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Written Question
Coronavirus: Disease Control
Thursday 18th November 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the findings from the final round of the Events and Research Programme will be published.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Events Research Programme has now concluded. DCMS continues to work closely with other government departments and will be publishing the final Events Research Programme findings shortly.


Written Question
Cinemas and Theatres: Ventilation
Wednesday 14th July 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensuring adequate ventilation in theatres and cinemas to help reduce the transmission of covid-19 by (a) issuing guidance to operators of theatres and cinemas services, (b) clarifying what standards operators should use to plan and measure ventilation, (c) outlining what enforcement activity he plans to take to ensure such guidance is followed and (d) making funds available to improve standards of ventilation.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Public Health England has published guidance on the ventilation of indoor spaces which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-ventilation-of-indoor-spaces-to-stop-the-spread-of-coronavirus/ventilation-of-indoor-spaces-to-stop-the-spread-of-coronavirus-covid-19

The Health and Safety Executive has published guidance on ventilation and air conditioning here:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/equipment-and-machinery/air-conditioning-and-ventilation/index.htm

Using this guidance, Local Authorities should assess the risk from COVID and implement the appropriate transmission risk controls. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess risks and implement the appropriate controls. HSE is the health and safety enforcing authority for local authority activities and can take proportionate enforcement action.

Venues are advised to pay due regard to the published guidance above, alongside any sector-specific guidance available.


Written Question
TikTok: Children
Tuesday 6th July 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of children using live streaming services on TikTok to solicit in-app virtual gifts or donations in exchange for content.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

We recognise the serious risks that children face online, including through the use of functionalities such as live streaming. The draft Online Safety Bill, published in May 2021, will ensure companies design their platforms to be safer for users.

The strongest protections in the legislation are for children. Unless services in scope are able to prove that children are not accessing their service, they will need to conduct a child safety risk assessment and provide safety measures for child users, keeping these under regular review.. Companies will also need to assess how the design and operation of the service, including functionalities such as instream payments and live-streaming, may increase or reduce the risks identified.

In addition, the UK’s regulatory regime for video sharing platforms requires UK-established video sharing platforms to take appropriate measures to protect under-18s from harmful material, TikTok is in scope of these requirements. Ofcom is working with UK-established video sharing platforms to help them understand their duties under this regime and will be able to take enforcement action against platforms that do not comply.


Written Question
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Directors
Monday 5th July 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what declarations of interests have been made by his Department’s non-executive directors; and where is that information published.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Non-executive directors comply with the provisions of the Cabinet Office’s Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies.

Board members are required to submit any declarable interests annually; this information forms part of the independent National Audit Office review ahead of the publication of Departmental annual report and accounts.

Information on any relevant interests is published in the Department annual report and accounts, which are available on gov.uk.


Written Question
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Directors
Monday 5th July 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial payments his Department makes to its non-executive directors; how many times his departmental Board will meet in 2021-22; and what work the non-executive directors undertake.

Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

This information is published in the Department’s annual report and accounts, available on gov.uk.

(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dcms-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-20)

The Department’s report and accounts for 2021-22 will be published in due course, in the usual way.

Departmental boards provide strategic leadership for each central government department, as well as advising on/challenging how the department is performing. Each board is chaired by the Secretary of State and includes junior ministers, the permanent secretary and non-executive board members. Non-executives are appointed to government departments from the public, private and voluntary sectors. Their role is to provide advice and bring an external perspective.

A summary of the work of non-executive directors across Government can be found in the Government Lead Non-Executive's annual report, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-lead-non-executives-annual-report-2019-to-2020


Written Question
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Directors
Monday 5th July 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department’s current non-executive directors were appointed; what oversight officials of his Department had of the Ministerial appointments of those non-executive directors; and what assessment was made of the applicants' experience against the requirements for breadth and depth of experience set out in the Cabinet Office guidance on Departmental Boards of November 2014.

Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

· Sherry Coutu was appointed on 11 March 2019

· Hemant Patel was appointed on 19 March 2020

· Baroness Laura Wyld was appointed on 15 June 2020

· Claudia Arney was appointed on 15 April 2021

· Priya Lakhani was appointed on 15 April 2021

Departmental officials have full oversight of all Non-Executive appointments. This includes providing advice and recommendations to me on the suitability of individuals to be appointed as Non-Executives.

The department aims to appoint Non-Executives who have experience within large and complex organisations and specific knowledge of the sectors it represents. This includes having an understanding and experience of organisations in both the public and private sectors. This is a key consideration made on the suitability of appointable candidates, without this experience it is unlikely an appointment will be made.

Departments follow the principles set out in Cabinet Office/HM Treasury ‘Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice.


Written Question
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Directors
Monday 5th July 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department’s current non-executive directors were appointed; what oversight officials had of Ministerial appointments of non-executive directors; and what assessment was made of their experience against the requirements for breadth and depth of experience set out in the Cabinet Office guidance on Departmental Boards of November 2014.

Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

· Sherry Coutu was appointed on 11 March 2019

· Hemant Patel was appointed on 19 March 2020

· Baroness Laura Wyld was appointed on 15 June 2020

· Claudia Arney was appointed on 15 April 2021

· Priya Lakhani was appointed on 15 April 2021

Departmental officials have full oversight of all Non-Executive appointments. This includes providing advice and recommendations to me on the suitability of individuals to be appointed as Non-Executives.

The department aims to appoint Non-Executives who have experience within large and complex organisations and specific knowledge of the sectors it represents. This includes having an understanding and experience of organisations in both the public and private sectors. This is a key consideration made on the suitability of appointable candidates, without this experience it is unlikely an appointment will be made.

Departments follow the principles set out in Cabinet Office/HM Treasury ‘Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice.


Written Question
Culture Recovery Fund
Monday 5th July 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

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 made for Phase 2 of the Cultural Recovery Fund.

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.


Written Question
Culture Recovery Fund
Monday 5th July 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

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 has been between the acceptance of an application and the full payment of the award of funds during phase 1 of the Cultural Recovery Fund.

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.


Written Question
Culture Recovery Fund
Monday 5th July 2021

Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)

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 1 of the Cultural 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.