Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 support the maintenance of the architectural fabric of the Church of England beyond the expiration of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme in 2026.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In January this government announced that we would extend the Scheme for one year with an overall budget of £23 million in recognition of the importance of listed places of worship both in terms of heritage and to their local communities. Funding after March 2026 for all listed places of worship will be considered as we work through the output of the Spending Review and Departmental business planning process.
Alongside the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme there are other sources of funding available for listed places of worship of all faiths via the Department’s Arm’s-Length Bodies. For example, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has committed to investing around £100m between 2023 and 2026 to support places of worship. This investment includes £15 million to support large-scale projects that tackle broad needs and challenges, fostering greater sustainability and security within the sector. Ongoing support for places of worship will also be provided through National Lottery Heritage Grants, helping to improve their condition and equip the sector with the expertise, people, and skills necessary to preserve this heritage for the future. Over the next three years, it is expected that approximately £85 million will be awarded to support this goal.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she has made an assessment of the potential impact of public library closures on the (a) educational and (b) social opportunities for local residents.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
All local authorities have a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. Public libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for determining how best to meet the needs of its communities and deliver its statutory duty within available resources.
Where local authorities are proposing changes to its statutory library service provision, including closures, DCMS expects the local authority to be able to demonstrate that proposals are supported by an assessment of local needs, together with a rigorous analysis and assessment of the potential impact of their proposals and a demonstration of the steps to be taken to mitigate the impact.
The Secretary of State has a statutory power to intervene by way of local inquiry if she considers that a local authority is not providing a comprehensive and efficient library service. She takes this role very seriously and should a complaint be received, Ministers will challenge the local council and carefully consider evidence before deciding if a local inquiry is needed.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 support the tourism sector.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The British tourism industry is worth £58 billion to the economy and employs millions of people around the country. The Government is implementing a range of measures to support the sector and maximise its benefits for local economies, including working with VisitBritain to champion visits to Britain to a worldwide audience through its ‘Starring Great Britain’ campaign.
Since 2022, DCMS has delivered significant reform of destination management devolving accountability to a regional and local level to promote regional growth. We now have a network of 41 Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) across England and two Regional Destination pilots in the North East and West Midlands. In March, we announced a £1.35 million funding boost to help the Destination pilots attract even more tourists and investment to the UK over the next year.
The newly established Visitor Economy Advisory Council brings together industry leaders, regional voices and expert advisers to do far more that will attract overseas and overseas visitors and unlock growth. The Council will co-design and deliver a new growth strategy that will meet my ambition to welcome 50 million inbound visitors a year by 2030, as part of this Government’s Plan for Change.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings she has had with representatives from Christian denominations since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Details of Ministers' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings she has had with representatives of Muslim communities since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Details of Ministers' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings she has had with representatives of Jewish communities since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Details of Ministers' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has a strategy for the development of the public library sector.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Minister for Gambling and Heritage is meeting with library sector organisations and leaders to discuss the challenges faced by public libraries and their thoughts on what government support would be helpful. Following this, the Minister will consider her priority policy areas in this remit.
Officials also meet regularly with a variety of organisations in the public and private sectors to support the sector strategically. This includes working with Arts Council England, the development agency for libraries in England, on such issues as the collection of national data and other programmes to support the sector so that it is better placed to respond to the changing ways people are using them. On 20th February, the Secretary of State also announced a further £5.5 million of the Libraries Improvement Fund for 2025/26. DCMS has also invested in research to investigate the main reasons why people do not use or engage with libraries and understand potential effective policy interventions that could be deployed by local or national government to promote library usage.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings she has had with representatives from the library sector since the start of this Parliament.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials have had a number of meetings with library sector representatives. Details of ministerial meetings are published on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many professional libraries have moved out of local authority control since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department does not currently hold this data. The Arts Council England Libraries Location Dataset 2024 which will contain information on static library closures and changes to the model of delivery of static libraries as of 31 December 2024 is due to be published shortly.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries have permanently closed since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department does not currently hold this data. The Arts Council England Libraries Location Dataset 2024 which will contain information on static library closures and changes to the model of delivery of static libraries as of 31 December 2024 is due to be published shortly.