Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to take steps to support the provision of indoor or covered tennis and facilities in Isle of Wight East.
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 and padel, 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 and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for tennis and padel facilities.
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 and padel, 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 and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's press release entitled From court to community, published on 17 September 2025, how much funding has been earmarked for (a) tennis, (b) padel and (c) other court-based sports.
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 and padel, 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 and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the £400m UK Government funding for grassroots sports facilities will go to (a) tennis and (b) padel facilities.
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 and padel, 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 and padel initiatives in England that will benefit as many people as possible.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how she plans to allocate dormant assets to youth organisations.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
On the 2nd June, DCMS Secretary of State announced that £132.5 million of dormant assets funding will be allocated to support the provision of services, facilities or opportunities to meet the needs of young people. This will increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities in the arts, culture, sports and wider youth services, aimed at improving wellbeing and employability, and be delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund.
It also includes the £15 million ‘Building Futures’ programme announced under the previous government in September 2023, and delivered by Youth Futures Foundation.
Further details, including how the funding will be allocated, will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether funding for the National Citizenship Service will be redistributed to other youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government recognises the transformative role that youth services play in young people’s lives. We know that being part of supportive communities and having access to youth provision can improve a young person’s wellbeing, health and personal development.
The Secretary of State previously committed to set out this department's 2025-26 funding for youth programmes - an investment of over £145 million - to provide stability to the youth sector and ensure young people can continue to access opportunities, as we transition to the new National Youth Strategy.
The Government will publish the National Youth Strategy this Autumn. The detail and scale of the funding commitments included in the strategy will be shaped by engagement with young people and the youth sector and will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage people into the youth work profession.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government recognises the vital role that youth workers play in the lives of young people. In 2024-25, we provided over £600,000 of bursary funding to support over 400 individuals from underrepresented groups to gain a youth work qualification.
In a written ministerial statement on 15 May 2025, the Secretary of State announced DCMS's commitment to provide over £3 million in the financial year 2025-26 to increase youth sector and workforce capacity, this includes a further £250,000 in bursary funding to support up to 160 individuals to gain a qualification, and funding to the National Youth Agency to maintain youth work qualifications, national standards and curriculum to ensure a sufficiently qualified and trained youth work workforce.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the introduction of combined authorities on youth services funding.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the introduction of combined authorities and the potential impact this will have on youth services.
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area. DCMS published the updated, more fit-for-purpose guidance in 2023 to support local authorities to better understand what their existing duty is and how to deliver it.
We have launched the Local Youth Transformation Pilot which will test a new way of working and supporting local authorities to deliver for young people.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that her Department’s Future of TV Distribution Stakeholder Forum takes account of the needs of rural communities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS is currently undertaking a project to evaluate the future distribution of television as the sector continues to evolve over the next decade. As part of this project, the Government published independent research led by Exeter University last year that included data on the use of different distribution methods by a range of different demographic groups, which included rural communities. The Government has also commissioned follow up qualitative research to understand in more detail the specific preferences, motivations and barriers regarding TV viewing among a variety of groups including rural households.
A wide range of views are being sought from across the TV sector, audience groups and infrastructure through the Stakeholder Forum. This includes a number of groups representing rural and UK-wide audiences, such as the Rural Services Network.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of digital terrestrial television on rural connectivity.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS is currently undertaking a project to evaluate the future distribution of television as the sector continues to evolve over the next decade. As part of this project, the Government published independent research led by Exeter University last year that included data on the use of different distribution methods by a range of different demographic groups, which included rural communities. The Government has also commissioned follow up qualitative research to understand in more detail the specific preferences, motivations and barriers regarding TV viewing among a variety of groups including rural households.
A wide range of views are being sought from across the TV sector, audience groups and infrastructure through the Stakeholder Forum. This includes a number of groups representing rural and UK-wide audiences, such as the Rural Services Network.