Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many test events will take place as part of the Government's Events Research Programme.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Events Research Programme will run around a dozen pilot events using enhanced testing approaches and other measures to run events with larger crowd sizes and reduced social distancing to evaluate the outcomes.The evidence will then be shared across the event economy so that venues can prepare to accommodate fuller audiences.
Settings will include small indoor venues that have a capacity of circa 200 people, where a gig or comedy night would take place, to large outdoor venues such as Wembley stadium. Decisions on the number of spectators allowed into the pilot events are yet to be taken and will be subject to discussions with event organisers and local authorities.
The programme will include looking at risk factors in indoor and outdoor settings; small and large venues; seated and standing events and different forms of audience participation. The pilots will also test a range of non-pharmaceutical mitigating interventions during non-socially distanced events such as layout of the venue, face coverings and ventilation.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of charities working with BAME communities to access the Government's £350 million support for charities.
Answered by John Whittingdale
DCMS and the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF - our distribution partners for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund) have been - and continue to - engage extensively with BAME organisations during the development of the response and are working with a number of organisations to improve the reach of the Coronavirus Community Support Fund.
A diverse advisory panel has been set up to assist in the distribution process for the fund. DCMS will continue to work closely to assess how we can support BAME charities and social enterprises in doing their important work. The Minister for Civil Society holds a fortnightly roundtable to hear directly from BAME civil society organisations to highlight concerns and responses to Covid-19. DCMS will continue to work closely to assess how we can support BAME charities and social enterprises in doing their important work.
We have published clear and comprehensive guidance on the £750 million, plus other sources of support, at
This is a package of emergency response to help groups in need and to provide other essential services. It builds on the significant package of support available across sectors, including the Job Retention Scheme.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of ringfencing funding from the Government's charity support package for charities and organisations working with communities that are disproportionately affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government has pledged £750 million to meet the needs of vulnerable groups disproportionately affected by Covid-19 through targeted support for voluntary and community sector organisations.
A diverse advisory panel has been set up to assist in the distribution process for the fund. DCMS and the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF - our distribution partners for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund) are working with a number of organisations to improve the reach of the Coronavirus Community Support Fund for organisations disproportionately affected.
The government has unlocked a further £150 million from dormant bank and building society accounts, which will be distributed to organisations to support urgent work for groups in need to tackle youth unemployment, expand access to emergency loans for civil society organisations and help improve the availability of fair, affordable credit to people in vulnerable circumstances.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that funding from the charity relief package announced in April 2020 is reaching those that most need it.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government has pledged £750 million to meet the needs of vulnerable groups through targeted support for voluntary and community sector organisations on the frontline of the Covid response. This includes £360m distributed through government departments and £200m for the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, being delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund. A diverse advisory panel has been set up to assist in the distribution process for the fund.
The government has also unlocked a further £150 million from dormant bank and building society accounts, which will be distributed to organisations to support urgent work for groups in need to tackle youth unemployment, expand access to emergency loans for civil society organisations and help improve the availability of fair, affordable credit to people in vulnerable circumstances.
We have published clear and comprehensive guidance on the £750 million, plus other sources of support, at
The VCSE Support Package builds on the significant package of support available across sectors, including the Job Retention Scheme.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to respond to the invitation of 17 June 2019 from the all-party Parliamentary group on deliberative democracy to meet that group to discuss progress on the innovation in democracy project; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes
The Minister for Civil Society responded to the invitation on 10 September 2019, confirming that an official would attend the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Deliberative Democracy.