Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the distribution of funds to football teams in the National League during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
On 19 November 2020, the government announced a £300 million Sports Winter Survival Package (SWSP) to provide a lifeline to organisations that would otherwise not survive the winter as a result of the restriction on spectators announced from 1 October. A provisional allocation of up to £25 million was made to support the National League. This is in addition to the £10 million cash injection from the National Lottery in October last year, the result of a unique promotional deal facilitated by the government.
Whilst the distribution of National Lottery support is a matter for the National League, the government was clear in supporting the deal that it expected the proceeds to be allocated sensibly to support clubs for as long as possible.
The government further confirmed on 27 January 2021 that Steps 3-6 of the National League system will receive up to £10 million of grant support from the Package to protect the immediate future of approximately 850 clubs over the winter period. This support is being distributed at pace by the Football Foundation and is available with immediate effect.
The National League has also benefited from the multi-billion pound package of cross-sector business support from the Government that has enabled many sports clubs and leisure businesses to survive, including the furlough scheme and business interruption loan scheme. Sports have accessed many hundreds of millions of pounds of support through this.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of the cultural sector in aiding economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government understands the importance of the cultural sector in aiding economic recovery post-Covid, evidenced by unprecedented support for the sector, including the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund (CRF).
So far, over £1 billion worth of funding from the CRF has been allocated across all four nations of the UK. This funding is supporting over 3000 arts and heritage organisations in England affected by COVID-19 restrictions, and more than 75,000 jobs.
The second round of funding (which recently closed) will also support organisations to transition from the challenging months of lockdowns and social distancing to welcoming audiences and visitors back to the country’s much loved and important theatres, museums, cinemas, music venues and heritage sites over the summer.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Barran on 9 November (HL Deb, col 808), what funding streams constitute the £119 million which Arts Council England has made available for individuals; what is the relative value of any such funding streams; and whether such funding derived from (1) Arts Council England’s regular funding, (2) the Culture Recovery Fund, or (3) any other sources.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The £119 million which Arts Council England made available for individuals is derived from ACE’s own funding (National Lottery reserves, Grant-in-Aid reserves and from repurposing some of their current funding programmes) and is made up of the following:
£17.1 million distributed through the Emergency Response Fund for individuals;
£6 million distributed by a series of Benevolent Funds focused on the self-employed.
£18 million available through their Developing Your Creative Practice fund. This came from an underspend from the £160m made available for the Arts Council’s Emergency Response Fund.
£77.9 million available through National Lottery Project Grants (available to both individuals and organisations). This is from ACE’s existing National Lottery money and an underspend in the Emergency Response Funds.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with social media platforms regarding misinformation about COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, including social media platforms, on a variety of issues, including misinformation about COVID-19. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are providing to lower league football clubs to counter the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Football clubs are the heart of local communities and have unique social value.
The Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses throughout this period, including a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support. Many football clubs have benefited from these measures.
The Government is in regular dialogue with all the football authorities to understand their financial position - but has been absolutely clear that it expects football to look first at how it can support itself through these difficult times. To this end I welcomed the Premier League announcement to advance funds of £125 million to the EFL and National League to help clubs throughout the football pyramid. The EFL has also announced a £50m relief fund to help their clubs enduring immediate cash flow problems because of the coronavirus crisis.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they have taken to enable sports stadiums to reopen safely in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The Government continues to liaise closely with the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) and sporting bodies whilst developing its guidance to support the safe return of spectators to stadia more widely no earlier than October 1st. As announced by the Prime Minister, this remains subject to review. Pilot events will now be capped at 1,000 people.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) Google, (2) Twitter, (3) Facebook, and (4) other social media sites, about (a) the action, and (b) the time, those companies take to remove (i) racist, (ii) anti-Semitic, (iii) abusive, (iv) criminal, and (v) illegal, content online.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with social media platforms such as Google, Twitter and Facebook on a range of issues, including hate speech, abusive and illegal online content. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
We are aiming to publish the full government response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation later this year which will outline the detailed proposals for keeping users safe online. We will continue to engage with industry representatives as we finalise proposals and move towards legislation.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the future of English regional theatre following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
This Government recognises how severely regional theatres, and the Arts sector in general, have been hit by the COVID-19 crisis.
That is why, in order to support the sustainability of the Arts sector, including regional theatres, DCMS has worked closely with Arts Council England (ACE) to provide a tailored package of financial support. In March, ACE announced a £160m emergency response package to complement the financial measures already announced by the Government and to ensure immediate resilience of this vital sector. This package includes £140 million of support for artistic organisations including regional theatres; and £20 million of financial support for individuals, including self-employed theatre practitioners, so they can better sustain themselves, and their work, in the coming months.
On 23 June, the Prime Minister also announced that from 4 July theatres will be able to reopen for rehearsal, pre-production and broadcast, although not yet for live performance with an audience. I believe that this, alongside the work that we are doing with representatives of the entertainment and events industry to develop supporting guidance, represents the first steps in the roadmap to recovery for our nations’ theatres.
The Secretary of State, Minister for Digital and Culture, and officials continue to consult the Arts sector extensively to ensure we fully understand the financial impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the sector. On the basis of that engagement, DCMS and ACE are continuing to work closely to consider the additional measures that are needed to ensure the long-term recovery and growth of the cultural sector, including regional theatres and theatre practitioners.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support local and regional newspapers following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
This Government is clear that local and regional newspapers play an invaluable role in the fabric of our society. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government committed to supporting local and regional newspapers, both through its manifesto, and in response to the 2019 independent Cairncross Review on the future of high quality journalism.
The Cairncross Review looked at the overall state of the news media market, identifying a range of challenges and making nine recommendations for Government, regulators and industry to support sustainability within the sector, including at a local and regional level. The Government response, published in January this year, set out support for the majority of the recommendations, and the Government had already begun taking some of them forward before the onset of the current health crisis.
Covid-19 has exacerbated and accelerated many of the issues identified in the Cairncross Review and, in recognition of the importance of high quality local news provision, the Government has focused both on alleviating the existential threat posed by the pandemic and simultaneously continuing to progress commitments made in our response to the Review.
To date, we have worked with Nesta to develop a £2million pilot innovation fund, launched in October 2019, which seeks to invest in new technological prototypes, start-ups and innovative business models to explore new ways of sustaining the industry. The pilot Future News Fund is due to come to an end in June. The Government is considering options for a full, expanded fund ahead of the next Spending Review.
The Cairncross Review noted that society is increasingly moving online and news publishers are facing significant challenges in transitioning to sustainable digital business models. Covid-19 has expedited these structural changes. As set out in our response to the Review, the Government agrees that codes of conduct that formalise the relationships between news publishers and online platforms may help to rebalance that relationship. We are continuing to consider options in this area in the context of wider work on competition in digital markets, and look forward to the recommendations in the Competition and Market Authority’s final report into the online advertising market, due by 2 July.
The Government will continue to consider all possible options in the interests of promoting and sustaining high-quality news journalism beyond the immediate threat of Covid-19. We are committed to getting this work right, so future generations can engage with and be inspired by a free and vibrant press.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the England and Wales Cricket Board to enable spectators to watch First Class and National Counties cricket safely this summer.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
We are working closely with the sector, including the England and Wales Cricket Board, to facilitate the return of spectators to elite sport. A multidisciplinary working group, including medical directors from a number of sports, has begun to develop Stage 5 guidance around the return of spectators to stadia. Guidance will incorporate medical, sports, and venue expertise as well as the experience of other sectors that will reopen to audiences.
We will continue to be led by wider public health guidance and the working group will reflect on all emerging best practice, both domestically and internationally, in their work.