Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the funding through UK Sport of UK athletes who were due to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and who have lost their funding due to restrictions on activity resulting from the COVID-19 emergency.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government remains committed to supporting our elite athletes and we will continue to work with UK Sport in ensuring that our athletes are assisted through this difficult period. Olympic and Paralympic sport is not immune from the impact of Covid-19 and the postponement of Tokyo 2020 has significant financial implications for our high performance system. UK Sport is working hard to identify the wide ranging impacts and scenarios and is in close contact with the Government to establish how best to support our summer Olympic and Paralympic sports and athletes to be ready for the Tokyo Games when they do take place.
UK Sport is also guaranteeing that Athlete Performance Awards (APA) will continue to be paid and is taking a flexible approach to NGB investments within their grant awards. UK Sport is working closely with sports to be able to manage this approach.
Team GB’s historic medal haul in Rio was an amazing achievement and our athletes made the country incredibly proud. I am confident that this success will continue through to Tokyo next summer.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ask UK Sport to provide financial support for rugby sevens teams ahead of the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after their RFU funding expires in August.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Decisions on elite Olympic and Paralympic funding allocations are for UK Sport. Having delivered our greatest Olympic performance in a century at Rio in 2016, It is crucial that funding is invested strategically in the right sports, the right athletes and the right support programmes.
We continue to work with UK Sport and sports bodies to support our athletes and sports in the run-up to the Tokyo Games in 2021. We want the Tokyo Games to be a success and will work alongside everyone involved to help achieve this.
The Chancellor announced a host of measures to help businesses, with £330 billion worth of government backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses across the UK. In addition, Sport England, has also announced £210 million of funding to help sport and physical activity organisations deal with the short and long term effects of the pandemic.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the professional playing opportunities available to women’s rugby sevens teams; and what plans they have to ask UK Sport to provide financial support for the Great Britain Women’s Olympic Rugby Sevens programme.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Minister for Sport met with sport bodies including the RFU and RFL and Women in Sport in June 2020 to explore the new challenges COVID-19 has brought and discuss what can be done to address these. There was a shared commitment amongst sports to protect investment in women’s sport and promote its growth.
Decisions on elite Olympic and Paralympic funding allocations are for UK Sport, but we are committed to helping women’s sport come out of the current crisis stronger than ever and will be working closely with the sector to ensure that happens.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of encouraging exercise to improve national resistance against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government wants people to remain fit and active at all times. The Chief Medical Officer is clear that being physically active is very important to long-term health and crucial for keeping people healthy during the ongoing pandemic. Evidence suggests that regular physical activity can promote good physical health and help manage stress and anxiety.
People are able to go outside for a walk, run, cycle or any other independent way they normally get active outside. The Government has published detailed guidance for members of the public on how they can exercise outside and for outdoor facilities on re-opening, should they wish to do so.
Those who are identified as vulnerable, older people and those with existing health conditions, should make every effort to stay active. There are many things people can do indoors. People who recovering from feeling unwell with potential COVID-19 should avoid strenuous activity as they recover.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage access to outdoor recreational space through (1) improved accessibility and (2) better public transport links.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government remains committed to delivering the ambition and actions set out in the Inclusive Transport Strategy. Disabled people have exactly the same rights to access the transport network – including the built environment - as other users, and we need to continue to provide a transport system that enables key workers to get to work and everyone to carry out essential journeys.
The Government provides a variety of funding to support public transport links. Central and local government spends over £2 billion a year supporting bus services, in addition to money invested by the industry, and has committed to spend a further £3 billion over this Parliament. This year we are providing £20 million to trial demand responsive and other services in rural and suburban areas; and £30 million to all local authorities to improve current and restore lost services.
The Government is committed to invest around £48 billion in maintaining and upgrading the rail network in the period from 2019 to 2024, focused on increasing reliability and punctuality for passengers.
The Government has also pledged £500 million to start reopening lines and stations reconnecting smaller communities, regenerating local economies and improving access to jobs, homes and education.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the time it takes for charities to access government support provided in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government has announced a broad package of support for businesses and charities to ensure that organisations that need support are able to access it. This includes the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and the option to defer VAT payments due between 20 March and 30 June 2020.
