Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will commit to allocating funding to youth centres in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Youth Investment Fund (YIF) is designed to achieve levelling up across the country. The YIF will invest in safe spaces for young people in the areas of greatest need, giving them access to support from youth workers and enabling them to engage in beneficial activities. Plans for the fund are subject to the 2021 Spending Review, following the DCMS review of its offer to young people.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she plans to take to protect jobs in the travel industry after the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has provided over £35 billion in support to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors over the course of the pandemic in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
For example, the Government cut VAT for tourism and hospitality activities to 5% last July, with this significantly reduced rate remaining until the end of this month. To help businesses manage the transition back to the standard rate, a 12.5% rate will then apply for a further six months.
We are committed to supporting tourism’s return to pre-pandemic levels ahead of independent forecasts, as set out in the Government's Tourism Recovery Plan published in June. The Government is regularly engaging with stakeholders, including via the Tourism Industry Council, to monitor the pandemic’s impact and to support the sector’s recovery.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support will be made available to the tourism industry after the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has provided over £35 billion in support to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors over the course of the pandemic in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
For example, the Government cut VAT for tourism and hospitality activities to 5% last July, with this significantly reduced rate remaining until the end of this month. To help businesses manage the transition back to the standard rate, a 12.5% rate will then apply for a further six months.
We are committed to supporting tourism’s return to pre-pandemic levels ahead of independent forecasts, as set out in the Government's Tourism Recovery Plan published in June. The Government is regularly engaging with stakeholders, including via the Tourism Industry Council, to monitor the pandemic’s impact and to support the sector’s recovery.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in the context of racist online abuse received by Sir Lewis Hamilton after winning the 2021 British Grand Prix, what steps he is taking with (a) social media companies and (b) sporting bodies and organisations to tackle racist online abuse of sportspeople.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The racist abuse targeted at Sir Lewis Hamilton and other sportspeople is unacceptable. Under the draft Online Safety Bill, services in scope will need to minimise and remove illegal content. Major platforms will also need to address legal but harmful content for adults. The Bill has been published in draft for pre-legislative scrutiny. The process to formally set up the Joint Committee that will scrutinise the draft Bill has begun.
The Government’s sport and physical activity strategy ‘Sporting Future’ sets out a clear ambition to increase diversity, and tackle racism and inequality in sport.
In addition, Sport England, UK Sport and the other home nations’ sports councils recently published the results of a detailed, independent review into tackling racism and racial inequality in sport. Each Council is now developing its own action plans to deliver on commitments relating to people; representation; investment; systems and insight.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to encourage growth in the creative industries.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The creative industries contributed approximately £116bn to the UK economy in 2019. The Government has recognised the sector as one of the key sectors to drive growth across the country in the Chancellor’s Plan for Growth.
We are actively supporting the creative industries through a range of initiatives such as:
£4m towards the Creative Scale-Up programme which seeks to help creative businesses expand their operations.
£39m towards the Creative Clusters programme through UKRI which connects businesses and academia to take advantage of the most recent research and innovations so they can grow.
£33m towards the Audience of the Future which encouraged creative businesses to use innovative new technologies to reach new audiences.
£20m towards the first round of the Cultural Development Fund to support business growth and productivity through investment in cultural and creative infrastructure via five projects in places like Wakefield and Worcester, in addition to a further £18.5m for a second round as part of the landmark Cultural Investment Fund, launched in May 2021.
HMG committed over £2m to the Creative Careers Programme which aims to address aspirational and informational barriers to entry amongst young people and their carers. To date over 115,000 young people have engaged with the programme at over 1500 schools in England and Wales.
Continuing to work with industry through the Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board to increase exports in the creative industries.
The Government supports trade promotion in the CIs through DIT’s export hubs, the Internationalisation Fund, the Export Academy. All this support will feature in the Creative Industries Export Campaign which will encourage both new exporters and companies wanting to look at new export markets to take advantage of the fantastic opportunities available to the UK as an independent trading nation.
The Government is also looking carefully at options for an Export Office.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government has commissioned Deloitte to produce guidance for the creative sector on visas and work permits for EU member states.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This government recognises the importance of the UK’s creative and cultural industries, not only to the economy and international reputation of the United Kingdom, but also to the wellbeing and enrichment of its people.
The British people voted to take back control of our borders and end free movement with the EU in the 2016 referendum. That was a key part of the manifesto on which the Government won the 2019 election and is reflected in the agreement. It was inevitable therefore that there would be changes in the arrangements under which creative workers work in the EU.
UK performers, artists, and musicians are of course still able to tour and perform in the EU, and vice versa. As the Secretary of State has said, we have moved at pace and with urgency and have provided much greater clarity about the current position. We are committed to supporting the sectors as they get to grips with the changes to systems and processes. This includes the development of sector specific ‘landing pages’ for GOV.UK, aimed at the creative sectors, which will allow cultural and creative professionals to easily locate and access guidance that is relevant to them. We are also engaging directly with Member States to ensure their guidance on their visa and work permit requirements is clear and accessible.
Separately, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy commissioned Deloitte to provide enhanced guidance on EU Member State immigration systems for GOV.UK to help businesses navigate the new business travel rules, following the end of the Transition Period. The guidance is deliberately sector-neutral, but it does capture any mention of sector-specific rules that feature on Member State websites. So far, 15 country guides have been published, representing more than three quarters of UK services exports to the EU, Norway and Switzerland by value. The remainder will follow in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government has commissioned Deloitte to produce guidance for the creative sector on visas and work permits for EU member states.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This government recognises the importance of the UK’s creative and cultural industries, not only to the economy and international reputation of the United Kingdom, but also to the wellbeing and enrichment of its people.
The British people voted to take back control of our borders and end free movement with the EU in the 2016 referendum. That was a key part of the manifesto on which the Government won the 2019 election and is reflected in the agreement. It was inevitable therefore that there would be changes in the arrangements under which creative workers work in the EU.
UK performers, artists, and musicians are of course still able to tour and perform in the EU, and vice versa. As the Secretary of State has said, we have moved at pace and with urgency and have provided much greater clarity about the current position. We are committed to supporting the sectors as they get to grips with the changes to systems and processes. This includes the development of sector specific ‘landing pages’ for GOV.UK, aimed at the creative sectors, which will allow cultural and creative professionals to easily locate and access guidance that is relevant to them. We are also engaging directly with Member States to ensure their guidance on their visa and work permit requirements is clear and accessible.
Separately, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy commissioned Deloitte to provide enhanced guidance on EU Member State immigration systems for GOV.UK to help businesses navigate the new business travel rules, following the end of the Transition Period. The guidance is deliberately sector-neutral, but it does capture any mention of sector-specific rules that feature on Member State websites. So far, 15 country guides have been published, representing more than three quarters of UK services exports to the EU, Norway and Switzerland by value. The remainder will follow in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department undertook an assessment of the public health benefits of non-professional singing prior to publishing the covid-19 guidance that allows six people to sing together indoors.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
I know that the restrictions on singing are frustrating to large numbers of amateur choirs and performance groups across the country and that many people have made sacrifices in order to drive down infections and protect the NHS over the last year. I am aware that singing can have great benefits for both physical and mental health. I can assure you that everyone across the government wants to ease these restrictions as soon as possible.
We will continue to keep guidance and restrictions under review, in line with the changing situation. Further detail on step 4 will be set out as soon as possible.