Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the forthcoming National Visitor Economy Strategy will include consideration of the role and growth potential of the UK outbound travel industry.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The forthcoming Visitor Economy Growth Plan (VEGP), which will set out a long term plan to increase visitor flows across the UK, boost value, and deliver sustainable growth. This will include consideration of the role of the UK’s outbound travel industry in generating growth.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help support economic growth for (a) travel agents and (b) tour operators.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has recently announced the Small Business Plan. It outlines how we will make thriving small and medium sized businesses, which includes travel agents and tour operators, a reality across the UK through the most significant package of legislative reforms in 25 years to tackle late payments; unlocking billions of pounds in finance to support businesses to invest; removing unnecessary red tape; revitalising the High Street as a place to do business; and delivering growth boosting support for Digital and AI Adoption with a new online Business Growth Service.
The British Tourist Authority (BTA) supports specialist travel businesses through marketing and trade opportunities, linking UK businesses with the travel trade globally through events.
In addition to this, the BTA offers training programmes, research insights, and targeted funding schemes that help travel businesses reach international markets and build capability. It connects operators with overseas buyers through both international trade events and UK based hosted buyer programmes, promotes bookable products via its platforms, and provides data, tools, and grants to strengthen the UK’s visitor economy.
The Government has also launched The Business Growth Service as part of the Small Business Plan. This makes it easier and quicker for businesses to get the help, support and advice they need to start, grow and succeed.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) recognise and (b) support the outbound travel industry.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS recognises the contribution of the outbound travel sector to the UK economy, which in 2024, saw pre-trip outbound spending reach £40 billion.
The Government is dedicated to ensuring smooth and efficient border crossings for UK citizens traveling to and from the EU. Following confirmation from the European Union that there are no legal barriers to the use of e-gates for UK nationals travelling in and out of EU Member States, the Government has proactively engaged with a wide range of counterparts across Europe.Several countries, including Bulgaria and Portugal, already expanded e-gate access to new locations for UK travellers, and many more countries including Switzerland, Estonia, and Austria have committed to further expansion in due course.
To provide a more stable environment for businesses that arrange overseas travel, the Department for Business and Trade have recently announced reforms to The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements 2018. These changes simplify the regulations and provide stronger redress rights for travel providers, supporting UK tourism businesses selling holidays at home and abroad.
DCMS is also committed to working with airlines, rail and the cruise sector to support route development and encourage regional growth throughout the UK. This in turn benefits the essential infrastructure used by UK residents travelling overseas.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 merits of the allocation of UK Sport funding to (a) deaf athletes and (b) the Deaflympics.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
UK Sport uses funding provided by the Government to support athletes with potential to achieve success in Olympic and Paralympic sports. As the Deaflympics falls outside of Olympic and Paralympic sport, UK Sport are therefore unable to fund athletes targeting this event.
This is in line with the Government’s approach to other Paralympic sports where competition is not offered in an athlete's particular classification or discipline.
Sport England has committed £1.2 million between 2022 and 2027 to UK Deaf Sport to boost deaf sport at the grassroots level and build wider participation. They have also agreed to explore a series of small-scale talent pilots for d/Deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore these issues and suggest potential solutions.
d/Deaf athletes do receive Government funding. Sport England has committed £1.2 million between 2022 and 2027 to UK Deaf Sport to boost deaf sport at the grassroots level and build wider participation. Beyond this, they have also agreed to explore a series of small-scale talent pilots for d/Deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore support around elite competitions and suggest potential solutions.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has carried out an equality impact assessment of the elite sport funding of deaf people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
UK Sport uses funding provided by the Government to support athletes with potential to achieve success in Olympic and Paralympic sports. As the Deaflympics falls outside of Olympic and Paralympic sport, UK Sport are therefore unable to fund athletes targeting this event.
This is in line with the Government’s approach to other Paralympic sports where competition is not offered in an athlete's particular classification or discipline.
Sport England has committed £1.2 million between 2022 and 2027 to UK Deaf Sport to boost deaf sport at the grassroots level and build wider participation. They have also agreed to explore a series of small-scale talent pilots for d/Deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore these issues and suggest potential solutions.
d/Deaf athletes do receive Government funding. Sport England has committed £1.2 million between 2022 and 2027 to UK Deaf Sport to boost deaf sport at the grassroots level and build wider participation. Beyond this, they have also agreed to explore a series of small-scale talent pilots for d/Deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore support around elite competitions and suggest potential solutions.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress the Government is making on the establishment of the £500 million Youth Investment Fund announced by the Chancellor in September 2019.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Youth Investment Fund (YIF) remains a manifesto commitment for levelling up across England over the course of the parliament. In the recently announced Spending Review, £30m of this was committed as capital investment for 2021-22. This will provide investment for new and refurbished safe spaces for young people, so they can access support from youth workers, and positive activities out of school, including sport and culture. Further details of the timetable for allocation of YIF funding in 2021-22, and how the funding will be distributed will be announced in due course.
The department is currently undertaking a review of all DCMS spending on services for young people, including future plans for the Youth Investment Fund, which we anticipate will conclude in May this year.
Government recognises the significant impact of Covid-19 on young people, particularly the most vulnerable, and on the youth services that support them. The £16.5m Youth Covid-19 Support Fund was announced to protect the immediate future of grassroots and national youth organisations across the country. The fund opened for applications on 15 January 2021 and closed 19 February 2021.