Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase access to the arts for people over the age of 60 in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Arts Council England is the DCMS arms-length body with responsibility for distributing arts funding. Arts Council England provides both Grant-in-Aid and lottery funding which supports a number of creative programmes and activities for older people across Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire. This includes project grants to music organisation Madula, who host weekly drum circles for older residents in the area to learn from international artists in a social environment. Castle Hill Creatives, a group of artists which provide events and exhibitions in Torrington have also worked with older and isolated people to create sculptural lanterns for the Stoke Lanterns event that took place in March 2025.
Beyond project grants, Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places projects are designed to work on intergenerational projects with people across the area. In Stoke-on-Trent, this is run by Appetite and in Staffordshire Moorlands, projects are run by Outside.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she plans to take to improve the provision of public libraries in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Public libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.
The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 requires the Secretary of State to “superintend and promote the improvement of the public library service provided by local authorities in England”. To assist this function the department regularly monitors and reviews changes to local authority library service provision, and engages with local authorities to discuss issues related to their respective library service.
The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-25.
The Secretary of State announced in February 2025 a further £5.5 million of the Libraries Improvement Fund for 2025-26 to enable library services across England to invest in a range of projects to upgrade buildings and technology. Staffordshire County Council has previously received around £465,000 from this fund to support projects at Burton and Wombourne libraries.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many individual representations her Department has received from Staffordshire County Council in relation to the ceramics industry in North Staffordshire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have no record of any such representations.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on generating new funding streams for arts and culture initiatives in (a) Staffordshire and (b) the United Kingdom.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On top of significant public investment such as the £444 million per year of funding via Arts Council England’s National Portfolio, and the approximate £100 million per year through their National Lottery project grants, on 20th February the SoS announced an additional package of investment of over £270 million through the Arts Everywhere Fund for arts venues, museums, libraries and the heritage sector to boost growth and cement Britain’s place as a cultural powerhouse.
The Arts Everywhere Fund includes, for example, £85 million of support via the Creative Foundations Fund to support urgent capital works; a fifth round of the Museum Estate and Development Fund worth £25 million; and a fourth round of the Libraries Improvement Fund worth £5.5 million. This investment will support organisations across the country, including those based in Staffordshire.
Alongside investment, we are looking at the way the arts and culture sector receives support to help strengthen it further, by reviewing Arts Council England and exploring how we can better encourage philanthropy to attract more funding to the places that need it most. We want to ensure that the UK has the best framework for philanthropy and that partnerships between government, philanthropists, businesses and civil society are maximised. DCMS will continue to work closely with our partners in the philanthropy sector, and with colleagues across government, including HMT, HMRC and the Office for Investment.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions (a) she and (b) her Department has had with the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee since July 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The work of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee is delivered by the Cabinet Office, not by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. While my officials are in regular contact with the Secretariat team in the Cabinet Office and offer their support, any questions relating to the activity of, and approach taken by, the Committee should be addressed by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department continues to closely monitor the implementation and impact of the grant scheme through the regular reporting of the grant administrator, EMB. Since 2010, the Government has returned over £350 million to listed churches, synagogues, mosques and temples through the grant scheme. This has helped protect our listed places of worship and enabled them to continue their work as centres of worship and community assets.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to reduce food waste in her Department.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As a tenant for each of our offices including our London and Manchester HQs, DCMS does not manage food provision or waste in our offices. For our London HQ this service is provided by our landlords, the Government Property Agency.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the (a) strength and (b) success of the creative industries in Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government recognises and welcomes the success of the creative industries in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is committed to supporting our world-leading creative industries, and their growth in regions across the UK.
The Office for National Statistics includes Newcastle-Under-Lyme as part of the Stoke-On-Trent ‘Travel To Work Area,’ and indicates that 3,777 people were employed in the creative industries in 2021, an increase of 5% since 2017.
The second wave of the £50 million Creative Clusters competition will be announced in the coming months, which will provide Newcastle-Under-Lyme, and the surrounding area, the opportunity to further develop themselves as a creative cluster. This would build on many of the strengths already present in the region, including video games, digital production and crafting.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will visit (a) the New Vic Theatre and (b) the Philip Astley Centre in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I will ask my officials to keep both the New Vic Theatre and the Philip Astley Centre in mind when planning future visits.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Commonwealth Games on (a) her policies and (b) grassroots sports in Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK is proud to have hosted the Commonwealth Games twice in the past decade. This government welcomes the £1bn of Gross Value Added to the UK economy from the Games, including hundreds of millions to the local economy in the West Midlands. The Legacy Enhancement Fund from the Games continues to drive inward investment to and grassroots activity in the region, ensuring the area benefits from a lasting legacy of hosting the Games.
The Government is committed to developing grassroots sport and will work with our Arms Length Body Sport England to support projects which facilitate participation in the Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency. DCMS’s Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities and Park Tennis Courts programme have already had an impact in the area by investing in a new 3G football surface at Roe Lane Playing Fields, and will continue to deliver high-quality, inclusive grassroots facilities that help more people access sport wherever they live.