Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the longest period of time was between the (a) acceptance of an application to the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) and (b) full payment of the award of funds during phase two of the CRF.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many of the successful applicants in Phase 2 of the Culture Recovery Fund are awaiting the receipt of funds; and how much funding remains to be paid.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many of the successful applicants in Phase 2 of the Culture Recovery Fund have received all of the funds awarded to them.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the (a) selection criteria, (b) assessment criteria and (c) scoring system for the assessment of applications for the first round of the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets.
We have published the following on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/levelling-up-fund-additional-documents. The methodology used to calculate the index of places set out in the prospectus, a technical note setting out further guidance on eligibility, MP support and the application and assessment process for the first round of the Levelling Up Fund.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on the Independent Panel into the Murder of Daniel Morgan since January 1st 2020.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As sponsoring Minister for an inquiry, it is not uncommon to receive queries and correspondence regarding the progress of an inquiry. Representations with regards to the content of the report would be a matter for the Independent Panel.
The Home Secretary is kept up to date on the work of the Panel and her responsibilities by her officials, and meets with them when required.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings have been held with her officials on the Independent Panel into the Murder of Daniel Morgan since 1 January 2020.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As sponsoring Minister for an inquiry, it is not uncommon to receive queries and correspondence regarding the progress of an inquiry. Representations with regards to the content of the report would be a matter for the Independent Panel.
The Home Secretary is kept up to date on the work of the Panel and her responsibilities by her officials, and meets with them when required.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications were received in the initial competition for the post of Chair of Ofcom; and how many candidates were interviewed for that position.
Answered by John Whittingdale
A total of eleven candidates applied and subsequently four were interviewed. This process was conducted in line with the Governance Code for Public Appointments and has been regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what representations his Department received on the process for the appointment of the Chair of Ofcom, excluding candidate applications and expressions of interest.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The recent process to appoint the permanent Chair of Ofcom was conducted in line with the Governance Code for Public Appointments and has been regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. In line with the governance code, the Minister is advised during this process by an advisory assessment panel who are required to make an independent and objective assessment as to whether candidates meet the published criteria. The panel included a Senior Independent Panel Member, two further members who are independent of the department and Ofcom and a senior department official.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
What plans the Government has to review the scope of electoral law.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to keeping our elections secure and fit for the modern age. We keep electoral law, and the role and powers of the Electoral Commission, under review to ensure the effective operation of, and public confidence in, an electoral system that is secure, fair, modern and transparent.
Asked by: Christian Matheson (Independent - City of Chester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for each of the last five years for which figures are available, what was the total number of (a) applicants and (b) graduates for English degree courses at universities in England.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) does not publish data on the number of applicants to each course.
However, UCAS does publish data on applications to full-time undergraduate courses at UK higher education (HE) providers in their End of Cycle Data Resources pages. Each applicant can make up to 5 applications.
The table below shows the numbers of main scheme applications to undergraduate English studies courses at English HE providers for application cycles 2016 to 2020.
Applications1 to undergraduate English studies courses at English HE providers - application cycles 2016 to 2020
Cycle year2 | Number of applications to English studies course (JACS)3 |
2016 | 41,805 |
2017 | 39,930 |
2018 | 36,245 |
2019 | 33,440 |
2020 | 29,830 |
Source: UCAS End of Cycle data resources https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-sector-level-end-cycle-data-resources-2020.
[1] Does not refer to individual applicants. Each unique applicant can make up to 5 main scheme applications. This does not cover applicants who applied Direct to Clearing or applicants who applied directly to the provider. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.
[2] Refers to application cycle year. The 2020 cycle covers applicants typically entering higher education in the 2020/2021 academic year.
[3] English studies defined as principal category Q3 of the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). This code excludes those studying Imaginative Writing (I8). More information on JACS codes can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on qualifications obtained at UK HE providers. The latest data refers to academic year 2019/20.
The table below shows the numbers of first-degree qualifiers in English studies at English HE providers between academic years 2015/16 and 2019/20.
Information for the academic year 2019/20 is provided in a separate column due to the introduction of a new subject classification system, the Common Aggregation Hierarchy (CAH).
Figures for the academic year 2019/20 are not directly comparable with previous years, because “Studies of specific authors” and “Creative writing” are now included in the ‘English Studies’ category. Excluding those categories gives a count of 8,110 qualifiers in the academic year 2019/20, although this is still not directly comparable with earlier years due to the new coding methodology.
First-degree qualifiers4 in English studies courses at English HE providers5 - academic years 2015/16 to 2019/20
Academic year | Number of qualifiers in English studies courses (JACS)6 | Number of qualifiers in English studies courses (CAH)7 |
2015/16 | 10,475 | - |
2016/17 | 10,355 | - |
2017/18 | 9,665 | - |
2018/19 | 9,165 | - |
2019/20 | - | 9,405 |
Source: HESA Student open data pages, https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-19 and https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-51.
[4] Counts are based on full-person-equivalents. Where a student is studying more than one subject, they are apportioned between the subjects that make up their course. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5, in line with HESA rounding conventions: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/definitions/students#rounding-and-suppression-strategy.
[5] Data between the academic years 2015/16 and 2018/19 excludes a small minority of qualifiers from alternative providers.
[6] English studies is defined as principal category Q3 of the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). More information on JACS codes can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/jacs.
[7] English studies is defined as Common Aggregate Hierarchy level 2 (CAH2), which is the sum of codes “19-01-01 English studies (non-specific)”, “19-01-02 English language”, ”19-01-03 Literature in English”, “19-01-04 Studies of specific authors”, “19-01-05 Creative writing” and “19-01-06 Others in English studies”. More information on CAH codes can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/documentation/hecos/cah-about.