Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what evidence informed the decision to close gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus. That’s why we made sure that people could exercise at least once a day even during the height of lockdown - and why we opened up grassroots sport and leisure facilities as soon as it was safe to do so.
Nobody wanted to be in the position of having to introduce further National Restrictions. However as the Prime Minister said, with the virus spreading faster than expected we cannot allow our health system to be overwhelmed. Therefore, from Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 2 December indoor and outdoor leisure will need to close. The National Restrictions are designed to get the R rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions.
In order for these measures to have the greatest impact, we will all need to sacrifice doing some things that we would otherwise like to do, for a short period of time. We have not introduced further exemptions because when you unpick at one activity the effectiveness of the whole package is compromised. As soon as we're in a position to start lifting restrictions, grassroots sports will be one of the first to return.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department will make available to freelance workers in the events industry to help retain those workers in that industry in anticipation of it reopening as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS recognises the crucial role that individuals play in the UK’s events industry, and that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to many individuals operating in this sector.
The Secretary of State announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of cultural and creative sectors. This support package will benefit freelancers by providing support to cultural venues and many other organisations in the Creative Industries that host live events, to stay open and continue operating.
To complement the funding for organisations made available by Government, Arts Council England (ACE) have announced £95m of additional support for individuals, including freelancers. This involves:
an additional £75m in project grants. These will be focused on applications that maximise employment opportunities and those from under-represented groups. Freelancers and National Portfolio Organisations are eligible to apply.
A further round of the ACE programme ‘Discover Your Creative Practice’ will open in the autumn. This will make approximately £18m available for individuals looking to develop new creative skills that will help them to further develop their career.
ACE will also be adding £2m into relevant benevolent funds to support those less well supported by the programmes outlined above, including stage managers and technicians.
Government has also provided additional support for freelancers by extending the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme.
We are committed to continuing to work with the events sector to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish a long-term strategy to support the re-opening of the live events sector as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS appreciates the important role that the events sector plays in the UK’s cultural economy, and that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to many businesses operating in these sectors.
The Secretary of State provided a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of cultural and creative sectors. This support package will benefit cultural sector services by providing support to cultural venues and many other Cultural organisations that host live events, to stay open and continue operating.
From 15th August, and as part of the Government’s 5 stage roadmap to get performing arts and live entertainment sectors back up and running as soon as possible, venues and organisations have been able to put on live indoor performances in front of a socially-distanced audience. This is in addition to the earlier announcement that from 11 July we can all enjoy performances outdoors with social distancing. This follows the government’s five-stage roadmap outlining how DCMS will get audiences back into performing arts venues. We are now at Stage Four of the roadmap.
We are committed to continuing to work with the live events sector to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he is taking steps to encourage local authorities to support and improve motorhome facilities in towns and rural areas to increase tourism and economic activity from that sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We are in regular contact with representatives of the motorhome and caravan park industry, such as the British Holiday & Home Parks Association (BH&HPA). We are listening closely to the sector’s views, and we understand the concerns of motorhome and caravan park businesses, motorhome owners and holidaymakers.
The government is encouraging local planning authorities to exercise their discretion in relation to planning conditions for motorhome, caravan, campsites and holiday parks, in order to help these businesses extend their open season. See the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS367, made on the 14th July by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
We will continue to engage with stakeholders, including local authorities to assess how we can most effectively support tourism’s recovery across the UK.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will extend the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage to include (a) rental companies and (b) the entire live events supply chain.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Applications for the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage are now closed. This funding will be used to support organisations across the heritage sector that have exhausted all other financing options and are now at risk of failure.
The package is intended to support the nation’s most important organisations. Funding will not be available for every organisation – applications were based on and scrutinised against rigorous criteria to prioritise support. Therefore, it is not possible to assist every type of organisation that makes up our broad and varied heritage sector. Applications were not accepted if they were from organisations that manage heritage that are not in England, organisations that were not operating sustainably before March 2020, organisations that need more than £3million to stabilise and organisations that manage or preserve natural habitats and species.
The core objective for this funding is to support the cultural organisations that are crucial to places across the whole country. Applicants would have needed to demonstrate they were viable and have a credible plan in place showing how government support would be used in the most cost effective way
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 plans to take to allow private swimming pools that are available for public hire to reopen safely as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions re eased.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. As announced on 9 July, from 11 July, outdoor swimming pools will be able to open and from 25 July indoor gyms, leisure centres (including sports halls) and swimming pools in England should be able to reopen. These facilities will be able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are COVID-secure and follow Government guidance.
The updated guidance can be found at the GOV.UK website and includes advice for providers of pool, gym and leisure facilities on cleaning, social distancing, and protection for staff to help venues get back up and running safely.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the viability of allowing outdoor (a) country festivals and (b) other outdoor events to re-open with covid-19 protection measures as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased; and what plans the Government has to provide long-term support to small businesses that organise those events.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS has worked closely with the Events Industry Forum, and other members of the Entertainment and Events Working Group (which supports and informs the Cultural Renewal Taskforce), on developing sector-led Covid-19 secure guidance for outdoor events. This guidance, once published, would enable organised outdoor events to operate safely with appropriate risk assessment, and in line with the latest government regulations and advice.
DCMS continues to engage with a range of departments to support the economic response to Covid-19, and to ensure that the needs of its sectors, and those who work in them, are fully understood.
The Government has put in place unprecedented support that small businesses can take advantage of including the Bounceback Loan Scheme, discretionary business grants administered by local authorities and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 viability of self-contained holiday rentals being treated in the same manner as second homes when lifting covid-19 restrictions as long as relevant public health guidance is followed.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We will look at opening forms of holiday accommodation in Step 3 of the government’s recovery strategy, currently planned for 4 July at the earliest. This will be subject to the further scientific advice and the latest risk assessment at the time.
My Department has launched the Cultural Renewal Taskforce to help our sectors’ businesses prepare to reopen when it is safe to do so. To inform this Taskforce, we have set up a Visitor Economy Working Group to specifically focus on the practicalities and guidelines for restarting tourism activity during the recovery period. We remain in regular contact with holiday rentals stakeholders as part of this Group.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to support holiday lettings businesses during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to helping all holiday accommodation businesses through this crisis. We will continue to engage with stakeholders to assess how we can most effectively support the tourism industry during the recovery period.
We have announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency. This includes a Bounce Back loan scheme to help small businesses access loans of up to £50,000, with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders.
To accommodate certain small businesses previously outside the scope of the business grant funds scheme, the Government has allocated additional funding to Local Authorities in England in the form of a discretionary grant fund of up to £617m.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 is taking to support British tourism during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to helping the British tourism industry through this crisis and beyond. We will continue to engage with stakeholders to assess how we can most effectively support the sector during the recovery period.
We have announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency. This includes employee support, business rates relief and grants for eligible hospitality and leisure businesses, plus £330bn worth of government backed and guaranteed loans. The Chancellor also introduced a Bounce Back loan scheme to help small businesses access loans of up to £50,000, with a 100% government-backed guarantee for lenders.
To accommodate certain small businesses previously outside the scope of the business grant funds scheme, the Government has allocated additional funding to Local Authorities in England in the form of a discretionary grant fund of up to £617m. Through VisitEngland, we announced a £1.3 million scheme to provide financial support to Destination Management Organisations at risk of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
We have recently set up the Visitor Economy Working Group which will specifically focus on the practicalities and guidelines for opening up the tourism sector and recovery.