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Written Question
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Recruitment
Thursday 16th February 2023

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department publishes details of consultancy and professional services spending on an annual basis, in the Annual Report and Accounts. Due to the categorisation of spend within Department systems, it is not possible to extrapolate consultancy spend specifically in relation to recruitment activity. However, a total of £233,056.01 (excluding VAT) has been identified as spend on external recruitment consultants within the last three years, broken down as follows:

Financial Year

Spend (Ex VAT)

2020/2021

£116,358.67

2021/2022

£61,824.44

2022/2023 (to 31 January 2023)

£54,872.90

Total

£233,056.01

This spending relates to external consultancy support, engaged by the Department, for the recruitment of substantive Civil Servants at delegated grades, Senior Civil Servants and Board Members, and excludes the recruitment and delivery of Apprenticeship schemes, and contingent labour workers.


Written Question
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Redundancy Pay
Wednesday 16th November 2022

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the cost to the public purse has been of Ministerial severance pay in her Department in each year since 1 January 2016.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Under the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, eligible Ministers who leave office are entitled to a one off payment equivalent to one quarter of their annual salary at the point at which they leave the government.

This applies only where a Minister is under 65 and is not appointed to a ministerial office within three weeks of leaving government.

Individuals may waive the payment to which they are entitled. That is a matter for their personal discretion, but this approach has been taken in the past.

Details of such payments are published in departmental annual reports and accounts, and ministerial salaries are published on GOV.UK.


Written Question
Musicians: EU Countries
Friday 22nd October 2021

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had on progressing an EU wide visa waiver for touring musicians.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

This government has spoken to every EU Member State about the importance of touring. From these discussions, 20 out of 27 Member States have confirmed that UK musicians and performers do not need visas or work permits for some short-term tours.

We are now actively engaging with the remaining Member States that do not allow any visa or permit free touring, to encourage them to more closely align requirements with the UK’s generous rules, which allow creative professionals to tour easily here. Discussions are ongoing at ministerial and official level across these target countries, and we are working with the sector to amplify each other’s lobbying efforts.


Written Question
Tourism and Travel: Coronavirus
Thursday 23rd September 2021

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

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 provide (a) long-term financial support and (b) guidance to the travel and tourism sectors in (i) Edinburgh West and (ii) the UK to help those sectors recover from the covid-19 pandemic.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

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.

The government also cut the rate of VAT for certain UK-wide supplies in the tourism and hospitality sectors to 5% in July 2021, 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 until the end of March 2022.

VisitBritain, the national tourist board, worked in collaboration with the tourist boards of the devolved administrations to develop the UK-Wide ‘Good to Go’ COVID-19 Secure Industry Standard, currently in use by over 45,000 tourism businesses.

The Tourism Recovery Plan points to a number of UK-wide initiatives, like the £10 million National Lottery Days Out campaign due to launch in October. This will stimulate demand for more off-season day trips to tourist sites across the UK this autumn.

The plan also announced a new rail pass launching later this fiscal year to help make it easier and more sustainable for domestic tourists to get around. The pass is planned to be available in Scotland, England and Wales.

I will continue to work together with my devolved counterparts to assess how we can most effectively support the tourism sector’s recovery.


Written Question
Performing Arts: Finance
Tuesday 8th September 2020

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support Edinburgh Festival Fringe venue producers and production companies, who are unable to access support from either Scottish or English funding sources as they are registered in one nation of the UK but operate in another.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

We recognise that the Edinburgh Festivals, and all organisations and venues associated with it, play a central role in the cultural, social and economic lives of many in Scotland and across the UK.

Arts Council England guidance states that the lead organisation submitting an application to one of its funding sources must be based in England, and is focused on activity that benefits people in England. However, applicants who are based in England but primarily work internationally can also be considered eligible, if they can evidence cultural significance and benefit to England.

As culture policy is a devolved matter, we would also recommend that the issue is raised with Scottish Government Ministers and Creative Scotland.


