Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a regulator levy to fund compensation for people who lost money through the collapse of Football Index and BetIndex.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I refer my Honourable Friend to the answer I gave on 8 January 2025 to Question UIN 21381.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
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 help ensure that people affected by press wrongdoing have access to redress.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government does not intervene in or oversee the work of the UK’s independent press regulators. We are clear, however, that with this independence comes responsibility, and newspapers and regulators have a responsibility to ensure access to clear, timely and effective routes to redress.
If a member of the public objects to practices of the press they can complain directly to the publication, or the relevant independent regulator, including Impress or the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). These regulators enforce codes of conduct which provide guidelines on a range of areas, including discrimination, accuracy, privacy, and harassment. If they find that a newspaper has broken the code of conduct, they can order corrections. Both regulators also offer arbitration schemes for legal claims relating to defamation, privacy and harassment.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to consult on reforms to press regulation.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government currently has no plans to consult on reforms to press regulation.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the UK Live Comedy Sector Survey Report 2024, published on 6 February 2025, if her Department will take steps to recognise live comedy as an art form, in the context of eligibility for funding from (a) Arts Council England, (b) the National Lottery and (c) other organisations.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Comedy is a vital performing art and contributes to the mental health and wellbeing of people, not just in the UK, but around the world. It forms part of our cultural landscape, enriching lives, shaping our collective identity.
Arts Council England funds numerous organisations and venues that support comedy. For the purposes of ACE funding, comedy is considered under the broad term of ‘theatre.’ This means that as long as a performer, club or promoter meets the eligibility criteria for specific programmes, then ACE welcomes funding applications. Between the financial years covering 2010/11 to 2024/25 ACE has awarded £12,296,254 in funding where an applicant name, project title or subclassifier contains the word “comedy”.
Venues such as theatres also benefit from tax relief. The government believes tax relief is essential to help incentivise investment in productions, and to contribute to innovation and economic growth, enabling arts organisations to continue to produce new content which is vital in keeping them competitive on an international stage.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to provide support to the Live Comedy Association's initiative to consult with the sector on (a) introducing a code of conduct and (b) improving working conditions.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Comedy is a vital performing art and part of our cultural landscape. It enriches lives. It shapes our collective identity. And it provides a much-needed corrective to pervasive political pomposity and prolixity, especially from ministers.
The government welcomes constructive action on improving working conditions across the creative industries. We know that poor working practices represent a threat to growth and disproportionately affect people who are under-represented. We welcome further details on the Live Comedy Association initiative to consider how we can provide support.
More widely, the Good Work Review, published in February 2023, by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, was the first sectoral deep dive of its kind into job quality and working practice in the creative industries. We are working closely with the sector as it responds to the recommendations of the review, which set out a number of priorities, including developing dedicated support and guidance for self-employed and freelance creators, building awareness of employment rights and responsibilities for creative workers and businesses, and encouraging the establishment of good work standards that reflect the distinct job quality issues in creative sub-sectors.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-establishing the Cultural Renewal taskforce.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Cultural Renewal Taskforce was set up to develop guidance for the safe reopening of DCMS sectors following the coronavirus pandemic. There are no plans at present to re-establish the Taskforce.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on supporting non-UK (a) artists, (b) sponsors and (c) creative workers to work in the UK.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We have had no such recent meetings, but there are already several routes that provide opportunities for artists and creatives to come to the UK. The UK’s domestic rules allow musicians, entertainers, artists, and their technical staff, from non-visa national countries (such as EU/EEA nationals) to perform in the UK for up to 6 months without requiring a visa, as long as they are not receiving payment from a UK source other than prize money or expenses. Musicians, entertainers and artists from visa-national countries are likewise able to perform in the UK via the Standard Visitor route, and/or if performing at a festival detailed on the Permit Free Festivals list.
Additionally, the Creative Worker visa allows a professional artist, model, entertainer or musician (applicable to all nationalities) to carry out activity directly relating to their profession, if they have a Sponsor who is licensed by the Home Office and has assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship to the
individual.
We are committed to continuing to work closely with stakeholders to better understand their needs and challenges within the immigration system. This includes exploring ways to better streamline the processes within existing frameworks, to ensure the UK remains an attractive destination for global creative talent.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to re-introduce the Young Audience Content Fund.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has no plans to re-introduce the Young Audiences Content Fund which concluded on 31 March 2022. However, the Government is committed to the success of our world-leading TV production sector. UK-wide television and film tax reliefs, including for children’s television programming, continue to play a vital role in driving production, with more than £4 billion of expenditure supported in 2023.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ensure that (a) the Independent Football Regulator plays an integral role in the process to settle the distribution deal and (b) the distribution deal must pass parameters set by the regulator.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Independent Football Regulator will only have the power to intervene on distributions as a last resort. The backstop mechanism has been designed to give the industry the opportunity and incentives to reach a timely, industry-led solution to distributions and it is right that the Regulator only steps in as a last resort.
If the relevant leagues cannot reach an agreement independently, they can apply to trigger the backstop. Then, if certain thresholds are met, the backstop can be triggered.
First, the relevant leagues will enter into a period of mediation and, if there is still no agreement, they will move to a final proposal stage.
At this point, the Regulator would convene an independent expert panel that will set out the relevant questions that need to be addressed through the arbitration and invite final proposals from both relevant leagues with accompanying analysis. The independent expert panel will then choose the proposal most consistent with the regulator’s objectives with consideration to potential burden on the commercial interests of the leagues. If neither proposal is consistent, the regulator will terminate the process without making a distribution order.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken to ensure that British musicians will be able to apply for work permits that will be valid from 1 November 2019 in the event that an agreement is not reached before the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Nigel Adams
When the UK leaves the EU on 31 October 2019, free movement as it currently stands will end. Musicians will need to check if they need a visa or work permit and meet any requirements for their profession to work in the EU country they’re visiting.
Officials are meeting with the music industry to ensure that professionals in the sector are aware of Government guidance on EU Exit, and have time to prepare for changes at the border in the event the UK leaves without a Deal.