Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many museums have closed since 7 May 2015.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Neither DCMS nor Arts Council England holds information on museums closures. However, there are just under 1800 accredited museums.
Thanks to an excellent Spending Review settlement in November 2015, the Government is honouring its manifesto commitment to keep entry to the permanent collections of our national museums free.
Through the Arts Council England, DCMS is increasing funding for 21 Major Partner Museums from £20.3m to £22.6 million. In addition to this, regional museums can bid for funds from ACE's £10 million per year Resilience Fund. They can also bid for lottery funding from the HLF. We are also investing millions of pounds to boost local and regional museums, for example, £5 million towards a new South Asia Gallery at Manchester Museum and £2.5 million to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his Department is providing to museums in each region and nation of the UK.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Department does not hold information on museums spending broken down by region or nation. Museums funding is devolved to the respective administrations. The total spend on DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries (including the British Library) was £389.7m in 2014-15. The 2015 Spending Review announced DCMS spend on museums and galleries will be maintained in cash terms.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate of spending per capita in each region Arts Council England has made for each year until 2020.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
No such estimate can be made as it would require data that is indeterminable.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding streams his Department has for the promotion of tourism to UK regions; and what proportion of those funds was spent on each region in each of the last three years.
Answered by David Evennett
DCMS funds the promotion of tourism to regions of the UK through the activities of its Arms Length Body, the British Tourist Authority, which trades as both VisitEngland and VisitBritain. In the recent Spending Review, it was announced that grant-in-aid to both VisitEngland and VisitBritain would remain stable to 2020. The Chancellor also announced a new £40m Discover England fund, which will be open to all regions of England. In addition, the GREAT campaign funds the promotion of Britain: its nations and regions, in overseas markets.
Over the past three years, there have been a number of funding streams for specific regions, including the Northern and South West Tourism Growth Funds in 2015/16 and the Regional Growth Fund 'Growing Tourism Locally' programme, which ran for three years from 2012-15. As many projects and campaigns span the whole of England or the UK, investment figures cannot be divided by region.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 21036, what funding was allocated by Sport England in each parliamentary constituency in each year since 2010.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Sport England National Lottery grant investment, broken down by constituency, is publicly available on Sport England’s website and can be found here: www.sportengland.org/funding/investments-weve-made.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding streams are available from government bodies to support the upkeep of grassroots sports facilities; and what proportion of such funding was allocated to each region in each of the last three years.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
It is the duty of sports clubs to maintain, budget for and carry out maintenance on their facilities. However, Government recognises that renovated spaces in which to play sport can make a significant difference, and increase participation. Through Sport England's Inspired Facilities fund, Government has invested over £110 million of National Lottery funding to renovate and modernise over 2000 sport clubs. In addition, £21 million of National Lottery has been used to protect and improve more than 1,100 pitches. Since 2010, Sport England has invested £129,977 in 13 grassroots sports projects in Leeds North West. This includes an Inspired Facilities investment of £37,833 in Otley Sailing Club to improve both the clubhouse facilities and access to the jetty for disabled sailors.Table 1: Regional breakdown of Sport England investment through Protecting Playing Fields and Inspired Facilities, 2012- present day
Protecting Playing Fields (Rounds 1-7, 2012 – present) | Inspired Facilities (Rounds 1–8, 2012 – present) | |||
Regions | No of Awards | Total Investment | No of Awards | Total Investment |
North East | 63 | £ 3,165,009 | 177 | £ 10,086,815 |
North West | 77 | £ 4,223,977 | 247 | £ 13,637,131 |
Yorkshire | 60 | £ 3,188,099 | 199 | £ 10,631,886 |
West Midlands | 50 | £ 2,405,864 | 221 | £ 12,183,197 |
East Midlands | 40 | £ 2,124,497 | 208 | £ 11,397,255 |
East | 25 | £ 1,376,112 | 224 | £ 11,698,887 |
South East | 43 | £ 2,118,338 | 391 | £ 20,737,195 |
London | 22 | £ 1,032,527 | 118 | £ 6,985,902 |
South West | 35 | £ 1,789,543 | 260 | £ 13,390,014 |
TOTAL | 415 | £ 21,423,966 | 2045 | £ 110,748,282 |
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to tourism of using daylight saving time all year.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Government has not made any recent assessments of the potential benefits of using daylight saving time all year. The Government has no plans to consider any changes in this area in the absence of consensus across the UK.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of households in each region of the UK have access to superfast broadband.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
According to the Ofcom Communications Market Report, published in August 2015, superfast broadband is available to 83 per cent of UK premises. Regionally, it is available to 84 per cent of the premises in England, 79 per cent in Wales, 77 per cent in Northern Ireland, and 73 per cent in Scotland. We aim to reach 95 per cent coverage by 2017.In addition we are supporting seven pilot projects to explore ways to extend superfast broadband beyond 95 per cent of UK home and businesses.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support legacy initiatives from the 2014 Tour de France.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Government, Sport England, local authorities and British Cycling have invested over £5.6 million to get more people cycling in Yorkshire as part of the 2014 Tour de France legacy. Welcome to Yorkshire and British Cycling are delivering legacy activity in the region through their Cycle Yorkshire strategy, which has been developed with support from Sport England.
In February 2015, the Government committed £500,000 of funding to British Cycling to improve facilities in Yorkshire.
A report published in December 2014 examined the economic and social impact of hosting the opening two stages of the Tour in Yorkshire and stage 3 between Cambridge and London. The 'Three Inspirational Days' report found that 4.8 million people watched the race and that the Grand Depart generated over £128m in economic benefit.
Asked by: Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support tourism to market towns.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Government bodies VisitBritain and VisitEngland promote British holidays to overseas and domestic tourists, notably through the GREAT campaign
We also support the development of market towns for tourists and locals alike with specific funds. Under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Rural Development Programme, approved LEADER Local Action Groups may fund tourism activity in towns with a population less than 10,000 (which are classified as rural) or within designated “hub towns” that are designated as a local priority for funding.
There is also the Department for Communities and Local Government's funded Town Teams programme. This was set up to help the country’s high streets and town centres adapt to changing trends and consumer behaviour, and can be used to promote tourism where market towns decide that is right for them.