Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

Public libraries are central to the success of the National Year of Reading’s campaign to engage people of all ages with reading. The Reading Agency has been appointed to work with sector partners to deliver and support public library engagement. The Summer Reading Challenge in 2026, and World Book Night, the annual celebration of reading for adults on 23 April 2026, will be key moments for libraries during the National Year of Reading 2026. Throughout the year, The Reading Agency will provide public libraries with resources, toolkits, and print and digital materials to support their work.

This is part of the broader programme of government support for the National Year of Reading including the £5 million funding for secondary schools to purchase books the Chancellor announced during her budget speech.

DCMS is committed to supporting employees experiencing domestic abuse.

Our domestic abuse charter provides comprehensive advice to employees and their managers including how to identify abuse, actions to take, and links to organisations providing advice and support.

There is currently no dedicated line manager training on responding to domestic abuse. A training product for managers is currently under development in the Cabinet Office. Once available, we will promote the take-up of this training product in our department.

The Football Governance Act 2025 is clear that decisions regarding the appointment of Non-Executive Members of the Independent Football Regulator are made by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Details on DCMS’s public spending can be found in DCMS’s Annual Report and Accounts, available on GOV.UK. Spending on the passage of the Football Governance Act and the establishment of the Independent Football Regulator is a subset of the reported spend of the Sport and Gambling Directorate. All relevant costs relating to the creation of the Independent Football Regulator will be recovered from clubs via a levy, ensuring that there is nil cost to the public purse.

In June, the Government announced a new PE and School Sport Partnership Network to ensure all young people have equal access to high-quality sport and extracurricular activity. A national network will be developed to build strong partnerships between schools, local clubs and National Governing Bodies to identify and break down barriers to sport for children who are less active.

In addition, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, including for children and young people, and will then set out further plans.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. This includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, which receives up to £13.4 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives, and into England Netball, which receives up to £26.2 million over five years to invest in Netball.

In the Surrey Heath constituency specifically, in the last financial year, 2024-25, Sport England invested £314,995 to improve access to sport and physical activity.

In June, the Government announced a new PE and School Sport Partnership Network to ensure all young people have equal access to high-quality sport and extracurricular activity. A national network will be developed to build strong partnerships between schools, local clubs and National Governing Bodies to identify and break down barriers to sport for children who are less active.

In addition, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, including for children and young people, and will then set out further plans.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. This includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, which receives up to £13.4 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives, and into England Netball, which receives up to £26.2 million over five years to invest in Netball.

In the Surrey Heath constituency specifically, in the last financial year, 2024-25, Sport England invested £314,995 to improve access to sport and physical activity.

In June, the Government announced a new PE and School Sport Partnership Network to ensure all young people have equal access to high-quality sport and extracurricular activity. A national network will be developed to build strong partnerships between schools, local clubs and National Governing Bodies to identify and break down barriers to sport for children who are less active.

In addition, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, including for children and young people, and will then set out further plans.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. This includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, which receives up to £13.4 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives, and into England Netball, which receives up to £26.2 million over five years to invest in Netball.

In the Surrey Heath constituency specifically, in the last financial year, 2024-25, Sport England invested £314,995 to improve access to sport and physical activity.

In June, the Government announced a new PE and School Sport Partnership Network to ensure all young people have equal access to high-quality sport and extracurricular activity. A national network will be developed to build strong partnerships between schools, local clubs and National Governing Bodies to identify and break down barriers to sport for children who are less active.

In addition, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, including for children and young people, and will then set out further plans.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. This includes long term investment to the England and Wales Cricket Board, which receives up to £13.4 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives, and into England Netball, which receives up to £26.2 million over five years to invest in Netball.

In the Surrey Heath constituency specifically, in the last financial year, 2024-25, Sport England invested £314,995 to improve access to sport and physical activity.

