Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the number of public telephone boxes in each parliamentary constituency in the UK.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not hold information on the number of public telephone boxes in individual constituencies.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff appointed after 24 June 2016 in her Department hold a post that includes work on the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Exit is an all-of-government operation. The Department for Exiting the European Union is doing detailed work with departments to prepared for the upcoming negotiations by understanding the risks and opportunities of leaving the EU and coordinating planning. Staff within the DCMS EU Team lead on providing advice to Ministers on EU Exit and exit-related issues. Members of staff across the Department also provide advice and analyses on EU Exit issues as required. Given the interactions between EU exit work and the Department's other priorities, it would not be possible to give an accurate figure.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the equity of regional and national trends in the award of National Lottery grants over the last three years.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
National Lottery good cause money is allocated by expert bodies at arm's length from Government, taking account of their own priorities and the need for equitable distribution.
Policy directions are set by DCMS or the devolved administrations as relevant. The Big Lottery Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England, Sport England and British Film Institute are all required to take equality of access into account in developing programmes and considering grant allocations. This requirement does not apply to UK Sport's as their funding targets elite athletes.
Each distributor takes account of a variety of considerations including geographical spread of funding, deprivation data and participation rates when determining priorities and allocating budget. Distributors run specific programmes designed to encourage applications from less well-represented areas.
Information on projects in receipt of a Lottery award can be found on the National Lottery Grants Database at the following link: http://www.lottery.culture.gov.uk and from Lottery Distributors' own websites. The grants database can be sorted on a national, regional, local authority and constituency level.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish the recommendations on fixed-odds betting terminals of the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board and the Gambling Commission.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
We hope to make an announcement on the Government’s Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures shortly.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications for National Lottery funding have been made by parliamentary constituency in each of the last three years.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The department does not hold information on applications for funding from National Lottery distributing bodies. The department does maintain a database for all grants that have been awarded, which can be searched by constituency level. This database can be found at: www.lottery.culture.gov.uk.
Asked by: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)
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 compliance by Premier League football clubs with regulations to facilitate access to their grounds for disabled people.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I expect all sports and all clubs to take the necessary action to fulfil their legal obligations under the Equality Act of 2010 so that disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage when accessing sports venues. We are expecting a final report from the Premier League this autumn on whether clubs have met their pledge to meet a number of agreed measures to improve accessibility for disabled spectators. The measures include all clubs to achieve compliance with the Accessible Stadia guide by August 2017, and for all clubs to ensure the appropriate number of wheelchair bays are located in their away sections (10% of their home provision).
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the body responsible for enforcing the Equality Act 2010. Following the EHRC's call for evidence from Premier League clubs to assess their adherence to the terms of the Equality Act, if the EHRC suspect or believe that individual clubs are in breach of the 2010 Act, they will consider the use of their statutory powers in order to achieve compliance. All clubs failing to meet the minimum requirements were given a deadline of September to publish their plan of action and timetable for improvement or face an investigation. I support the EHRC's work to enforce the legislation and improve access for disabled people to sports grounds.