Oral Answers to Questions

Anna Dixon Excerpts

Thursday 15th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Katrina Murray (Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch) (Lab)]

2. What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the new town of culture and UK city of culture 2029 competitions support communities.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

4. What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the new town of culture and UK city of culture 2029 competitions support communities.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

11. What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the new town of culture and UK city of culture 2029 competitions support communities.

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[Lisa Nandy]

I thank my hon. Friend for championing those incredible organisations in her constituency. Applications open this week for the town of culture competition. We have deliberately designed this contest so that it will benefit everybody who takes part, helping them to promote what happens in their local areas, with the least bureaucracy possible. We want local organisations to be heard loud and clear as part of the bids. The judging panel will be chaired by the incredible Phil Redmond, and he is designing the competition to ensure that organisations the length and breadth of this country are heard loud and clear.

[Anna Dixon]

I hope that the Secretary of State enjoyed her visit to Bradford during our fantastic time as city of culture 2025. It was a roaring success, with more than 5,000 events across the whole district, audiences in excess of 3 million and some 650 local artists and organisations involved. Does she share my ambition to make sure that the legacy of Bradford 2025 is both impactful and long lasting? Will she meet me, leaders of the council and representatives of Bradford 2025 to see how she can support that legacy?

[Lisa Nandy]

My hon. Friend will know that I have visited Bradford several times since becoming Secretary of State, and we love it so much that you cannot keep us away—the Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley South (Stephanie Peacock), will be in Bradford this afternoon. Bradford city of culture has been a runaway success in increasing the amount of local pride that people feel in their communities. Four out of five people in Bradford say that the year of culture has had a lasting impact on them and their city, but that is not all: it has managed to attract record visitor numbers, showing exactly what Bradford can do. We want that for our towns across the country, and we are using Bradford as a template for how to do it.

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[Marsha De Cordova]

As the hon. Member knows, the Church is rightly playing a role in the province in Jerusalem. I would be happy to write to him to set out further actions that the Church is taking in relation to work and other projects.

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

6. What assessment the Church of England has made of the potential impact of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on end-of-life ministry.

[Emma Lewell (South Shields) (Lab)]

10. What assessment the Church of England has made of the potential impact of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on end-of-life ministry.

[Marsha De Cordova]

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is still being debated in the other place. What it will look like is yet to be decided. The Church anticipates that there will be considerable impact on the end-of-life ministry, pastoral support and bereavement counselling offered by its chaplains and clergy.

[Anna Dixon]

Chaplains work in various settings, including care homes, hospitals and hospices. If the Bill were to pass unamended, they may be required to provide assisted dying services to people who are terminally ill, as there is currently no organisational opt-out. Would the Church support an amendment in the other place to allow chaplains to conscientiously object, and an option for hospices and other organisations that have religious foundations to opt out of providing support to those who wish to end their life with assistance under the legislation if it is passed?

[Marsha De Cordova]

The Church supports the need for an institutional and individual opt-out, as many hospices have highlighted their concerns about the Bill’s impact on their operations if there continues to be no option to opt out. It is crucial that hospices can offer their vital services without being compelled to offer assisted dying if they hold a conscientious objection.