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. The Government has invested £98 million through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme across the UK in 2025/26, funding projects such as new and upgraded grass pitches, pitch maintenance equipment and floodlights. Following the Spending Review we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans.

We are committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, are able to participate in sport and physical activity. We will more than double priority access to grassroots football pitches for women and girls in England over the next five years as part of a series of plans to honour the success of the Lionesses following the team’s victory at Euro 2025, as well as dedicating flagship sites and pitches to the Lionesses.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport in England through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.

The Government is dedicated to making sport across the country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including d/Deaf people.

Sport England are exploring a series of talent pilots for deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore issues around accessibility and suggest potential solutions. Sport England has also awarded UK Deaf Sport £150,000 to fund a specialist Talent Inclusion post to further the work of the pilots.

The Government, through the UK Sport grant, supports Olympic and Paralympic success. Beyond this the Government does not provide additional funding to performance sport, in line with our approach to a great many other areas of individual sporting performance.

Sport and physical activity generates £123 billion in social value each year. That is why supporting grassroots sport and increasing physical activity are key government priorities. We work closely with Sport England who are best placed to deliver on these priorities and ensure value for money.

A large part of Sport England’s work focuses on bringing the health and sports sectors together at community level, including their place partnerships work which is working in a targeted way with local areas to understand and overcome the specific barriers in their communities. Telford and Wrekin is one of Sport England’s place partnerships.

To ensure accountability, all DCMS Public bodies are required to hold quarterly partnership meetings, board effectiveness reviews and annual chair appraisals. The Secretary of State met with Sport England’s Chair and CEO in October to discuss priorities and plans moving forward, including how the organisation can best deliver and measure impact for the investment they make in sport and physical activity.

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. The Government has invested £98 million through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme across the UK in 2025/26, funding projects such as new and upgraded grass pitches, pitch maintenance equipment and floodlights.

The Government published a list of funded Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities projects on 9 June 2025 on Gov.uk. The lists can be found here and include funded projects that are either due to start, in progress or complete. We are committed to publishing a regularly updated list of funded and completed projects, with the next to be published in 2026.

Our delivery partner for the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme in England, the Football Foundation, plans its investment pipeline using Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs) for each local authority, which are developed in partnership with local authorities so as to understand the needs of each community. Local Football Facilities Plans are publicly available here.

Following the Spending Review we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. In addition the Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.

According to Sport England’s Active Places database, as of December 2025 there are 59,794 grass football pitches and 6,634 artificial grass pitches in England. More details are available here.

This government also takes our responsibility to heritage seriously. For this year alone, we have committed nearly £60 million of funding for heritage, including £15m for Heritage at Risk. Local Authorities can also apply for funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s’ Arms-Length-Bodies, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which provides around c.£300 million in grants per year, and Historic England, who provide grants and advice.

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. The Government has invested £98 million through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme across the UK in 2025/26, funding projects such as new and upgraded grass pitches, pitch maintenance equipment and floodlights.

The Government published a list of funded Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities projects on 9 June 2025 on Gov.uk. The lists can be found here and include funded projects that are either due to start, in progress or complete. We are committed to publishing a regularly updated list of funded and completed projects, with the next to be published in 2026.

Our delivery partner for the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme in England, the Football Foundation, plans its investment pipeline using Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs) for each local authority, which are developed in partnership with local authorities so as to understand the needs of each community. Local Football Facilities Plans are publicly available here.

Following the Spending Review we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. In addition the Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.

According to Sport England’s Active Places database, as of December 2025 there are 59,794 grass football pitches and 6,634 artificial grass pitches in England. More details are available here.

This government also takes our responsibility to heritage seriously. For this year alone, we have committed nearly £60 million of funding for heritage, including £15m for Heritage at Risk. Local Authorities can also apply for funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s’ Arms-Length-Bodies, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which provides around c.£300 million in grants per year, and Historic England, who provide grants and advice.

