which travelling showpeople can access. These include various government-backed loans, as well as the extended furlough and self-employed support schemes. We also introduced a substantial, UK-wide cut in VAT for many tourism and hospitality activities, including admission to circuses and fairs, until the end of March.
Further to this, the Additional Restrictions Grant discretionary fund will allow Local Authorities to help businesses more broadly during this period. It supports businesses that are not covered by other grant schemes, such as the Local Restrictions Support Grant, or where additional funding is needed.
As tourism is devolved, the Devolved Administrations are responsible for any targeted financial initiatives to support the sector in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Since 2 December, we have returned to a tiered approach to COVID-19 restrictions in England. Funfairs and fairgrounds - which are permitted to reopen in all three tiers as they were prior to this period of national restrictions - will need to go through the normal process of requesting permission and any relevant licences from the relevant authority and have the relevant health and safety protocols in place, including a Covid-19 risk assessment.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether Caithness, Sutherland, and Easter Ross constituency will be included in the UK and Scottish Government Broadband Voucher Scheme.
Answered by Matt Warman
Eligibility for the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS), including where the Scottish Government provides additional funding, is assessed at an individual premises level. Premises in Caithness, Sutherland, and Easter Ross are eligible for gigabit vouchers. Eligibility can be checked at: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/.
In addition, where premises are not eligible for the GBVS, the Scottish Government’s Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme may provide support to help deliver a permanent broadband connection to properties where there is no roll-out of superfast broadband planned.Information on the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme, including eligibility, can be found at: https://www.scotlandsuperfast.com/how-can-i-get-it/voucher-scheme/.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Welsh Government and (b) the Welsh Football Association on providing additional funding for the Welsh Football Association.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Although sport is a devolved matter, the Government continues to liaise closely with its counterparts in the Welsh Government.
As part of a promotional deal with the Football Association (FA), the National Lottery has provided a total of £10m in funding for the 66 clubs in the National Football League. This is a promotional deal led by the National Lottery and the Football Association. The National League is responsible for distributing funds and determining how and when the clubs receive this funding.
The National Lottery is now working with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland FAs to explore similar initiatives.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to ensure that the British Film Institute fulfils its responsibilities to support the Scottish film sector.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
My department continues to work closely with its Arm’s Length Body, the British Film Institute, to ensure it meets the full range of its responsibilities, including to support the film sector nationwide. In its ongoing support for the Scottish film sector, the Government has worked with the BFI to ensure a wide range of funding and initiatives are available across Scottish talent development, production and heritage. In addition, recent Covid-secure guidance has been developed with input from across the nations to support in safely producing films in Scotland. Screen Scotland have been part of the Screen Sector Taskforce looking at the impact of Covid and recovery measures for the sector, in collaboration with DCMS and BFI.
Examples of support that have been given to the Scottish film industry include the BFI Audience and Film Funds, which offer funding covering development, production, distribution and promotion, supporting Scottish films and Scottish audiences; and Film Hub Scotland, which receives an annual BFI Lottery award as part of the BFI Film Audience Network to increase and diversify Scottish audiences. In addition, young people in Scotland have access to the BFI Film Academy and Future Film offer, with four Scottish partners delivering short courses in 20/21 and a well-established annual Screen Craft Skills residential. Furthermore, Film City Futures and Glasgow Film were recently awarded £1m from the BFI and Screen Scotland to support new and emerging talent.
Finally, in recent years the BFI worked in partnership with the Scottish Screen Archive in the Unlocking Film Heritage programme, which resulted in substantial digitisation of films from and about Scotland.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support Edinburgh Festival Fringe venue producers and production companies, who are unable to access support from either Scottish or English funding sources as they are registered in one nation of the UK but operate in another.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We recognise that the Edinburgh Festivals, and all organisations and venues associated with it, play a central role in the cultural, social and economic lives of many in Scotland and across the UK.
Arts Council England guidance states that the lead organisation submitting an application to one of its funding sources must be based in England, and is focused on activity that benefits people in England. However, applicants who are based in England but primarily work internationally can also be considered eligible, if they can evidence cultural significance and benefit to England.
As culture policy is a devolved matter, we would also recommend that the issue is raised with Scottish Government Ministers and Creative Scotland.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the (a) Scottish Football Association and (b) Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the prospects for relaunching the British Home Football Championship.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
The international football calendar is a matter for football's national and international governing bodies.
The four nations of the UK all currently compete as part of the UEFA Nations League, a biennial international football competition which largely has replaced friendlies. The UEFA Nations league started on Thursday 3 September, and I wish all the home nations well.
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, when he plans to publish further details on (a) how the £5 billion fund for rural roll-out will be allocated to support the roll-out of full fibre broadband and (b) what share of that funding will be allocated to Scotland.
Answered by Matt Warman
We are currently developing the pipeline of premises for initial deployment under the £5 billion investment into gigabit-capable broadband. To ensure these are successfully delivered, we need to consult plans with industry, Local Bodies and Devolved Administrations. We plan to publish the first draft pipeline later this year.
The £5bn programme will deliver to the hardest to reach premises in the UK. These are disproportionately situated in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland given their rurality. It is too early in our programme design process to provide figures of how much funding each region will receive from the programme. However, the funding will be allocated based on the number of eligible premises in that area, as opposed to the Barnett Formula.
Before we can confirm the share of the funding which will be allocated to Scotland we need the R100 programme, the Scottish superfast broadband programme, to complete its procurement phase so that we can determine which specific premises are in scope for R100 and therefore what remains to be done with funding from the £5bn. We are working with the Scottish Government to align our interventions.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking to help protect the Gaelic language in Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
Under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, the preservation and protection of the Scottish Gaelic language is a devolved matter.
The Scottish Government published their second Gaelic language plan in 2016 (for 2016-2021) which outlines their commitment to support the use of the language in its operations and also how to support other public services to fulfil their own commitments to Gaelic.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) works to support minority languages through its work on the creative industries strand of the British Irish Council. This includes working with the devolved administrations to support minority languages, share best practice, and nurture more diverse UK audiences, including through minority language publications.
DCMS officials also work with MG Alba (Gaelic Media Scotland who jointly own BBC Alba with the BBC) on a number of different issues to support the Gaelic language.