Written Question
Arts: Coronavirus
Monday 7th September 2020

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the arts support package is fairly distributed to (a) smaller organisations, (b) arts practitioners and (c) art support workers, including the (i) smaller-scale theatre and live performance sector, (ii) smaller year-round independent venues, (iii) community-based organisations and (vi) freelancers.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

On 5 July, the Government announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. Guidance has been published by Arts Council England, the British Film Institute, Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund for applicants to the Culture Recovery Grants application rounds, and by Arts Council England for applicants to the Repayable Finance Scheme. Further details on eligibility and application processes are available in the published guidance.

This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of sectors, with one of our core objectives being to support the cultural organisations that are crucial to places across the whole country. We will ensure that funding is distributed fairly, and that smaller organisations and cultural venues that are at the centre of their communities are protected.

We also recognise the crucial role that individuals play in making our arts and creative industries world-leading. As a result of these grants and loans, organisations will be more able to resume cultural activity, albeit in a socially distanced way, which will increase employment opportunities for freelancers.


Written Question
Culture and Sports: Coronavirus
Thursday 4th June 2020

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

What steps the Government is taking to support (a) Edinburgh West constituency and (b) other communities whose economies are reliant on (i) cultural and (ii) sporting events during the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

The Government recognises the devastating impact of COVID-19 and that's why we’ve introduced the unprecedented package of support including the Job Retention Scheme, Self-Employed-Income-Support-Scheme, and loans tailored to the needs of businesses large and small.

Arts and Culture are devolved, but in England we are also working with cultural and sporting organisations to produce guidance to get these sectors up and running again as soon as safely possible.


Written Question
Leisure: Coronavirus
Monday 27th April 2020

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to mitigate the economic effect to (a) businesses and (b) the economy of the cancellation of major events such as the (i) the Edinburgh International Festival (ii) The Open Championship and (iii) The Championships, Wimbledon.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

We recognise the extreme disruption that the necessary actions we are taking to respond to the threat of Coronavirus, including prohibiting public gatherings and events and the fall in inbound tourism, are having on people’s lives, businesses and the nation’s economy.

That is why the Government has announced an unprecedented package of support to protect businesses across the UK, including the Job Retention Scheme (covering 80% of furloughed employees wages up to a cap of £2,500 per month), and Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (up to £2,500 per month in grants for eligible self-employed workers). These support measures are open to businesses across the UK and in every sector, including Culture, Creative Industries and Sport.

In addition, DCMS has worked with our arms-length bodies in England to establish tailored support for DCMS sectors, such as the £160m Arts Council England Emergency Fund and the £195m Sport England economic package. In the specific case of the Edinburgh International Festival, I recognise that it is a cultural asset to the whole of the United Kingdom. However, sports and the arts are devolved matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and similar schemes have been introduced by the Devolved Administrations, for example the £11m Creative Scotland fund.


Written Question
Arts: Coronavirus
Monday 27th April 2020

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support freelancers in the creative industry affected by the cancellation of events due to the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

The Chancellor has announced measures to protect the self-employed. So long as they fulfil the criteria for these measures, freelancers and the self employed in the music industry benefit from these measures.

The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19. The scheme will provide a grant to self-employed individuals or partnerships, worth 80% of their profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month.

HMRC will use the average profits from tax returns in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 to calculate the size of the grant.


Written Question
Gaming Machines
Tuesday 3rd July 2018

Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring tracked play on gambling machines to reduce the level of problem gambling.

Answered by Tracey Crouch

The Government published its response to the consultation on proposed changes to gaming machines and social responsibility measures on 17 May 2018. The response can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-proposals-for-changes-to-gaming-machines-and-social-responsibility-measures

As part of the consultation, the Government has assessed the findings referenced in the Gambling Commission’s response to the consultation (which can be viewed at the link above) for tracked play as a harm reduction tool, in conjunction with other options. The Government has asked the Gambling Commission to work with industry to improve player control measures, including exploring in more detail the costs and benefits of tracked play, not just on B2 gaming machines, but also on B1 and B3 machines in other premises.