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. The Government has invested £98 million through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme across the UK in 2025/26, funding projects such as new and upgraded grass pitches, pitch maintenance equipment and floodlights.

The Government published a list of funded Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities projects on 9 June 2025 on Gov.uk. The lists can be found here and include funded projects that are either due to start, in progress or complete. We are committed to publishing a regularly updated list of funded and completed projects, with the next to be published in 2026.

Our delivery partner for the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme in England, the Football Foundation, plans its investment pipeline using Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs) for each local authority, which are developed in partnership with local authorities so as to understand the needs of each community. Local Football Facilities Plans are publicly available here.

Following the Spending Review we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. In addition the Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.

According to Sport England’s Active Places database, as of December 2025 there are 59,794 grass football pitches and 6,634 artificial grass pitches in England. More details are available here.

This government also takes our responsibility to heritage seriously. For this year alone, we have committed nearly £60 million of funding for heritage, including £15m for Heritage at Risk. Local Authorities can also apply for funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s’ Arms-Length-Bodies, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which provides around c.£300 million in grants per year, and Historic England, who provide grants and advice.

The Department for Health and Social Care is responsible for Early Support Hubs, and interventions into young people’s mental health.

Young Futures Hubs, developed by DCMS, will leverage local understanding of services in each area to improve support for young people at community level, increasing opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime. 50 Young Futures Hubs across the country will be supported by the end of this Parliament.

We are working closely with DHSC, NHS England, and health partners to ensure Young Futures Hubs builds on existing evidence to meet young people's emerging needs, including early mental health and wellbeing support.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we are committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential. This is why we are launching a new National Youth Strategy, to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.

The Local Youth Transformation Pilot is a new programme to support local authorities to meet their statutory duty, through investing £8 million over 2025/26 to support 12 ‘Pathfinder’ local authorities to start to rebuild a high-quality offer for young people and transition back to local youth services leadership. The pilot will test ways to rebuild local authority capability to ensure a local youth offer which addresses the needs of young people and supports government priorities.

The design and implementation of the rollout to a total of 50 Young Futures Hubs will be informed by our work with early adopters this financial year. We will set out more details in due course.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport commissioned an independent provider (Ipsos) to conduct an evaluation covering the Uniformed Youth Fund from 2022 to 2025, which was published on 11th September 2025.

The research found uniformed youth organisations (UYOs) contribute to the social and emotional development of young people by providing them with structured activities and supportive environments, enhancing young people’s cooperation skills, communication, and confidence. UYOs also enhance education and career opportunities for young people by providing them with valuable skills for life and work and supporting their academic attainment through diverse activities. The evaluation also found that UYOs provide supportive and inclusive environments where young people feel safe, a sense of belonging for young people through their uniforms, and fostering trusted relationships with peers and adult leaders.

The Department does not hold data on membership numbers of specific uniformed youth organisations.

The Youth Participation Pilot Survey, commissioned by DCMS, found that around one in ten (11%) of respondents had participated in a uniformed youth group in the past 12 months.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services in helping young people live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives, and is committed to building on great youth services by developing the National Youth Strategy, strengthening services and expanding opportunities for all young people.

As part of this Strategy, Young Futures Hubs will leverage local understanding of services in each area to improve support for young people at community level, increasing opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime. 50 Young Futures Hubs across the country will be supported by the end of this Parliament.

We are working closely with DHSC, NHS England and a number of health stakeholders, to ensure that Young Futures Hubs offer services together to support young people with emerging needs, including early mental health advice and wellbeing interventions. This includes using learnings from programmes such as Early Support Hubs.

I regularly engage with Parliamentary colleagues to drive the youth agenda, including Young Futures Hubs.

Young Futures Hubs will leverage local understanding of services in each area to improve support for young people at community level, increasing opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime. 50 Young Futures Hub across the country will be supported by the end of this Parliament.

