Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will have discussions with the UK Year of Service on increasing work placement opportunities for young people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
DCMS is providing £750,000 of funding in 2024/25 to co-fund the next cohort of the UK Year of Service alongside the National Citizen Service Trust, providing work placements for at least 100 young people who are furthest from the labour market, giving them a chance to be set on a positive path towards long-term employment, education or training.
The Government recognises the importance of providing young people with supportive, meaningful employment. DCMS will assess the effectiveness of the UK Year of Service to ensure a focus on what works for young people. Any future spending is a decision for future spending reviews.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding her Department plans to allocate to the UK Year of Service programme for the next financial year.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
DCMS is providing £750,000 of funding in 2024/25 to co-fund the next cohort of the UK Year of Service alongside the National Citizen Service Trust, providing work placements for at least 100 young people who are furthest from the labour market, giving them a chance to be set on a positive path towards long-term employment, education or training.
The Government recognises the importance of providing young people with supportive, meaningful employment. DCMS will assess the effectiveness of the UK Year of Service to ensure a focus on what works for young people. Any future spending is a decision for future spending reviews.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to (a) support Girlguiding UK and (b) develop links overseas with similar ventures.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people. We have committed to a National Youth Guarantee: that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. This is supported by a three year investment of over £500 million in youth services, reflecting young people's priorities and addressing the inconsistencies in national youth spending, with a firm focus on levelling up.
As part of the National Youth Guarantee, we are investing over £16 million in Uniformed Youth Organisations, including Girlguiding, to ensure all young people have access to these groups by establishing new groups in areas without existing provision, and tackling waiting lists.
Additionally, this Government is committed to protecting the United Kingdom’s core national interests, ensuring the prosperity of the British people across the Overseas Territories. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, alongside colleagues in the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, is engaging in ongoing discussions with representatives of the British Overseas Territories and Girlguiding UK on options for the continuation of Girlguiding in the Territories.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the number of people seeking help for online gambling in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The department does not gather statistics on the number of people seeking help for gambling-related harms generally or online gambling in particular. However, the National Gambling Support Network (NGSN) provides support and treatment for the majority of people presenting for help for gambling-related harms, and their annual statistics (for 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23) can provide insight on those seeking help for online gambling in each of the last five years.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what conclusions her Department drew from the pilot survey for young people on cultural activities for children and young people with a disability carried out by her Department in 2023.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Data from a pilot survey of young people aged between 10 and 19 will be published later this year.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to respond to Question 4924 on Arts and Culture: Disability tabled by the hon. Member for East Londonderry on 1 December 2023.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
A response to UIN 4924 was submitted to parliament on 19 December 2023.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times she met with the Disability and Access Ambassador for Arts and Culture in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by John Whittingdale
David Stanley BEM was appointed as the Disability and Access Ambassador for Arts and Culture on 8 June 2021 for a term of three years. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) regularly engages with him on opportunities to support the Government’s work to widen access to culture for people with disabilities. This has included supporting Mr Stanley when he was appointed as one of the panel of experts who helped to devise the joint Department for Education and DCMS National Plan for Music Education.
On 8 February 2022, Mr Stanley met the then DCMS Ministerial Disability Champion, the Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society, as part of a meeting with the other DCMS Disability and Access Ambassadors.
On 17 October 2023, the current DCMS Ministerial Disability Champion, The Rt. Hon. Stuart Andrew MP, held a roundtable discussion with all the DCMS Ambassadors to discuss young disabled people’s access and participation in DCMS sectors. The Arts and Culture Ambassador was part of this discussion.
Mr Stanley also regularly engages with the Department for Work & Pensions to discuss his work in the arts and culture sectors. For example, on 16 May 2022, Mr Stanley met the then Minister for Disabled People to provide an update on his work as Disability and Access Ambassador and to discuss his wider work as CEO of The Music Man Project. In June 2022 a video of Mr Stanley and his work was included within a presentation from the Minister at the United Nations’ 15th Conference of states parties to the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (COSP15) in New York.
On 5 June 2023, Mr Stanley met the previous Minister for Disabled People, to provide an update on his work as Disability and Access Ambassador and discuss The Music Man Project. The Rt. Hon. Penny Mordaunt MP and Anna Firth MP were also in attendance at this meeting in their roles as patrons of The Music Man Project.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to support volunteering through the Big Help Out campaign.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Volunteering is vital for society and the Government recognises this. It benefits volunteers and the organisations involving them and has transformational impacts on beneficiaries and their communities.
My department is funding and supporting the launch of the 2024 Big Help Out, following the success of the inaugural day of community volunteering to mark the Coronation of His Majesty the King and Her Majesty The Queen, held on 8 May 2023. The Big Help Out aims to raise awareness of volunteering and to provide opportunities for people to support their communities.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on responding to the report entitled Raising the bar: reframing the opportunity in women's football, published on 13 July 2023.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Independent Review of Women’s Football, published earlier this year, made ten strategic recommendations which would lift minimum standards of women’s football, delivering bold and sustainable growth at elite and grassroots levels. The Government is due to publish its response to the Review before the end of the year.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 5 July 2023 to Question 191885 on Sportsgrounds: Rubber, whether her Department has made an assessment of a potential variation of approach in addressing safety concerns for 3G pitches with rubber crumb in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in line with European Committee for Standardisation recommendations.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The government takes seriously concerns regarding Artificial Grass Pitches (AGPs), specifically the presence of rubber infill. Following the UK’s exit from the EU, the regulatory framework for these matters now sits at a UK level (except for Northern Ireland, which will continue to follow EU REACH requirements).
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) commissioned an evidence project, under the UK REACH 2022/23 Work Programme, on intentionally added microplastics, including rubber infill. This will assess any risks they pose, and will inform any future regulatory actions in the UK.
The sports councils across the UK (Sport England, Sport Wales, sportscotland, Sport NI) are working together with leading sport bodies and respective governments to appropriately manage the transition away from rubber infill, and to identify suitable alternatives. The Group's latest statement on the issue can be viewed here.