Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 (a) tackle disparities in access to the arts and (b) promote cultural engagement among underrepresented communities.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The arts are for everyone, and His Majesty’s Government is deeply committed to supporting access to high-quality arts and culture across the country.
At the last Spending Review, the Government increased the Grant in Aid available to Arts Council England, and asked it to spend that increased amount more equitably across the country. Through Arts Council England’s new (2023–26) National Portfolio, increased funding of £444.6 million per annum is now funding a record 985 organisations in more parts of the country than ever before. This is an increase from £410 million per annum going to 814 organisations under the previous portfolio. Of the 275 new organisations joining the funding portfolio, 214 are from outside London.
As well as the Arts Council’s existing Priority Places (one of which is Slough), DCMS and the Arts Council also agreed 109 Levelling Up for Culture Places, which partially overlap with the Priority Places, and which were identified as places of historically low investment and engagement in arts and culture. These places are targeted for additional engagement and investment. In Slough, our new joiners are:
Amina Khayyam Dance Co
Art classes group
Resource Productions
In February, DCMS launched the fourth round of the Government’s Cultural Development Fund, which is open to every part of England. In this round we are particularly keen to fund activity in areas of low cultural investment. To date, the Cultural Development Fund has provided £76 million of capital investment to 20 transformative, place-based creative and cultural initiatives across the country.
Tackling disparities in opportunity and outcome in cultural education is also one of the overarching objectives of DCMS and the Department for Education’s forthcoming Cultural Education Plan, which aims to give support for all children and young people (age 0–18) to access a broad range of high-quality cultural education subjects, activities and experiences in and out of school. This will promote access, participation and progression within the arts.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 help ensure equitable access to the arts across communities in the UK.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The arts are for everyone, and His Majesty’s Government is deeply committed to supporting access to high-quality arts and culture across the country.
At the last Spending Review, the Government increased the Grant in Aid available to Arts Council England, and asked it to spend that increased amount more equitably across the country. Through Arts Council England’s new (2023–26) National Portfolio, increased funding of £444.6 million per annum is now funding a record 985 organisations in more parts of the country than ever before. This is an increase from £410 million per annum going to 814 organisations under the previous portfolio. Of the 275 new organisations joining the funding portfolio, 214 are from outside London.
As well as the Arts Council’s existing Priority Places (one of which is Slough), DCMS and the Arts Council also agreed 109 Levelling Up for Culture Places, which partially overlap with the Priority Places, and which were identified as places of historically low investment and engagement in arts and culture. These places are targeted for additional engagement and investment. In Slough, our new joiners are:
Amina Khayyam Dance Co
Art classes group
Resource Productions
In February, DCMS launched the fourth round of the Government’s Cultural Development Fund, which is open to every part of England. In this round we are particularly keen to fund activity in areas of low cultural investment. To date, the Cultural Development Fund has provided £76 million of capital investment to 20 transformative, place-based creative and cultural initiatives across the country.
Tackling disparities in opportunity and outcome in cultural education is also one of the overarching objectives of DCMS and the Department for Education’s forthcoming Cultural Education Plan, which aims to give support for all children and young people (age 0–18) to access a broad range of high-quality cultural education subjects, activities and experiences in and out of school. This will promote access, participation and progression within the arts.
Asked by: Michael Ellis (Conservative - Northampton North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has held with the BBC on the appearance of Major General Wasef Eriqat on BBC Arabic.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Ministerial team regularly meets with BBC leadership, including members of the Board, to discuss a range of issues.
The BBC has a duty to provide accurate and impartial news and information. In delivering that duty, the BBC is editorially and operationally independent and decisions around its editorial policies and guidelines are a matter for the BBC. Ofcom is the external independent regulator responsible for ensuring BBC coverage is duly impartial and accurate under the Broadcasting Code and BBC Charter.
The Secretary of State has repeatedly made clear that the BBC’s accuracy and impartiality is critical to viewer trust. It is particularly important when it comes to coverage of highly sensitive events, such as the terrorist acts committed in Israel on 7 October and the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The Secretary of State has regularly stated that point in meetings with the BBC.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department will publish a response to the Technical consultation on a Community Wealth Fund in England, which closed on 19 October 2023.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government is grateful to all those who took the time to respond to the technical consultation. Officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities are carefully considering all of the responses received. The government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether Bytedance would be required to divest ownership of TikTok under the terms of the provision on Foreign power acquisition of news media organisations added by the Government to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The new terms introduced in our amendments to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (DMCC) are based on the Enterprise Act 2002, and will therefore only apply to newspapers and news magazines given the unique role these publications play in contributing to the health of our democracy by providing accurate news and information, helping to shape opinions and contributing to political debate.
These changes would not cover online news providers or online intermediaries, including social media platforms such as TikTok.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 with creative industry leaders to help ensure (a) growth and (b) sustainability in that sector.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK Government has a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and support another 1 million jobs by 2030. As set out in the Creative Industries Sector Vision, we are committed to working with industry and the devolved administrations to ensure our creative industries continue to be the best in the world. The Sector Vision sets out our 2030 goals and objectives for supporting the creative industries.
As part of the Growth goal, we outline how we are supporting creative businesses to grow and scale-up through investment, innovation and export support - including through programmes like the Create Growth Programme and the Creative Clusters.