The safety and wellbeing of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. Sport England and UK Sport (DCMS’ Arm’s Length Bodies for sport) require National Governing Bodies (NGBs) to implement safeguarding policies and practices as a condition of public funding at grassroots and elite level, respectively. DCMS officials regularly meet with both organisations to discuss issues and ongoing work in this area.

The sport sector is rightly prioritising this issue. UK Sport has been working in partnership with the Home Nations sports councils and NGBs to assess and identify improvements to safeguarding systems across the sport sector. This project produced a report in June this year entitled Safe Sport, which includes a set of recommendations for sector-wide reforms. The five Sports Councils have committed to taking this work forward and are now scoping out possibilities and timelines for implementation of the report’s recommendations.

The Government is committed to supporting grassroots sport and ensuring everyone has access to leisure centres and sport clubs, which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities across the country.

The Government has committed another £400 million to transform grassroots sports facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We will ensure that this funding promotes health and wellbeing, and helps to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK. This funding is on top of the £250 million that Sport England invests every year in grassroots sport in England.

The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone should have access to, and benefit from, quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

In England, the Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sports through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.

The Government is also investing £98 million in grassroots sports facilities to support increased participation across the UK via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in 2025/26. Projects funded through the programme include new artificial grass pitches, changing rooms and pavilions, and floodlights. The Programme has a specific objective to target at least 50% of investment into the 30% most deprived areas, based on a combination of deprivation and inactivity levels.

The Government has announced £400 million will be invested in grassroots sports facilities across the UK over the next four years to ensure we can continue to deliver high-quality grass, artificial grass pitches and other multi-sport facilities in the areas that require them, in order to increase participation and allow people to be active.

Following this announcement, we are working in collaboration with the sport sector and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out plans on how future funding will be allocated.

Major events have the power to transform communities and increase participation. The recent Women’s Rugby World Cup and associated legacy programme has contributed to a 35% increase in female age grade registrations in England rising from 17,700 places in 2022 to 23,900 in 2025.

Hosting the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup has the potential to be a transformational opportunity for women’s football, and for women’s sport in the UK more generally. Following the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, we saw a 140% increase in participation among women and girls, with over 519,000 new grassroots opportunities created specifically for women and girls across England. Should the UK-wide bid to host the tournament be successful, we will work with partners to maximise its impact for the whole nation.

High-quality careers guidance helps young people make informed choices about their futures, so they can develop their interests and potential, and follow the path that is right for them to progress into work.

Making creative careers accessible for everyone is a key priority for the Government. Last month was ‘Discover! Creative Careers Month’ as part of our Creative Careers Programme which seeks to increase awareness, consideration and uptake of creative careers among young people aged 13-17 years old, as well as their parents and carers. The month provided 70,000 young people aged 11-18 years old with employer-led experiences and opportunities, including experiences related to digital careers, such as video games and VFX.

In our Creative Industries Sector Plan, published in June, we committed to refreshing the £9 million Creative Careers Programme as a UK-wide programme. We will partner with industry to equip the next generation of young people with the ambition and knowledge to work in the creative industries, including the createch sector, and the refreshed programme will launch in the next financial year.

Building on the Creative Careers Programme, the government announced in November that we were investing £500,000 to expand Creative Futures, delivered through The King’s Trust. The programme is designed to break down barriers to jobs in the creative industries for young people across the country who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), or at risk of being so – particularly those facing significant barriers and currently underrepresented in the creative industries.

In addition to the cultural and creative learning programmes set out in response to your question at UIN93270, DCMS, in strategic partnership with DfE, will invest £22.5 million across 3 years to support up to 400 schools to provide a better youth-voice led, tailored enrichment offer. This will give pupils access to high-quality out of school enrichment opportunities—including arts, cultural activities and sport— with a particular focus on disadvantaged and underserved pupils. This will align with the benchmarks and support wellbeing, personal development, and essential life skills around the school day, as set out in Enrichment Framework.

