Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has taken recent steps to determine the prevalence of reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC) in leisure centres.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out.
Government published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September and committed to providing further updates.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 increase funding for (a) community groups and (b) sports clubs.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Community groups and grassroots sport play an important role in local areas, and supporting them is a priority for the Government.
Last year, Sport England received almost £350 million from the Government and National Lottery to fund grassroots sports projects so that everyone is able to access quality sport and physical activity opportunities, and enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that exercise provides.
We are investing £300 million to develop thousands of state-of-the-art multi-use sports facilities across the UK. The Government has also committed £30 million a year for three years to school sport facilities in England, and over £20 million with the Lawn Tennis Association to renovate park tennis courts across England, Scotland and Wales.
At the Spring Budget, we also announced a £63 million package to address the cost pressures facing some public swimming pool providers, and provide investment in energy efficiency measures to make facilities sustainable in the long-term. These interventions will help ensure that people across the UK are able to get active.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is taking a number of steps to support community groups. This includes support from the National Lottery Community Fund for a range of community projects, including £615m awarded in the last financial year. In addition, and among other measures, the Government announced a package of over £100m at the Spring Budget to support charities and community organisations in England with cost of living pressures.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will conduct an impact assessment into the effect of the proposed changes to Ofcom’s rules governing the quantity and scheduling of television advertising on public service channels.
Answered by John Whittingdale
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 13 June 2023 to Questions 188295, 188296 and 188297.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 the effectiveness of smaller TV channels in catering to (a) faith groups, (b) specific ethnic groups, (c) minority groups and (d) local audiences.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government recognises the importance of a diverse broadcasting landscape for communities around the country, with hundreds of channels, large and small, catering to a wide range of audiences.
The Government is committed to supporting a broadcasting sector that delivers for all audiences. On a local level, the BBC, local TV providers and commercial and community radio stations all play a crucial role in disseminating accurate news and local information, strengthening pride of place, reflecting the unique interests of the audiences that they serve, connecting communities, and helping to address social issues like loneliness and mental health.
The Government also believes that it is important that the broadcasting industry – both on- and off-screen – is representative of the country in which we live. In this context, the Government recognises the editorial and operational independence of the broadcasting sector and understands the value of smaller channels and content that caters to specific audiences.
The BBC also plays an important role in delivering this, and in the UK’s wider public service broadcasting ecosystem, with a mission to serve all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has asked Ofcom to have regard to its statutory duty to maintain a plurality of television channels as part of its proposed revisions to the rules governing the quantity and scheduling of television advertising on public service channels.
Answered by John Whittingdale
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 13 June 2023 to Questions 188295, 188296 and 188297.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 impact of theatre touring on the Government's levelling up agenda.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Touring plays an important role in sharing diverse and high-quality productions with audiences across the UK, and the Government has invested in theatres across the country to enrich our cultural offering.
As announced at the most recent Budget, theatres will be able to benefit from the Government's extension of the higher rates of theatre and orchestra tax relief for a further two years. The rate of higher relief will be 45% for non-touring productions and 50% for touring productions until 31 March 2025. This extension will boost investment in our cultural sectors, as well as supporting many productions to tour.
Our arm’s-length body, Arts Council England, supports touring and encourages National Portfolio Organisations it funds to tour productions across the country. For 2023/24 the Arts Council has recently confirmed a flexible allocation of £12 million for touring within its overall National Lottery Project Grants programme. As an example of previous support, the National Theatre’s Theatre Nation Partnerships received a £1.2 million grant to support touring in a number of areas with low levels of cultural engagement, including Levelling Up for Culture Places. Between November 2021 and February 2023, there were 75 awards from this budget totalling over £8.5 million to support touring across the country.
Arts Council England works with organisations on plans for touring, and is due to launch refreshed guidance in October 2023 which will outline how it has improved its Touring Fund to support relevant organisations.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 touring theatre (a) companies and (b) productions.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Touring plays an important role in sharing diverse and high-quality productions with audiences across the UK, and the Government has invested in theatres across the country to enrich our cultural offering.
As announced at the most recent Budget, theatres will be able to benefit from the Government's extension of the higher rates of theatre and orchestra tax relief for a further two years. The rate of higher relief will be 45% for non-touring productions and 50% for touring productions until 31 March 2025. This extension will boost investment in our cultural sectors, as well as supporting many productions to tour.
Our arm’s-length body, Arts Council England, supports touring and encourages National Portfolio Organisations it funds to tour productions across the country. For 2023/24 the Arts Council has recently confirmed a flexible allocation of £12 million for touring within its overall National Lottery Project Grants programme. As an example of previous support, the National Theatre’s Theatre Nation Partnerships received a £1.2 million grant to support touring in a number of areas with low levels of cultural engagement, including Levelling Up for Culture Places. Between November 2021 and February 2023, there were 75 awards from this budget totalling over £8.5 million to support touring across the country.
Arts Council England works with organisations on plans for touring, and is due to launch refreshed guidance in October 2023 which will outline how it has improved its Touring Fund to support relevant organisations.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 increase the availability of capital investment to theatres.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Yes - there are a number of public funds which support investment in theatres and in the wider performing arts and cultural sectors. This includes £546 million which was awarded in January 2023 to 31 cultural and heritage projects as part of the second round of the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, £76 million of capital investment through the Government’s Cultural Development Fund, and the Capital Investment Programme run by Arts Council England. In addition, Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants programme is open to theatres where project costs are less than £100,000, and can be used to cover capital costs.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether (a) her Department and (b) bodies directed by her Department have responsibility for ensuring that (i) walls, (ii) advertising hoardings and (iii) other fixed objects around the perimeter of sports pitches are safe for professional sportspeople.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount.
Sports pitch perimeter safety is primarily the responsibility of the relevant national governing body of the sport, and the relevant competition/event organisers of the fixture.
It is for individual clubs to carry out risk assessments and put in place mitigations that will improve player safety.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much from the public purse her Department spent on its proposals to privatise Channel 4.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
As set out in the Department’s answer of 14 November 2022 to Question 80659, in the 2021-22 financial year DCMS’s costs for policy development related to Channel 4, including staff activity, external research and advice, public consultation and stakeholder engagement, were approximately £600,000. For the 2022-2023 financial year to November, these activities are estimated to have costs of £1.4 million.
This work has supported the development of the sustainability package recently announced by DCMS which will help address the challenges that Channel 4 is facing to its long-term success and sustainability.
It is right that when planning for the sale of an asset the government pursued appropriate specialist advice. Now that the decision has been taken not to proceed with a sale, all contracts with specialist external advisors have been terminated.