Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what declarations of interests have been made by his Department’s non-executive directors; and where is that information published.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Non-executive directors comply with the provisions of the Cabinet Office’s Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies.
Board members are required to submit any declarable interests annually; this information forms part of the independent National Audit Office review ahead of the publication of Departmental annual report and accounts.
Information on any relevant interests is published in the Department annual report and accounts, which are available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial payments his Department makes to its non-executive directors; how many times his departmental Board will meet in 2021-22; and what work the non-executive directors undertake.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
This information is published in the Department’s annual report and accounts, available on gov.uk.
(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dcms-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-20)
The Department’s report and accounts for 2021-22 will be published in due course, in the usual way.
Departmental boards provide strategic leadership for each central government department, as well as advising on/challenging how the department is performing. Each board is chaired by the Secretary of State and includes junior ministers, the permanent secretary and non-executive board members. Non-executives are appointed to government departments from the public, private and voluntary sectors. Their role is to provide advice and bring an external perspective.
A summary of the work of non-executive directors across Government can be found in the Government Lead Non-Executive's annual report, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-lead-non-executives-annual-report-2019-to-2020
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department’s current non-executive directors were appointed; what oversight officials of his Department had of the Ministerial appointments of those non-executive directors; and what assessment was made of the applicants' experience against the requirements for breadth and depth of experience set out in the Cabinet Office guidance on Departmental Boards of November 2014.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
· Sherry Coutu was appointed on 11 March 2019
· Hemant Patel was appointed on 19 March 2020
· Baroness Laura Wyld was appointed on 15 June 2020
· Claudia Arney was appointed on 15 April 2021
· Priya Lakhani was appointed on 15 April 2021
Departmental officials have full oversight of all Non-Executive appointments. This includes providing advice and recommendations to me on the suitability of individuals to be appointed as Non-Executives.
The department aims to appoint Non-Executives who have experience within large and complex organisations and specific knowledge of the sectors it represents. This includes having an understanding and experience of organisations in both the public and private sectors. This is a key consideration made on the suitability of appointable candidates, without this experience it is unlikely an appointment will be made.
Departments follow the principles set out in Cabinet Office/HM Treasury ‘Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice.’
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department’s current non-executive directors were appointed; what oversight officials had of Ministerial appointments of non-executive directors; and what assessment was made of their experience against the requirements for breadth and depth of experience set out in the Cabinet Office guidance on Departmental Boards of November 2014.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
· Sherry Coutu was appointed on 11 March 2019
· Hemant Patel was appointed on 19 March 2020
· Baroness Laura Wyld was appointed on 15 June 2020
· Claudia Arney was appointed on 15 April 2021
· Priya Lakhani was appointed on 15 April 2021
Departmental officials have full oversight of all Non-Executive appointments. This includes providing advice and recommendations to me on the suitability of individuals to be appointed as Non-Executives.
The department aims to appoint Non-Executives who have experience within large and complex organisations and specific knowledge of the sectors it represents. This includes having an understanding and experience of organisations in both the public and private sectors. This is a key consideration made on the suitability of appointable candidates, without this experience it is unlikely an appointment will be made.
Departments follow the principles set out in Cabinet Office/HM Treasury ‘Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice.’
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications were made for Phase 2 of the Cultural Recovery Fund.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the longest period of time has been between the acceptance of an application and the full payment of the award of funds during phase 1 of the Cultural Recovery Fund.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many of the successful applicants in Phase 1 of the Cultural Recovery Fund are awaiting the receipt of funds; and how much funding remains to be paid.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many of the successful applicants in Phase 1 of the Culture Recovery Fund have received all of the funds awarded to them.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many applications were made in Phase 1 of the Cultural Recovery Fund.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The attached table provides figures addressing the questions asked.
Payments through the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) are typically made in multiple tranches. Final payment is typically made at the very end of the grant period, once activities and costs have been reported.
In both rounds of the CRF revenue grants programme, DCMS has been able to give recipients the flexibility to extend the grant period. For CRF1 awardees, they have been able to extend until 30 June 2021, and for CRF2 awardees until 31 December 2021.
As such, a significant number of CRF 1 awardees have only very recently concluded the grant period, and many CRF 2 awardees have not concluded the grant period yet.
Accordingly, final payment requests are still outstanding from both CRF1 and CRF 2 recipients. Only when final payment requests have been made will DCMS Arms Length Bodies make final payments.
In addition, payment schedules can be impacted by a number of factors, such as the provision of bank details and activity reports from applicants, as well as assurance processes undertaken by distributing arms-length bodies, in order to ensure best use of tax-payers’ money.
As the numbers show, over 83% of all awarded CRF funding has been paid.
Figures include revenue grants, capital grants, and loans from within the Culture Recovery Fund.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what private companies are contracted to provide security services at his Department’s buildings that contain ministerial private offices; and whether there are closed circuit television cameras in any ministerial private office within his departmental estate.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
As has been the case under successive Administrations, it is not government policy to comment on security procedures in government buildings.