There are thriving creative businesses and cultural organisations across the UK and they play a key role in regional growth. Unleashing the full potential of our city regions and clusters across the UK is a core objective of our Creative Industries Sector Plan. The Sector Plan includes a universal offer to drive growth in the creative industries in any place in the UK, outlining new measures to break down barriers such as access to finance, supply of skills, and new support to kickstart innovation.

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including children and young people, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in grassroots sport, including rugby, providing more opportunities for young people to be active.

Sport England provides long term investment to the Rugby Football Union (£13.9 million from 2022-27) and Rugby Football League (£11.9 million from 2022-25), the National Governing Bodies for rugby to support grassroots participation.

Since last summer, the Government has also provided £6.7 million into the Women’s Rugby World Cup Legacy Programme Impact 25 which has benefited 850 clubs across the country. These clubs have received investment which goes towards supporting girls of all ages to get involved in rugby.

The Government has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to supporting grassroots cricket through its recent announcement of funding for the England and Wales Cricket Board to build two new indoor cricket domes in Farington and Luton.

This funding for cricket domes is in addition to the £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the nation which was announced following the spending review. As part of this funding, 40% of projects across the UK will be required to benefit a sport other than football, including cricket, basketball and rugby league. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. This includes long term investment to the ECB, which receives up to £11.6 million for five years to invest in community cricket initiatives.

Ensuring that music creators are fairly compensated for their work is crucial to the ongoing success of our world-class music industry, as this is what allows them to invest their time, effort, and money into creating music.

We have worked with key stakeholders from across the music industry on this matter through the Creator Remuneration Working Group, including senior representatives from music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube. We were delighted to welcome the new label-led principles as an output of these discussions, as well as the individual commitments made by the UK’s major labels, to deliver real benefits for UK creators. We will evaluate the outcomes of this work after one year.

DCMS officials maintain regular engagement with music streaming platforms and their trade body, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), meeting frequently to address a broad spectrum of music industry matters. Ministers have also met with music streaming platforms to discuss the emerging challenges and implications of AI-generated content on their platforms, and the impact this could have on creator remuneration.

Live music venues are vital to the UK’s music culture, offering emerging artists a platform, supporting local economies and creative jobs, and giving thousands the joy of live music up close. That is why we are committed to working with the sector to support the sustainability of the entire live music ecosystem.

The Government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan, published in June, announced our Music Growth Package of up to £30m over three years from 2026, which more than doubles previous funding. This package will strengthen grassroots infrastructure (including grassroots music venues), support emerging artists and music professionals, and boost exports, breaking down barriers to success at home and abroad.

In advance of this, the Government is also providing £2.5m of funding for the Arts Council England’s (ACE) Supporting Grassroots Music Fund for 2025/26. This enables grassroots music venues, recording studios, promoters and festivals to apply for grants of up to £40,000 to develop new revenue streams, make repairs and improvements, and enhance the live music experience for fans.

To further support grassroots music venues, the Government and the live music industry are working together to drive progress on an industry-led levy on tickets for stadium and arena shows. We welcome commitments by artists and the wider industry to implement the ticket levy, and steps taken by industry to set up a charitable trust to distribute funds from the levy.

The Government is transforming the business rates system to create a fairer system, co-designed with stakeholders from the creative sectors. To support these industries, we are introducing permanently lower business rates multipliers for Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure (RHL) premises with rateable values under £500k, starting in 2026/27. As a bridge to this permanent change, we have extended the 40% RHL business rates relief for 2025-26.

According to Sport England’s Active Places database, as of December 2025 there are 59,794 grass football pitches and 6,634 artificial grass pitches in England. In Greater Manchester, there are 1,796 grass football pitches and 380 artificial grass pitches. In Oldham, there are 113 grass football pitches and 30 artificial grass pitches.

The Government is investing £98m in grassroots facilities across the UK through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in 2025/26, funding projects such as new artificial grass pitches, grass pitch improvements and pitch maintenance equipment.

