Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Government's press release entitled PM launches Government’s first loneliness strategy, published on 15 October 2018, whether his Department has conducted a loneliness policy test on Budget 2018.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
There was no requirement on HM Treasury to consider loneliness in developing Budget 2018. The cross-government loneliness team will work with HM Treasury, as with other departments, to explore how social relationships can be considered across their policy-making in future, as recently set out in the first loneliness strategy for England, ‘A connected society’.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department takes to incorporate big society or civic society considerations into its policy formulation process.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
We published the Civil Society Strategy in August 2018. This sets out government's vision for how it will work with and for civil society to address social challenges and create a fairer society for all. In creating the Strategy we engaged widely with central government departments and it includes statements from ten government ministers.
At a departmental level my officials work closely with civil society stakeholders when developing policy, and will continue to work with them in delivering the strategy.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2018 to Question 180106, what the size is of the grant for each recipient named.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The National Lottery raises over £1.6 Billion a year for good cause projects across the UK. 40% of this funding is distributed for Big Lottery Fund.
The Big Lottery Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK. It funds both large and small charities across every community in the UK.Every year, around 90% of its awards to community projects are for £10,000 or less.
On the attached sheet are the top 30 recipients of the largest grants given by the Big Lottery Fund in each of the last 10 years, and the total size of the grant for each recipient.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the 100 wards in Wales were with the lowest proportion of people who had not accessed internet services within the last 6 months in each of the last 3 years.
Answered by Margot James
My department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, who were the top 30 recipients of the largest grants given by the Big Lottery Fund in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The National Lottery raises over £1.6 Billion a year for good cause projects across the UK. 40% of this funding is distributed for Big Lottery Fund.
The Big Lottery Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK. It funds both large and small charities across every community in the UK. Every year, around 90% of its awards to community projects are for £10,000 or less.
On the attached sheet are the top 30 recipients of the largest grants given by the Big Lottery Fund in each of the last 10 years.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department uses Office for National Statistics estimates of personal well-being when formulating policy; and what policies his Department has introduced to improve national well-being in the last 12 months.
Answered by Margot James
My Department works closely with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to develop policies that improve well-being.
The ONS wellbeing estimates are incorporated into the DCMS Taking Part Survey. This annual survey is commissioned to provide an evidence source on participation in culture and sport and collects data on well being. The survey is currently used to measure and inform departmental indicators, inform the formulation of DCMS policy, and to understand the drivers of participation in cultural and sporting activities.
Policy formulation also includes policy evaluation. ONS personal well-being data is used to evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of policy interventions. A recent example is the National Citizen Service. The reported personal well being of young people before and after their participation in the service has been evaluated. The results found statistically significant increases.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2018 to Question 149988, on theatre: young people, which the organisations have benefited from the funding outlined in the table in each of the last three years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The attached table outlines those organisations which have benefited from the funding detailed in the Department's answer of 13 June 2018 to Question 149988.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of his Department's spend on day-to-day goods has comprised fair trade products in each of the last eight years.
Answered by Margot James
The information requested is not held centrally and could ony be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what organisations his Department has outsourced functions to since 2011.
Answered by Margot James
DCMS has not outsourced functions since 2011.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what percentage of workers employed directly by his Department belonged to a trade union in each of the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Margot James
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has limited information, presented in the table below. However information is not held on those employees who chose to pay their trade union subscriptions themselves directly through direct debit to their trade union. Therefore an accurate overall percentage figure cannot be given, as it would not include these employees.
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
DCMS Staff | 400 | 394 | 475 | 527 | 656 |
Percentage belonging to a trade union | 29% | 37% | 28% | 20% | 13% |
This data is based on the position at 31st March in each of the years given and the number of staff who paid their trade union subscriptions through the payroll. This includes permanent staff, those on fixed-term contracts, those on paid loan/secondment in/out of DCMS and those on paid maternity leave.