Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing additional sector specific support to the tourism and travel industry.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We continue to engage with tourism stakeholders to assess the role of the Government’s unprecedented support measures in supporting the sector through this period. Ministerial colleagues in the Department for Transport are doing the same with the travel sector.
In total, over £25bn has been provided during the pandemic to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks. The Government is continuing to support businesses and individuals - including through various government-backed loans, grants and the extended furlough and self-employed support schemes. A UK-wide VAT cut for the tourism sectors from 20% to 5% is in place until September 2021, and 12.5% for the rest of the financial year.
The Government published the Tourism Recovery Plan on 11th June. Alongside addressing short and medium term challenges, the plan sets out a long-term framework for how the Government will work with the sector to build back better from the pandemic - and develop a more sustainable, innovative, and data-driven tourism industry.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2021 to Question 158881, what assessment his Department has made of whether visa processes for mountain leaders and other similar professionals are as prompt and smooth as possible under the UK's agreement with the EU.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
My Department has not made an assessment of how smoothly the visa process for mountain leaders is running. As stated in my previous answer, the Government continues to engage with stakeholders, including the British Association of International Mountain Leaders, to understand their priorities for the UK’s future relationship with the EU. Where this concerns visa processes, this will be fed into the relevant Departments - in this case BEIS and the Home Office.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to findings from Bite Back that young people in the UK are exposed to 15 billion junk food adverts a year online, if the Government will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce statutory online advertising restrictions on junk food, as proposed in its original consultation, at the same time as those for television.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Covid-19 health crisis has underlined the need to reduce levels of obesity in the general population, and that it is critically important that we encourage healthy eating habits, particularly for our young people. The Prime Minister is clear that this is a priority.
The Biteback 2030 campaign has helped to inform our work to understand the impacts of junk food advertising on young people. Government officials recently attended a session hosted by the Bite Back campaign, and were able to hear first hand from the Biteback Youth Ambassadors on the problem of junk food advertising and its effects in particular on young people.
In 2019 and 2020, the government consulted on bold proposals to restrict HFSS advertising on TV and online, and we will soon publish our response to both consultations. As the government set out in its Tackling Obesity strategy (published in July 2020), we intend to simultaneously legislate for an online restriction and a TV watershed by the end of 2022.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on financial support for freelance DJs dependent on working at events who have been unable to work during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS continues to engage with HM Treasury to ensure the needs of our sectors are factored into the developing economic response, and that DCMS sectors, including the live music industry, are supported throughout this time.
The Government recognises the significant challenge the current pandemic poses to many individuals and freelancers working in the music industry, including freelance DJs.
We are working very hard to help freelancers in those sectors access support, including through the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and funding from Arts Council England.
The Government has and will continue to look for ways to improve the SEISS grant and existing support.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the UK-EU Trade Cooperation Agreement on the UK mountain leaders sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) provides a framework under which the UK and the EU may agree Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) on the recognition of professional qualification covering the UK and all 27 EU Member States. Once an arrangement is adopted under the TCA, UK professionals will be able to use the terms outlined in the arrangement to secure recognition for their professional qualifications within EU Member States.
Arrangements are implemented on a profession-by-profession basis and depend upon reciprocal cooperation from both the UK and EU Member States. The framework enables UK and EU professional bodies or authorities to make recommendations on MRAs to the Partnership Council. Once an arrangement has been adopted, a professional qualified in the UK (e.g. an engineer) will be able to use the terms outlined in the arrangement to secure recognition of their qualifications within an EU Member State.
The Government continues to engage with stakeholders in the tourism sector to hear their priorities for the UK’s future relationship with the EU. Officials are currently engaging with the tourism trade bodies, including the British Association of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML) to gather feedback on priority regulators and qualifications for the tourism sector.
The government will provide help and guidance to UK regulatory authorities and professional bodies to help them benefit from these provisions as well as other recognition paths. Where visas apply, our agreement with the EU contains measures that will help ensure processes are as prompt and smooth as possible.