Three board members are already in place at the IFR. A robust, transparent process to recruit a further four appointees, to complement the existing talent, opened on 12 November. Applications are due on 10 December and the full details are on the public appointments pages of Gov.uk:

https://apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/roles/8938?titleSearch=football&body=&regulated=&bodyJustice=&remunerated=&status=open&sort=openingAt%3Adesc

The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis and padel, along with representatives from other other sports, to discuss this. I visited Barnsley Padel Club last month to discuss local padel provision and open their new court.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport in England through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association and Badminton England, which receive up to £14.5 million and £14 million for seven years from 2022 to 2029 to invest in community tennis, padel and badminton initiatives that will benefit as many people as possible.

Each Young Futures Hub will meet three outcomes of increasing opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime.

We are collaborating with DHSC, NHS England, and health partners to ensure Young Futures Hubs meet young people's emerging needs, providing early mental health and wellbeing support. Early Support Hubs built the evidence base for next year's Young Futures Hubs, with evaluation findings directly informing the programme.

The Early Support Hubs were initially funded through the Shared Outcomes Fund in the 2024/25 financial year. The programme has since been extended for a further year to 2025/26.

DCMS recognises the value and expertise of the National Churches Trust in supporting the protection of historic places of worship.

Baroness Twycross, the Minister for Heritage, is open to meeting with the National Churches Trust. The Department has engaged in various meetings with representatives of the sector, including the National Churches Trust, throughout the year, and the Minister looks forward to continuing this important dialogue.

The Department supports the conservation of historic places of worship, including those at risk, through several channels.

The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme was extended for a further year in January 2025 to March 2026, with a £23 million budget. This scheme helps religious organisations reclaim the VAT costs of eligible repairs and renovations, which supports the conservation of these vital heritage and community assets.

In exceptional circumstances, listed places of worship may be eligible for Heritage at Risk funding provided by Historic England. In addition, the Department funded the £15 million Heritage At Risk Capital Fund in the 2025/26 financial year. Out of 37 projects awarded funding through this capital fund, 4 were places of worship, receiving a total of £1,387,842 for their conservation projects.

DCMS Ministers received advice on changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, including consideration of the potential impact on introducing an annual cap of £25,000 per place of worship for the 2025/26 financial year.

The changes to the scheme were necessary given the level of fiscal challenges we inherited and the pressures on other parts of the heritage and cultural sectors. Based on the Department’s analysis of previous data, 94% of applications will be unaffected by the change, as most claims are under £5,000.

Civil Service sickness absence reports, which provide statistics for sickness absence by organisation and sickness reason, including Mental Ill-Health, are published on an annual basis. The publication of the 2025 report is currently planned for 18 December 2025.

These annual reports can be found by following the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence

Consumers who book short-term let accommodation through online platforms are currently protected through the consumer provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) 2024.

The DMCCA prohibits unfair commercial practices, including misleading actions and omissions, that are likely to impact the average consumer’s transactional decisions. Traders who engage in commercial practices that are misleading omissions, or misleading actions may be committing a criminal offence. The DMCC Act 2024 also clarifies that online marketplaces must exercise professional diligence in relation to consumer transactions promoted or made on their platforms.

The Government is also delivering a national mandatory registration scheme for short-term lets. This will help to raise standards of accommodation in the Visitor Economy in the UK, building consumer confidence and supporting fair competition. DCMS has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, including booking platforms and consumers, to ensure a light-touch scheme that is fair, effective and robust.

We recognise the challenges that museums, theatres and cultural venues face, including rising energy costs. The Government is committed to supporting these sectors, and that’s why we announced the Arts Everywhere Fund earlier this year which will commit over £270 million to support arts and cultural venues to carry out urgent repairs, upgrade infrastructure and improve financial resilience. As part of that, through the £85 million Creative Foundations Fund, and the £25 million Museum Estate and Development Fund, theatres, museums, galleries and other arts and cultural venues can access grants to address urgent issues with their estates. This includes works to improve the energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness and environmental performance of their buildings and equipment, ensuring their infrastructure is fit for future generations to benefit from.

