Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department is having with relevant stakeholders regarding the potential impact of the Creative Industries Sector Plan on Northumberland.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Creative Industries Sector Plan seeks to tackle barriers to growth and maximises opportunities across the Creative Industries sector throughout the UK. The Sector Plan spotlights the North East as one of twelve high-potential clusters for creative industries growth and its unique investment offer.
The North East Combined Authority will also receive £25million as part of the Creative Places Growth Fund. This is devolved funding, intended to empower Mayors to turbocharge growth in their places.
In January, DCMS Secretary of State hosted a major economic growth summit in Gateshead for the Creative Industries. DCMS officials have regular engagement with the North East Combined Authority to understand the opportunities and challenges for creatives across the North East. DCMS officials co-chaired a culture and creative industries roundtable with the North East Combined Authority in July to gather the views of local creative businesses and cultural organisations on Sector Plan delivery.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department is having with relevant stakeholders on the potential impact of the Creative Industries Sector Plan on Hexham constituency.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Creative Industries Sector Plan seeks to tackle barriers to growth and maximises opportunities across the Creative Industries sector throughout the UK. The Sector Plan spotlights the North East as one of twelve high-potential clusters for creative industries growth and its unique investment offer.
The North East Combined Authority will also receive £25million as part of the Creative Places Growth Fund. This is devolved funding, intended to empower Mayors to turbocharge growth in their places.
In January, DCMS Secretary of State hosted a major economic growth summit in Gateshead for the Creative Industries. DCMS officials have regular engagement with the North East Combined Authority to understand the opportunities and challenges for creatives across the North East. DCMS officials co-chaired a culture and creative industries roundtable with the North East Combined Authority in July to gather the views of local creative businesses and cultural organisations on Sector Plan delivery.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions the Department has had with relevant stakeholders on the potential impact of the Creative Industries Sector Plan on the North East.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Creative Industries Sector Plan seeks to tackle barriers to growth and maximises opportunities across the Creative Industries sector throughout the UK. The Sector Plan spotlights the North East as one of twelve high-potential clusters for creative industries growth and its unique investment offer.
The North East Combined Authority will also receive £25million as part of the Creative Places Growth Fund. This is devolved funding, intended to empower Mayors to turbocharge growth in their places.
In January, DCMS Secretary of State hosted a major economic growth summit in Gateshead for the Creative Industries. DCMS officials have regular engagement with the North East Combined Authority to understand the opportunities and challenges for creatives across the North East. DCMS officials co-chaired a culture and creative industries roundtable with the North East Combined Authority in July to gather the views of local creative businesses and cultural organisations on Sector Plan delivery.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Department is taking to support public libraries in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Public libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources. The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils' Core Spending Power on 2024-25.
The Secretary of State announced in February 2025 a further £5.5 million of the Libraries Improvement Fund for 2025-26 to enable library services across England to invest in a range of projects to upgrade buildings and technology. Upper tier local local authorities in the North East have received a total of almost £2 million from previous rounds of the Fund.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders on the role of a freelance champion in the North East.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We committed in the Creative Industries Sector Plan to appoint a Freelance Champion in 2025, who will work across the UK to advocate for the creative sector’s freelancers within government and be a member of the Creative Industries Council.
We have been working closely with industry through a working group of the Creative Industries Council to inform the role's remit, including organisations who work nationally, such as Bectu and Creative UK. This group developed a draft Terms of Reference, which outlines what industry would like to see from the role including commissioning and/or informing data and evidence gathering on creative industries freelancers; establishing mechanisms to give creative freelancers voice within government policy discussions; and working with a representative cross-section of creative industries stakeholders. We will use this work to inform the role specification prior to appointment.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with stakeholders to improve tennis facilities in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is determined to ensure that everyone has access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK following the Spending Review. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need and will then set out further plans. I have met with the Lawn Tennis Association, the National Governing Body for tennis, along with representatives from other sports, to discuss this.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. This includes long term investment in the Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for five years from 2022 to 2027 to invest in community tennis initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders to improve support for local museums in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State and her ministerial team engage regularly with a wide range of stakeholders and DCMS Arm’s Length Bodies regarding support for local arts organisations and museums. In February 2025, the Secretary of State announced a new £270 million Arts Everywhere Fund, with organisations across the North East already benefitting. This includes the £20 million Museum Renewal Fund, with over £1.2 million awarded to museums in the North East in October, and £483k specifically for the North East Museums group to support activities across Northumberland museums, including Hexham Old Gaol. This funding is additional to core museums funding delivered through Arts Council England, including the National Portfolio Investment Programme, which sees over £3.3 million a year invested in the North East Museums group amongst others.
