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Written Question
National Citizen Service Trust
Wednesday 30th October 2019

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the validity of the decision by the National Citizen Service Trust to withdraw NCS contracts from The Challenge; and what steps her Department and the Cabinet Office plan to take to help (a) resolve those issues that The Challenge reportedly raised with her Department on the National Citizen Service Trust before the withdrawal of its contracts and (b) maintain NCS (i) jobs and (ii) places.

Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes

The NCS Trust are the contracting authority for the NCS programme and have operational accountability for the NCS delivery chain. As such, procurement issues are a contractual matter between the NCS Trust and The Challenge, with DCMS being regularly informed. The procurement process for the re-commissioning of NCS contracts, carried out by the NCS Trust in 2019, was approved by both DCMS and HMT.

In regards to the issues raised by The Challenge, NCS Trust is an arms-length body of DCMS and, in line with standard complaint procedures, DCMS is investigating the matters raised and will address any findings as appropriate.

All NCS delivery regions have been successfully contracted for, to make sure there is minimal loss in NCS participation levels from 2020 onwards.

Written Question
National Citizen Service Trust
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she or her Department was made aware of the contractual dispute between NCS Trust and the largest provider of National Citizen Service, The Challenge.

Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport were formally made aware of the contractual dispute between NCS and The Challenge on 15th July when a letter of complaint was sent from Bill Ronald (CEO of The Challenge) to the DCMS Secretary of State.

Written Question
National Citizen Service Trust
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the internal investigation into complaints regarding NCS Trust will be concluded; and if she will publish the findings of that investigation.

Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes

In line with standard complaint procedures, we are investigating the complaints raised by The Challenge against the NCS Trust and will address any findings as appropriate. The investigation is ongoing.

DCMS will let both parties know the result of the investigation when it has concluded.

Written Question
National Citizen Service Trust: Complaints
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many formal complaints have been made to her Department on the NCS Trust in the last 12 months.

Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes

In the last twelve months DCMS has received one formal complaint against the NCS Trust and one formal complaint regarding the terms of the new contracts issued by the NCS Trust.

Written Question
Voluntary Work: Young People
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the NCS Trust’s effectiveness in (a) delivering and (b) meeting the targets set for the National Citizen Service.

Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes

DCMS assesses the NCS Trust’s effectiveness in delivering the NCS programme against the three core objectives of: social cohesion, social mobility and social engagement - through consecutive, independent evaluations. Since 2013, these have demonstrated the positive impacts that National Citizen Service delivers to both its participants and their communities.

DCMS assesses the NCS Trust’s effectiveness in meeting its Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets on an ongoing basis and reviews these formally at the bi-annual Sponsor meetings between the DCMS Permanent Secretary and NCS Trust CEO and Board Chair. Performance against KPIs is published in the NCS Trust’s Annual Report, which is laid before Parliament.

Written Question
National Citizen Service Trust
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress NCS Trust has made on addressing the governance issues raised in reports by the Public Accounts Committtee and National Audit Office.

Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes

In response to the governance issues raised in reports by the Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office, DCMS, together with the NCS Trust, have made the following progress:

  • The NCS Trust transitioned from a Community Interest Company to a Royal Charter body (RCB), in accordance with the NCS Act, on 01 December 2018. This made the NCS Trust an Arm’s Length Body (ALB) of DCMS. The ALB relationship means that the NCS Trust have a higher level of accountability to Parliament and the taxpayer, and ensures that Government have the power to appropriately scrutinise the NCS Trust as they see fit.

  • As a Government ALB, the NCS Trust is now subject to the following Government scrutiny: the National Audit Office (NAO) audits the NCS annual report and accounts; NAO submit all accounts to the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC); The NCS Act requires the NCS Trust to lay Ministerially-approved annual business plans, annual reports and accounts in Parliament; The NCS Royal Charter states that a representative of the Government must sit on the NCS Trust’s Remuneration and Audit and Risk committees; The NCS Trust is subject to all Cabinet Office Spend Controls

  • As a Government ALB, the NCS Trust must abide by all principles laid out in HMT’s Managing Public Money document.

  • As the Sponsor Department, DCMS exercises its governance scrutiny over the NCS Trust through: bi-annual Sponsor meetings between the DCMS Permanent Secretary, as Principal Accounting Officer, and the NCS Trust CEO and Board Chair; a high level of Senior Civil Servant involvement in the NCS Trust’s activities, including regular meetings between NCS Trust and DCMS Senior Sponsor and Sponsor Director; and through specialist-level meetings with officials from across DCMS.
Written Question
Cultural Heritage: Exports
Tuesday 3rd September 2019

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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 Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by the Department for Exiting the European Union, what parts of the plan for for exporting objects of cultural interest in the event of a no deal Brexit have been implemented.

Answered by Rebecca Pow

All parts of the plan for exporting objects of cultural interest in the event of a no deal Brexit are in place:

  • A statutory instrument (SI 2018 no. 1186) will revoke the relevant EU regulations in relation to the export of cultural objects on exit day, if there’s no deal. Only export licences under UK legislation will be needed.

  • The existing statutory guidance will be amended. A draft amended version is available now on the Arts Council website for information.

  • The Export Licensing Unit at the Arts Council will announce a date after which they cannot guarantee to process and issue EU export licences before exit day.
Written Question
Telecommunications
Monday 2nd September 2019

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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 Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by the Department for Exiting the European Union, what parts of the plan for telecoms business in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.

Answered by Nigel Adams

As set out in published no-deal guidance, the Government has now made laws to ensure that the legal frameworks for telecoms regulation, radio spectrum management and mobile roaming in the EU continue to operate if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. These instruments provide certainty and continuity for telecoms businesses and consumers.

Written Question
Broadcasting
Monday 2nd September 2019

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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 Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by the Department for Exiting the European Union, what parts of the plan for broadcasting and video on demand in the event of a no deal Brexit have been implemented.

Answered by Nigel Adams

Within the technical notice, published on 13 September 2018 and referred to in the question, the Government committed to making provisions in domestic legislation for the continuation of Ofcom licences, so that broadcasters can continue to broadcast in the UK without having to reapply for their licence under any new framework following EU Exit. The notice also stated that Government would ensure that existing domestic legislation relating to audiovisual media services would continue to be operable.

The Broadcasting (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, passed on 12 February, enacted the relevant legislative changes.

In addition to this, the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport continues to work closely with broadcasters and Ofcom to understand the impact of a ‘no deal’ scenario on the sector and ensure a smooth and orderly exit.

Written Question
Youth Services: Lambeth
Monday 17th December 2018

Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many youth service centres have closed down in Lambeth in each month since 2010.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)

The data concerning the number of youth service centres that have closed down in Lambeth in each month since 2010 is not held by my department.