Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what funding his Department has allocated to arts and culture projects in St Helens Council in each of the last five years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
As outlined in the table, since April 2013, Arts Council England has invested over £1 million in arts and culture projects in St Helens North including, National Lottery Grants for the Arts, Project Grants and through Music Education Hubs.
| 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 to date |
National Portfolio Organisations | £ - | £ - | £ - | £ - | £ - | £ 460,000 |
Music Education Hubs | £ 196,771 | £ 198,850 | £ 258,548 | £ 255,889 | £ 252,312 | £ 252,419 |
GFTA/PG | £ 177,138 | £ 185,254 | £ 75,580 | £ 87,526 | £ 44,800 | £ 14,961 |
Strategic Funding/Other | £ 628,296 | £ - | £ 871,704 | £ 1,651,550 | £ - | £ - |
Total | £ 1,002,205 | £ 384,104 | £ 1,205,832 | £ 1,994,965 | £ 297,112 | £ 727,380 |
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department’s policy is on horserace betting levy reform; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In April 2017, we made significant reforms to the Horserace Betting Levy by fixing the Levy rate at 10% and extending the scope of the Levy to include offshore online bookmakers for the first time. These reforms resulted in an extra £45m in statutory Levy income for 2017/18 to support the racing industry and we expect a similar uplift for 2018/19.
The uplift in income from the reformed Levy has contributed to record prize money of £142.5m in 2017/18 and has also provided increased funding for equine welfare, industry recruitment and training, and measures related to veterinary science and education.
We note the Parliamentary Scrutiny committees’ reports regarding proposed changes to the administration of the reformed Levy and will consider them carefully.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many brass bands in each English region received funding from Arts Council England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Michael Ellis
A list of the eligible applications to the Arts Council in each year since 2010 in the sub-art form “Brass and Silver bands” by region, are outlined in the attached tables. Some activity, for which brass bands play a constituent part, may not be included as the wider activity has not been classified specifically as such. Ineligible applications are not recorded by sub-art form.
Since April 2016, Brass bands have also benefited from the Orchestra tax relief.