Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions her Department has had with local councils on the future of (a) community arts and (b) cultural infrastructure in (i) Surrey and (ii) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State, her ministerial team, and officials engage regularly with a wide range of stakeholders including local councils and DCMS Arm’s Length Bodies regarding support for local arts and cultural organisations. Typically, DCMS does not directly fund local authorities, nor their arts and cultural organisations, which are commonly funded by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Arts Council England.
We have committed an additional £3.4 billion in grant funding to local government by 2028-29, including investment in culture. The department also partnered with MHCLG on the "Pride in Place" strategy, and has recently committed £270 million through the Arts Everywhere Fund which will help support long-term viability of venues in communities across the country.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the time taken for construction at cultural venues on access to the arts in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government has not made a specific assessment of how the time taken for construction at cultural venues would impact access to the arts in either Surrey or the Surrey Heath constituency.
As part of the introduction of the new Creative Foundations Fund, which is addressing urgent capital needs in the arts and cultural sector, the government did however consider the temporary loss of access caused by possible necessary closures while works are completed. The conclusion was that the long-term benefits outweighed the short-term impact, and that the renewal of assets will help retain and attract audiences.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what action the Department is taking to support the growth of British film and television production outside London.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to spreading the benefits of our world-leading film and TV sector across the country. The Creative Industries Sector Plan was published in June and announced a £75 million Screen Growth Package. This includes funding to assist productions filming across England, alongside support for the British Film Commission, to build on its work in doubling UK studio capacity outside London, including Space Studios Manchester and The Depot in Liverpool.
The recent Budget announced plans to maintain the 40% business rates relief for film studios until 2034, giving emerging production hubs in places such as Hartlepool and Digbeth a strong foundation on which to build.
We are also investing directly in regional creative ecosystems. Our £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund is providing £25 million over three years to six Mayoral Strategic Authorities: West of England, West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and the North East. Unleashing the full potential of cities and regions is a core objective of the Sector Plan and is already delivering results, including the recent agreement between the BBC, the West Midlands Combined Authority, and Create Central to expand regional production investment.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the net expenditure of her Department was on projects related to cultural diplomacy in the last financial year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS works with a range of partners and ALBs to deliver on the Government’s cultural diplomacy and soft power objectives, including the FCDO, British Council, and GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland campaign. As such, the department’s direct spending on cultural diplomacy is limited to a small number of cultural diplomacy-related projects each year, including those delivered through the Government Art Collection. Net expenditure for the last financial year on projects related to cultural diplomacy stood at £66,329.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of requiring public service broadcasters to make all regional programming widely available live on their designated internet programme services.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Media Act 2024 introduces a new prominence regime that, once commenced, will require particular online major TV platforms to carry and give appropriate prominence to designated public service broadcaster apps (referred to in the legislation as designated internet programme services).
Ofcom will designate which internet programme services this new regime will apply to according to clear criteria, which includes stipulating that any designated service must make a significant contribution towards their public service remit and that remit content within the designated service must be readily discoverable.
We expect an important outcome of the way we have designated the new regime will achieve appropriate prominence for public remit content, which includes provision of content that reflects the lives and concerns of different communities and regions across the UK.
Ofcom is also required to issue a statement on their proposed methodology they will apply when making their designation decisions for internet programme services, which they have consulted on. Ofcom issued their final Statement on their methodology on 22 July 2025.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the availability on designated internet programme services of public service broadcasters’ live regional programming.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Media Act 2024 introduces a new prominence regime that, once commenced, will require particular online major TV platforms to carry and give appropriate prominence to designated public service broadcaster apps (referred to in the legislation as designated internet programme services).
Ofcom will designate which internet programme services this new regime will apply to according to clear criteria, which includes stipulating that any designated service must make a significant contribution towards their public service remit and that remit content within the designated service must be readily discoverable.
We expect an important outcome of the way we have designated the new regime will achieve appropriate prominence for public remit content, which includes provision of content that reflects the lives and concerns of different communities and regions across the UK.
Ofcom is also required to issue a statement on their proposed methodology they will apply when making their designation decisions for internet programme services, which they have consulted on. Ofcom issued their final Statement on their methodology on 22 July 2025.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that switchovers of legacy technology, such as digital terrestrial television, support uptake and inclusion amongst digitally excluded citizens.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Digital inclusion is a priority for this Government. It is foundational to delivering on our five Missions and essential to unlocking economic growth.
The Department is leading a project to assess the future of TV distribution and we are committed to maintaining access for all, regardless of how audiences receive their television. Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is protected until at least 2034, safeguarding access for millions of households.
The project is working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to ensure that any opportunities to support digital inclusion is at the heart of policy development.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, (a) if there will be exemptions made to her ticket price cap policy and (b) what criteria is used to judge this.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As set out in our response to the consultation on the resale of live events tickets, published last month, the Government believes that a good case can be made for narrow exemptions to the price cap in the case of resale for charitable purposes and the resale of debentures tickets. This issue was explored in the consultation, and a number of responses made the case for exemptions of this kind. We recognise that any exemptions must be tightly drawn to avoid potential abuse and we will continue to examine how these exemptions could be defined and administered in a way that does not risk undermining the overall effectiveness of the price cap, before legislation is brought forward.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the resilience of (a) cultural and (b) community venues in (i) Surrey and (ii) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We recognise the challenges that cultural and community venues face. The government is committed to supporting these venues across the country which is why we announced the Arts Everywhere Fund earlier this year, committing £270 million to support cultural venues to carry out urgent repairs, upgrade infrastructure and improve financial resilience. As part of that, both the £85 million Creative Foundations Fund and the £25 million Museum Estate Development Fund are supporting non-profit cultural organisations to undertake urgent capital works, building repairs, retrofits and equipment upgrades improving safety, energy efficiency, accessibility and long-term viability of venues in communities across the country.
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.
On top of tax reliefs, we support arts and cultural venues 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 cultural venues across the country, of all shapes and sizes; of which £11.5 million of that funding has been in Surrey.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of a news publishers co-operative to levy online platforms who use and commercialise content produced by the news industry to support local and investigative journalism.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Sustainability of local and investigative journalism across the country is an area of particular concern for this Government, including in Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton. The Government understands the important work that local news does across the UK, including outlets such as the Oldham Times and the Manchester Evening News. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector.
As part of the Strategy, we plan to help the industry adapt to changing online audience habits, including by fostering a collaborative and complementary relationship between local media and the online platforms that have the most influence over citizens’ news diets. Our work will build on relevant legislation including the digital markets regime introduced by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act. The digital markets regime will boost competition in digital markets and help rebalance the relationship between online platforms and the businesses which rely on their services, including local news publishers. In October, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) designated Google with Strategic Market Status (SMS) for their position in search, and Apple and Google for their positions in mobile ecosystems. The CMA set-out possible remedies for these markets in a roadmap based on fair dealing, open choices, and increasing trust and transparency. Some of these remedies are aimed at addressing news publishers’ concerns about the imbalanced commercial relationship they have in the market. The CMA will consult on the first set of remedies soon.
We recognise that further action may be needed to support local media in adapting to changing audience habits online, guaranteeing continued public access to high quality, trustworthy public interest local journalism, and ensuring a level playing field with big tech firms as AI and other new technologies continue to disrupt the market. We are still considering what specific actions would be suitable and feasible for the Government to take in this space, and will update within the context of the Local Media Strategy in the coming months.