As part of the Maximising Impact goal, we set out an objective specifically for the environment: ‘Creative industries play a growing role in tackling environmental challenges, helping the UK reach the targets set out in the Powering Up Britain plan’. As part of this, the Creative Industries Council, which represents industry and worked with government to develop the Sector Vision, have published their Creative Climate Charter, which sets out key environmental principles for creative companies to aspire to. We will continue to work with industry and across government to address this objective.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the number of (a) musicians and (b) music groups that were scheduled to play in the UK that were refused entry due to immigration rules in the last 12 months.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Border Force does not hold the data requested.
The UK’s rules for touring creative professionals are comparatively more generous than in many EU Member States. The UK’s domestic rules allow musicians, entertainers and artists from non-visa national countries, such as EU Member States and the US, to perform in the UK without requiring a visa, and the UK does not have work permits.
The Government is committed to supporting the UK’s creative industries, including musicians, to adapt to new arrangements with the EU.
Sector specific guidance on creative professionals from non-visa national countries, including the EU and the US, visiting the UK for performance and work has been published by DCMS on GOV.UK can be found in the ‘Visiting the UK as a creative professional from a non-visa national country guidance’ on GOV.UK.
DCMS has worked across government and in collaboration with the music and wider creative industries to support working and touring with confidence in the EU. Ongoing industry engagement continues at ministerial and official level. This includes several recent events with the sector focused on touring and export support, hosted in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade. These events help to provide tailored guidance to stakeholders within the music sector, alongside an opportunity for the sector to discuss with Ministers and officials touring challenges and opportunities.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on what dates her Department's working group on creative and cultural touring has met since June 2022; and how many times a Minister has attended those meetings.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Border Force does not hold the data requested.
The UK’s rules for touring creative professionals are comparatively more generous than in many EU Member States. The UK’s domestic rules allow musicians, entertainers and artists from non-visa national countries, such as EU Member States and the US, to perform in the UK without requiring a visa, and the UK does not have work permits.
The Government is committed to supporting the UK’s creative industries, including musicians, to adapt to new arrangements with the EU.
Sector specific guidance on creative professionals from non-visa national countries, including the EU and the US, visiting the UK for performance and work has been published by DCMS on GOV.UK can be found in the ‘Visiting the UK as a creative professional from a non-visa national country guidance’ on GOV.UK.
DCMS has worked across government and in collaboration with the music and wider creative industries to support working and touring with confidence in the EU. Ongoing industry engagement continues at ministerial and official level. This includes several recent events with the sector focused on touring and export support, hosted in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade. These events help to provide tailored guidance to stakeholders within the music sector, alongside an opportunity for the sector to discuss with Ministers and officials touring challenges and opportunities.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 to publish a strategy for the arts and creative industries.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK Government has a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and support another 1 million jobs by 2030. As set out in the Creative Industries Sector Vision, we are committed to working with industry and the devolved administrations to ensure our creative industries continue to be the best in the world. The Sector Vision sets out our 2030 goals and objectives for supporting the creative industries.
As part of the Growth goal, we outline how we are supporting creative businesses to grow and scale-up through investment, innovation and export support - including through programmes like the Create Growth Programme and the Creative Clusters.
As part of the Maximising Impact goal, we set out an objective specifically for the environment: ‘Creative industries play a growing role in tackling environmental challenges, helping the UK reach the targets set out in the Powering Up Britain plan’. As part of this, the Creative Industries Council, which represents industry and worked with government to develop the Sector Vision, have published their Creative Climate Charter, which sets out key environmental principles for creative companies to aspire to. We will continue to work with industry and across government to address this objective.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has taken recent steps to support independent cinemas.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises that cinemas are a hugely important part of the UK’s fantastic film industry and has been supporting them throughout the uncertainties of the past several years with the pandemic and rising energy costs.
We supported more than 200 independent cinemas through the pandemic, who received £34.4 million from the Culture Recovery Fund as well as benefiting from other pan-economy measures. The Government has also delivered an £18 billion package of support through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme supporting businesses - including cinemas, arts venues, and charities - through the winter.
The Government’s £500m Film and TV Production Restart Scheme also helped keep the cameras rolling at the other end of the screen supply chain. The scheme supported over 100,000 jobs and productions worth more than £3 billion. To build on this, and support the industry to not only survive but thrive, further actions have been taken. This includes the Government’s current £1.6 million annual funding of the British Film Commission, the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, and the continued success of our screen sector tax reliefs. This has been further bolstered at Spring Budget 2024 with the new UK Independent Film Tax Credit, with films with budgets up to £15 million being eligible for an increased benefit of 53% - which is estimated to increase spending on independent films by 70% before 2032.
The British Film Institute (BFI), a DCMS Arms Length Body, is also conscious of the pressures faced by the cinema sector. The BFI’s Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) is a collaboration of 8 film hubs, managed by leading film organisations and venues around the UK. Film hubs are centres of expertise and support that connect cinemas, festivals and creative practitioners. You can also read more about the National Lottery funding the BFI makes available to bring film to a wider UK audience, including through BFI FAN, at: https://www.bfi.org.uk/get-funding-support/bring-film-wider-uk-audience.