The Department continues to work with stakeholders to provide additional support for local museums and galleries in 2025/26, through the £25 million Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) tackling maintenance backlogs, and the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, currently open for applications.
The Arts Everywhere Fund will also deliver £85 million of investment through the Creative Foundations Fund to support arts and cultural organisations, including local arts centres, to address urgent estate issues, ensuring buildings and infrastructure are fit for future generations. In addition, Ministers have commissioned a formal review of ACE, the body responsible for distributing arts funding across England. The review is considering all aspects of ACE’s work and investment, and will report this Autumn.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions the Department has had with relevant stakeholders to improve support for local arts in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State and her ministerial team engage regularly with a wide range of stakeholders and DCMS Arm’s Length Bodies regarding support for local arts organisations and museums. In February 2025, the Secretary of State announced a new £270 million Arts Everywhere Fund, with organisations across the North East already benefitting. This includes the £20 million Museum Renewal Fund, with over £1.2 million awarded to museums in the North East in October, and £483k specifically for the North East Museums group to support activities across Northumberland museums, including Hexham Old Gaol. This funding is additional to core museums funding delivered through Arts Council England, including the National Portfolio Investment Programme, which sees over £3.3 million a year invested in the North East Museums group amongst others.
The Department continues to work with stakeholders to provide additional support for local museums and galleries in 2025/26, through the £25 million Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) tackling maintenance backlogs, and the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, currently open for applications.
The Arts Everywhere Fund will also deliver £85 million of investment through the Creative Foundations Fund to support arts and cultural organisations, including local arts centres, to address urgent estate issues, ensuring buildings and infrastructure are fit for future generations. In addition, Ministers have commissioned a formal review of ACE, the body responsible for distributing arts funding across England. The review is considering all aspects of ACE’s work and investment, and will report this Autumn.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders to improve support for grassroots sports in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
My Department engages on a regular basis with a range of stakeholders to support grassroots sport.
A large part of our Arm’s Length Body Sport England’s work focuses on their place partnerships, where they work with local areas to understand and overcome the specific barriers to sport and physical activity in communities. Rise Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and County Durham, and Tees Valley Sport are two of Sport England’s place partnerships.
We’ve also committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, and will then set out further plans.
The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity.
This includes supporting Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign which has inspired millions of women and girls to get active. We’ve also launched the Women’s Sport Taskforce to tackle challenges and barriers facing women and girls in sport, from grassroots to elite, and are harnessing the power of hosting major sporting events, such as investing £6.7 million into the Impact 25’ programme for the Women’s Rugby World Cup to make facilities more accessible for women. We’ve also announced plans to more than double the share of slots dedicated to women’s and girls’ teams at Government-funded facilities across England over the next five years.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders on encouraging girls into sport in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
My Department engages on a regular basis with a range of stakeholders to support grassroots sport.
A large part of our Arm’s Length Body Sport England’s work focuses on their place partnerships, where they work with local areas to understand and overcome the specific barriers to sport and physical activity in communities. Rise Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and County Durham, and Tees Valley Sport are two of Sport England’s place partnerships.
We’ve also committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, and will then set out further plans.
The Government is committed to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity.
This includes supporting Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign which has inspired millions of women and girls to get active. We’ve also launched the Women’s Sport Taskforce to tackle challenges and barriers facing women and girls in sport, from grassroots to elite, and are harnessing the power of hosting major sporting events, such as investing £6.7 million into the Impact 25’ programme for the Women’s Rugby World Cup to make facilities more accessible for women. We’ve also announced plans to more than double the share of slots dedicated to women’s and girls’ teams at Government-funded facilities across England over the next five years.