To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage: Ulster Scots Language
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Morrow (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, following their announcement of the proposed ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, what steps they will take to ensure that they discharge their obligations under that convention in relation to the Ulster Scots community in a manner that is consistent with the recognition of Ulster Scots as a national minority of the United Kingdom under the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

HM Government is taking an inclusive approach to the ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage across the whole UK. We want to engage with everyone, including the Ulster Scots community, and to provide the conditions to allow everyone to express, preserve, and develop their culture and identity within the UK’s implementation of the framework of the 2003 Convention.


Written Question
Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Morrow (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government, following their announcement of the proposed ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, what is their reason for not proposing a threshold of longevity for recognition of a cultural practice.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

HM Government has taken on board guidance from UNESCO which defines Intangible Cultural Heritage as ‘traditional, contemporary, and living at the same time’. In line with this, we want to ensure that newer practices of Intangible Cultural Heritage can be recognised as well as more long-standing ones.


Written Question
Football: Governing Bodies
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish the Football Governance Bill.

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

This Government is committed to introducing a new independent regulator for English football, to protect and promote the sustainability of English football for the benefit of fans and the local communities football clubs serve.

The Government is working at pace to establish an Independent Football Regulator on a statutory footing as soon as parliamentary time allows.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to respond to the email correspondence of 1 November 2023 from the hon. Member for Sefton Central.

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

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay responded to this correspondence on 14 March 2024. The Department apologises for the delay in responding.


Written Question
Film and Television: Government Assistance
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the film and television industry in England, including the freelance workforce, and to encourage investment from the US, following the industrial action by Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 2023.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

His Majesty’s Government has set out a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and to add another 1 million jobs in the sector by 2030. That includes supporting the growth of the television and film industry.

Since 2010, HM Government has introduced a range of tax reliefs across the creative industries, including expanded relief for film and high-end television. Our screen sector tax relief is estimated to be worth more than £13 billion in Gross Value Added to the UK economy.

We have taken a number of additional steps to ensure that British film and television companies are able to invest in production, expand their businesses, and offer opportunities for cast and crew across the UK, in spite of production disruption resulting from the pandemic and the recent strike action in the United States of America.

This includes the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart Scheme and the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas. To build on this, and support the industry not only to survive but to thrive, the Government has taken further actions. This includes our support for the British Film Institute and British Film Commission, which has helped drive a near doubling of UK studio capacity, and the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, which is expanding the global reach of UK independent content. The sector also benefits from the continued success of our screen sector tax reliefs (for film, high-end TV, animation and children’s TV), which in 2021–22 provided £792 million of support for over 1,000 projects.

We recognise the impact of the American strikes on the film and TV workforce. HMRC has a ‘Time to Pay’ policy which may provide some support to affected cast and crew. This policy allows people experiencing temporary financial difficulty to schedule their tax debts in affordable, sustainable, and tailored instalments with no maximum repayment period. These arrangements can be applied to any tax debt and are flexible, so they can be amended if circumstances change.

In the Creative Industries Sector Vision, the Government set out an ambition to improve the job quality and working practices of the sector, including supporting the high proportion of freelancers in the sector. This includes promoting fair treatment and working practices, enhancing support networks and resources for creative freelancers through Creative UK's Redesigning Freelancing initiative. DCMS and the industry will also continue to work together to produce an action plan in response to the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre’s Good Work Review, and proposals include the recent launch of the British Film Institute’s £1.5 million Good Work Programme for screen. The Government will continue to work with the BFI and the newly established screen sector Skills Task Force to support a strong skills pipeline in the sector and attractive careers pathways into the industry.


Written Question
Sports: Facilities
Thursday 14th March 2024

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, with reference to her letter to the hon. Member for Warrington North dated 5 March 2024, reference INT2024/01623/DC, what funding her Department has invested in grassroots sport facilities in each parliamentary constituency since 2021.

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

We are committed to ensuring that every child, no matter their background or ability, has the opportunity to play sport and be active.

Between 2021 and 2025, the UK Government is delivering a historic level of direct investment of over £400 million to build or upgrade thousands of grassroots facilities across the UK.

This includes £327 million across the whole of the UK between 2021 and 2025, including £25 million for the Lionesses Futures Fund. All projects are publicly available and can be found by financial year here.

We are also investing £21.9 million to renovate over 3,000 tennis courts across Scotland, England and Wales between 2022 and 2024. Completed projects are publicly available to see here.

In England, we have provided £60 million via the Swimming Pool Support Fund in 2023/24 to support public swimming pool providers with immediate cost pressures, and investment to make facilities sustainable in the longer-term. Phase one projects can be viewed here, with phase two projects to be announced in due course.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport also wrote to all MPs in early March, detailing the amount of funding and the different projects supported by the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, the Park Tennis Court Renovation Programme, and the Swimming Pool Support Fund, in their constituency.


Written Question
Gambling: Advertising
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of gambling advertising on (a) gambling-related harms and (b) levels of (i) at-risk and (ii) problem gambling in young people.

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

In our approach to gambling advertising, we have struck a balanced and evidence-led approach which tackles aggressive advertising that is most likely to appeal to children, while recognising that advertising is an entirely legitimate commercial practice for responsible gambling firms.

In April last year, HM Government published a White Paper on gambling which outlined a comprehensive package of reforms to make gambling safer following an exhaustive assessment of the evidence, including on gambling advertising. We concluded that further action on advertising was needed, which is why we and the Gambling Commission are introducing measures to tackle the most aggressive and harmful advertising practices by preventing bonuses being constructed and targeted in harmful ways, giving customers more control over the marketing they receive, and introducing messaging about the risks associated with gambling.

This supplements the already robust rules in place to ensure that gambling advertising is socially responsible and that it cannot be targeted at or strongly appeal to children. This includes specific licence conditions for operators, including the requirement to abide by the UK Advertising Codes, which further regulate how gambling operators advertise. The UK Advertising Codes were strengthened in 2022, with new protections for children and vulnerable adults.


Written Question
Media: Euthanasia and Suicide
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Danny Kruger (Conservative - Devizes)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps with Ofcom to undertake a review of the adequacy of guidance to the media on the reporting of (a) assisted suicide, (b) euthanasia and (c) other suicide cases.

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

Guidance on how broadcasters report assisted suicide, euthanasia and other suicide cases is a matter for Ofcom as the UK’s independent broadcasting regulator. Ofcom are required by law to keep the Broadcasting Code and any accompanying guidance under review.

In the UK, there is an independent self-regulatory regime for the press. The Government does not intervene in what the press can and cannot publish or oversee the work of press regulators.


Written Question
Mermaids: Finance
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department provided funding to the charity Mermaids UK in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

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

DCMS has provided no funding to the charity Mermaids UK in 2021, 2022, or 2023.


Written Question
Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Domestic Visits
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, to which domestic destinations Ministers in her Department and its predecessor Departments have attended overnight visits in each of the last three financial years.

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

I refer the Hon. Member to my response to UIN 17516, on the 12th March 2024.