Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
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 help ensure that Young Futures Hubs deliver on their core purpose of early mental health support.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services in helping young people live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives, and is committed to building on great youth services by developing the National Youth Strategy, strengthening services and expanding opportunities for all young people.
As part of this Strategy, Young Futures Hubs will leverage local understanding of services in each area to improve support for young people at community level, increasing opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime. 50 Young Futures Hubs across the country will be supported by the end of this Parliament.
We are working closely with DHSC, NHS England and a number of health stakeholders, to ensure that Young Futures Hubs offer services together to support young people with emerging needs, including early mental health advice and wellbeing interventions. This includes using learnings from programmes such as Early Support Hubs.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is planning to take to ensure that lessons from the 24 early support hubs will feed into the Young Futures Hubs programme; and what plans she has to build the Young Futures Hubs programme on these existing hubs.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Health and Social Care is responsible for Early Support Hubs, and interventions into young people’s mental health.
Young Futures Hubs, developed by DCMS, will leverage local understanding of services in each area to improve support for young people at community level, increasing opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime. 50 Young Futures Hubs across the country will be supported by the end of this Parliament.
We are working closely with DHSC, NHS England, and health partners to ensure Young Futures Hubs builds on existing evidence to meet young people's emerging needs, including early mental health and wellbeing support.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the outcomes from the Shared Outcomes Fund early support hubs will be utilised in the development of the Young Futures Hubs programme; and whether transitional funding will be put in place to keep these early support hubs open.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Each Young Futures Hub will meet three outcomes of increasing opportunities, improving mental health and wellbeing, and reducing crime.
We are collaborating with DHSC, NHS England, and health partners to ensure Young Futures Hubs meet young people's emerging needs, providing early mental health and wellbeing support. Early Support Hubs built the evidence base for next year's Young Futures Hubs, with evaluation findings directly informing the programme.
The Early Support Hubs were initially funded through the Shared Outcomes Fund in the 2024/25 financial year. The programme has since been extended for a further year to 2025/26.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of hosting the 2035 women's football world cup on the level of participation by women and girls in sport.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Hosting the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup has the potential to be a transformational opportunity for the women’s game, and for women’s sport in the UK more generally. Following the 2022 Women’s EUROs, we saw a 140% increase in participation among women and girls with over 519,000 new grassroots opportunities were created specifically for women and girls across England.
Creating a strong legacy, including boosting participation levels, will be a core aim of delivering the tournament. Should the UK’s bid to host the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2035 be successful, planning will begin on developing the legacy programme, drawing inspiration from events such as the recent Women’s Rugby World Cup as we embark on a decade of women’s sporting moments in the UK.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
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 potential impact of hosting the 2035 women's football world cup on the economy.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK Government is working closely with the Home Nation Football Associations and the Devolved Governments to develop the UK-wide bid for the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup. As the largest single sport women’s event in the world, this tournament has the potential to generate significant socio-economic benefits, impact communities across the UK, and build on our world-leading reputation as a host of major events.
To illustrate, the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 was estimated to have generated AUS$1.32bn for the economy in Australia and New Zealand. We are working closely with UK Sport, the FAs and Devolved Governments to assess the potential benefits of hosting to inform our collective bid.
Following confirmation that the UK would be the sole bid for 2035, our bid is due to be submitted by the end of November, with a final decision by FIFA expected in April 2026.
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government has sought legal advice in relation to the US President's planned legal action against the BBC.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This is a matter for the BBC, whose lawyers are now dealing with the issue. The BBC is independent of the UK government and so it is a matter for them and the US President.