Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding is available to support the refurbishment of (a) the Swing Bridge in Newcastle and (b) other British industrial heritage.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Newcastle’s Swing Bridge is a Scheduled Monument and Grade II* listed structure. Support for the refurbishment of the bridge and other industrial heritage may be available through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Arms-Length Bodies.
Historic England, DCMS Arms-Length Body and government’s statutory adviser on the historic environment, also offers grants for the repair and conservation of historic buildings, monuments, and landscapes that are of national importance. Historic England is currently involved in ongoing discussions on restoring movement to the bridge and is supporting relevant stakeholders in its repair.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund awards grants ranging from £10,000 up to £10 million for projects that conserve and enhance heritage, making it accessible to everyone. Last year it invested £330 million in the nation's heritage.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 34259 on Cathedrals: Conservation, whether her Department recognises cathedrals as heritage assets.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Cathedrals are amongst some of the country’s finest heritage, with the great majority of them on the National Heritage List. There is no set definition of what constitutes a 'heritage asset'. This country has many significant heritage sites and government cannot afford to maintain them all alone.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 growth in the video game industry.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government recently announced £5.5 million funding for the UK Games Fund (UKGF) for 2025/26, which will provide grants to early-stage studios to develop new intellectual property and deliver the graduate talent development programmes Tranzfuser and Dundee Development (DunDev).
Video games companies can also benefit from the Video Games Expenditure Credit, and access support from the Create Growth Programme and the UK Global Screen Fund.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Church of England on the protection of Cathedral buildings as heritage assets.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
None.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure (a) the preservation and (b) contribute to celebrations of the Newcastle Swing Bridge as an industrial heritage asset.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The importance of Newcastle Swing Bridge, spanning the River Tyne, is recognised through its designation as a Scheduled Monument and as a Grade II* listed structure. Historic England, DCMS Arms-Length Body and government’s statutory adviser on the historic environment, is involved in ongoing discussions on restoring movement to the bridge and is supporting relevant stakeholders in its repair.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme on religious minority groups in the North East.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department monitors the implementation and impact of the grant scheme through the regular reporting of the grant administrator. Since 2010, the grant scheme has returned over £350 million to listed places of worship across the UK. The scheme has supported both rural and city based places of worship, and places of worship of a range of denominations. As well as making awards to Christian places of worship, since August 2022, the Listed Places of Grant Scheme has awarded more than £3 million to 416 Non-Christian listed places of worship. This includes Buddhist, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and other denominations.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of building repair costs on inner-city congregations of listed places of worship.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department monitors the implementation and impact of the grant scheme through the regular reporting of the grant administrator. Since 2010, the grant scheme has returned over £350 million to listed places of worship across the UK. The scheme has supported both rural and city based places of worship, and places of worship of a range of denominations. As well as making awards to Christian places of worship, since August 2022, the Listed Places of Grant Scheme has awarded more than £3 million to 416 Non-Christian listed places of worship. This includes Buddhist, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and other denominations.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme on religious minority groups.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department monitors the implementation and impact of the grant scheme through the regular reporting of the grant administrator. Since 2010, the grant scheme has returned over £350 million to listed places of worship across the UK. The scheme has supported both rural and city based places of worship, and places of worship of a range of denominations. As well as making awards to Christian places of worship, since August 2022, the Listed Places of Grant Scheme has awarded more than £3 million to 416 Non-Christian listed places of worship. This includes Buddhist, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and other denominations.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the impact of the rule that prohibits UK television broadcasters from showing live Premier League matches on Saturdays between 2:45pm and 5:15pm on (a) attendance of non premier league football games, (b) pirating of Premier League matches and (c) the range of football matches broadcast.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government does not have a role in the application of the broadcast blackout for football matches played at 3pm in England. This rule arises from Article 48 of the Union of European Football Associations’ (UEFA) statutes.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to encourage (a) the Football Association and (b) other English national sport associations to organise games outside of London.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Decisions relating to the staging of fixtures are a matter for national governing bodies of sports. However, we welcome the success that the FA, the ECB, the RFU, England Netball and other national governing bodies have enjoyed in hosting representative fixtures across the country.
The government continues to work with UK Sport and prospective event partners on the bidding, planning and delivery of major sporting events. As outlined in the DCMS and UK Sport guidance, the ‘Gold Framework’, revised in 2023, this includes ensuring that hosting and therefore the benefits felt by communities are spread across the country. We have demonstrated this in recent events, such as the UEFA Women’s European Championships 2022, spread across 10 cities, and the Rugby League World Cup matches in the same year across 18 towns and cities, including Newcastle, and mainly hosted in the north of the country. In our pipeline of events, the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup covers England, with the opening match in Sunderland. Our successful bid for the UEFA Men’s European Championships 2028 means that matches are set to take place across the UK and Ireland.