Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to provide quickly accessible grants and loans to (1) artists, and (2) self-employed people working in the creative industries, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government has made a wide variety of economic support available to help businesses and self-employed people across the economy, including artists and self-employed people working in the creative industries. This includes:
- The Self-employment Income Support Scheme which will allow self-employed people to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 a month. This is initially available for 3 months, but may be extended;
- Bounce Back loans of up to £50,000, 100% guaranteed by the Government. These will be interest-free for the first 12 months. Businesses can apply online through a short and simple form;
- The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme for larger financing requirements;
- The option to defer VAT payments;
- Small Business Grants of £10,000 which will be paid to any property in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief or Rural Rates Relief.
Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to extend the (1) Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and (2) Self-employment Income Support Scheme, to artists and others in the creative industries who rely on a mixture of self-employed income and zero-hours or fixed-term contracts.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
It is possible for individuals to benefit from both the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) if they meet the individual criteria for both. For the CJRS, this will depend on furloughing decisions by the employer. Furloughed employees must have been employed on 19 March 2020 and on their employer’s PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020, and can be on any type of employment contract, including: full-time employees, part-time employees, agency, fixed-term, flexible or zero hour contracts.
For the SEISS, it will depend on whether an individual has at least 50% of their total income from trading profits in either 2018/19, or an average of the (up to) three years between 2016/17 and 2018/19. Further details can be found on GOV.UK guidance.
Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the findings of the report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime that rising knife crime is linked to cuts in youth services, what are their plans to introduce a national youth strategy; and who will be responsible for its implementation.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
No report has yet been issued by the APPG on Knife Crime and statistics published to date are interim ones pending further responses from Local Authorities. We will make a full assessment of those findings once a report is published.
The government recognises that the causes of knife crime are complex and are often tied to local factors and we are committed to taking a multi-agency approach to tackling serious violence.
Last month following the Prime Minister’s summit on serious youth violence, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced that the Government will be developing a new Youth Charter, which will set out our vision for young people over the next generation and beyond. We will be working closely across government, and alongside young people themselves, the youth sector, and other partners.
My department will also continue to work closely with the Home Office on the implementation of the Serious Violence Strategy.
Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when Natural England expects to introduce new licences for bird control.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Secretary of State has taken over ultimate decision making powers for general licences relating to the purposes covered by the three revoked general licences. The Secretary of State will consider the present situation with intensity and urgency; his priority is getting this right. The Government has issued a call for evidence https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defra-launches-call-for-evidence-on-decision-to-revoke-general-licences to help our consideration of the issues of new general licences.
Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional resource Natural England will require for the allocation of new licences for bird control.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Natural England (NE) is working at pace to assess individual licences to allow lawful control of these bird species to continue. NE is ensuring that this urgent work is appropriately resourced whilst minimising impact on delivery of other services. Since the revocation of the licences by NE the Secretary of State has taken over ultimate decision making powers for general licences relating to the purposes covered by the three revoked general licences, recognising the scale of interest and concern that has been generated by the decision to revoke. The Secretary of State will consider the present situation with intensity and urgency.
Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of North Yorkshire has geographic mobile network coverage.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Ofcom publishes mobile coverage data at the local or unitary authority level. Its latest report, published on 2 October 2018, shows geographic mobile coverage in the North Yorkshire area, split by local or unitary authorities. This can be found in the attached table.
Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce entrance charges for overseas visitors to visit national museums and art galleries.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Free entry to museums is government policy; indeed, retaining free entry to the permanent collections of our major national museums and galleries was a 2017 manifesto commitment. There are no plans to change this position.
We are proud that our world-leading museums are open to all; free entry is vital to participation, removing a financial barrier to experiencing collections which have been left to the nation in perpetuity. Since the introduction of the policy of free entry to the DCMS-sponsored museums, we have seen visitor numbers rise dramatically, particularly among young people, hard to reach groups, and overseas visitors.
Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of dwellings in North Yorkshire have access to superfast broadband.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
According to Thinkbroadband, 90.75% of premises in North Yorkshire currently have access to Superfast Broadband. Further premises will be connected through both the Department’s Superfast roll-out and commercial delivery.
Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of superfast broadband coverage in North Yorkshire.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
According to Thinkbroadband, 90.75% of premises in North Yorkshire currently have access to Superfast Broadband. Further premises will be connected through both the Department’s Superfast roll-out and commercial delivery.
Asked by: Lord Crathorne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the potential loss of value that will be experienced by UK owners of legitimately acquired sculpted ivory as a result of the proposed ban on the sale of such items; and what plans they have to compensate the owners of such items for any loss of value which they experience.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Through our public consultation we have sought views and evidence on the effect of the proposed ban on UK ivory sales, including on those individuals who own ivory; how the ban could be enforced; and the proposed scope of carefully targeted exemptions.
The consultation invited views on a possible exemption for items of genuine artistic, cultural or historic value. Items in this category could be exempted from a ban because their value lies in their artistry, cultural significance or historic provenance, as opposed to their ivory content. The consultation made clear that any exemption of this kind would need to be strictly defined to include only the rarest and most important items.
The consultation ended on 29 December 2017 and responses are currently being analysed, including any evidence provided on these issues. This analysis will inform our policy development and we will publish a response shortly. Until these results are analysed, the department has not arrived at a view concerning compensation.