In addition, on 8 April the Government announced a £750 million funding package to ensure charities providing frontline services to vulnerable people affected by the pandemic can continue their vital work. We have been focused on distributing these funds as quickly as possible, but balanced with ensuring it reaches those that need it most. Of this, £360 million was to be allocated to individual government departments based on evidence of service need. This funding has now been allocated to government departments, who are using a range of approaches to award funding either directly to charities or through bidding processes. All funding must be spent by the end of October 2020.
£370 million has been allocated to support small and medium sized charities during the pandemic. This includes £60 million funding through the Barnett formula to support charities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Of the £310 million to be spent in England, £200 million has been distributed to the National Lottery Community Fund to award grants through the Coronavirus Community Support Fund. Applications for this fund opened on 22 May and the National Lottery Community Fund is assessing applications in the order in which they are received, in order to award grants as quickly as possible.
In addition, the Government is matching public donations to the BBC Big Night In. The first £20 million of match funding went to the National Emergencies Trust. The 47 local Community Foundations across the UK, including Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland will then provide grant funding to eligible organisations within their community.
Further information on available funds and how to apply for them can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/financial-support-for-voluntary-community-and-social-enterprise-vcse-organisations-to-respond-to-coronavirus-covid-19.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to make a range of physical activities, including dance and sport, available for all age groups in society.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Physical activity is crucial to the health and wellbeing of the nation and, as we set out in Government’s sports strategy Sporting Future, it is important for people of all ages to be active. The national sports council Sport England is responsible for supporting sport and physical activity organisations to promote health and fitness, including dance.
The latest example of this has been the Join the Movement campaign, which has provided tips, advice and guidance on how people can get or stay active in and around the home during lockdown. Sport England have also worked with Public Health England to develop the Active At Home booklet to help older adults without access to the internet keep up their activity levels while isolating.
Sport England have previously developed the We Are Undefeatable campaign, which encourages people with a range of long term health conditions to get active, and the This Girl Can campaign which encourages women to get active regardless of their shape, size and ability.
Sport England’s funding programmes such as their Active Ageing Fund and their Families Fund are helping more people to play sport and take part in physical activity.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to carry out exploratory assessments into whether those children classed as vulnerable who did not physically attend schools during the COVID-19 lockdown had a recognised category of special educational needs and particularly those of the neuro-diverse types including (1) dyslexia, (2) autism, (3) dyspraxia, and (4) Attention Deficit Disorder.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
There are no plans to assess the special educational needs categorisation of children classed as vulnerable who have not attended school during partial closures.
The department will continue to ask schools to report on attendance overall, as well as attendance by vulnerable pupils, including those with education, health and care plans and social workers, beyond 1 June, when schools began welcoming back more children.
The department carries out analysis on the regional attendance trends which is used to support decision-making and to inform conversations with special educational needs and disabilities leads in local authorities.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans are in place to provide structured physical education for any children returning to school before the 2020 summer break.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as possible because it is the best place for them to learn, and because we know how important it is for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers, carers and teachers.
We are working to ensure that schools are fully supported when they open more widely. Schools are free to organise and deliver a PE curriculum that suits the needs of all their pupils whilst following COVID-19 government guidelines. Our latest guidance for schools can be found here:
We want every child to be able to do the 60 minutes a day of physical activity recommended by the UK Chief Medical Officers. This is important for their physical and mental wellbeing and will be especially important for children who have had restricted opportunity to exercise while at home. The government is working closely with nurseries, schools, physical activity experts and sport providers to ensure that there is advice and resources to support everyone to participate in regular exercise. We are advising schools to use outside space for exercise where possible and encourage activities such as supervised non-touch running games.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, working alongside Sport England, launched a £195 million package to help the sport and physical activity sector through the COVID-19 outbreak, with more recent guidance published on the phased return of grassroots sport and recreation:
These are rapidly developing circumstances; we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to publish guidance, including in easy read format, for the charity, voluntary and amateur sports sectors in relation to the support available to them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Information on the current Covid-19 pandemic including the support available to the charity, voluntary and amateur sports sectors can be found on Gov.uk.
Further detail on the support available to sports clubs, including the Sport England Community Emergency Fund, can be found on the Sport England website.
Accessible formats of the guidance are available on request via the Gov.UK website including versions for use with assistive technology.