The department regularly assesses pressures faced by sectors for which ministers are responsible. Recognising that our regional museums - many of which run multiple sites or large estates - are facing increased operating costs, the government has introduced a new, £20 million Museum Renewal Fund this year.

The government has also kept in place improved tax reliefs on theatre productions (via the Theatre Tax Relief), which helps theatres better absorb rising running costs. Since April 2025, theatres, orchestras and museums and galleries have benefited from higher tax relief rates of 40 percent for non-touring productions, and 45 percent for orchestral and touring productions. Museums and Galleries Exhibition tax relief was also made permanent.

On top of tax reliefs, we support arts and culture through the 2023-2027 Arts Council England National Portfolio Investment Programme, and National Lottery Project Grants. This funding has provided over £570 million in 2024/25 to theatres, museums and cultural venues across the country, of all shapes and sizes.

DCMS will continue to engage constructively across the arts and cultural sectors to monitor the impact of rising energy costs.

The Equality Act 2010 sets out the core legal obligations for cultural venues in the UK regarding disability access. Under this Act, venues must implement "reasonable adjustments" to ensure disabled individuals are not disadvantaged. These adjustments cover both physical modifications, such as installing ramps and accessible toilets, and changes to services and policies. The latter includes provisions like permitting assistance dogs, offering information in formats that are accessible, and providing aids like sign language interpretation or audio description. DCMS-funded Capital funds, including the Museum Estate and Development Fund, the Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund, and the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund all fund renovations across major cultural institutions designed to repair and modernise buildings, including improvements to access and interpretation for visitors with disabilities.

The Creative Foundations Fund is a major government investment supporting arts and cultural organisations across England to resolve urgent issues with their estates. The Creative Foundations Fund has a specific aim relating to access, supporting capital projects that address equality and accessibility issues to provide independent access for disabled people and welcome users with diverse needs such as but not limited to: improvements to surfaces such as paths, landscaping, such as level or ramped access or level drop-off points near entrances, installing Changing Places facilities or increasing provision of accessible, ambulant disabled, or gender-neutral toilets and installing signage that meets best practice guidelines.

The government primarily supports the arts and cultural projects through Arts Council England (ACE). DCMS is supporting ACE and the other arts councils in the UK and the Republic of Ireland to develop All In - an access scheme dedicated to removing barriers and improving the experience of deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people when attending creative and cultural events. All In aims to increase overall attendance by making it easier for people with access requirements to find and book tickets, while also developing standards for creativity and culture that promote quality and consistency across the UK and Ireland; all supported by training and skills development.

We recognise that whistleblowing can play an important role in holding charities to account. Charity workers have protections the same as a worker in any sector and are also able to make disclosures to the Charity Commission about their charity. While volunteers, including charity trustees, do not have the same statutory whistleblowing protections as workers, the Department considers the current protections for those who make whistleblowing disclosures, regardless of their status, to be appropriate. The Charity Commission treats whistleblowing disclosures by volunteers and trustees in the same way as disclosures by workers. The Department has no plans to review whistleblowing protections for volunteers or others involved in the governance of charities.

We recognise that whistleblowing can play an important role in holding charities to account. Charity workers have protections the same as a worker in any sector and are also able to make disclosures to the Charity Commission about their charity. While volunteers, including charity trustees, do not have the same statutory whistleblowing protections as workers, the Department considers the current protections for those who make whistleblowing disclosures, regardless of their status, to be appropriate. The Charity Commission treats whistleblowing disclosures by volunteers and trustees in the same way as disclosures by workers. The Department has no plans to review whistleblowing protections for volunteers or others involved in the governance of charities.