Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 support the delivery of additional youth services in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, 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.
This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we are committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential. We are co-producing a new National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this. The National Youth Strategy will be published later this year.
This financial year, we are investing over £145 million in youth programmes to provide stability to the sector and ensure young people can continue to access opportunities.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will list the titles of all the events organised by Civil Service networks in her Department since 2017.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS staff are permitted to attend Civil Service Network events in line with the Civil Service Network Policy. However, DCMS does not currently host any Civil Service wide networks and therefore did not organise any such events.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 support local media in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Sustainability of local journalism across the country is an area of particular concern for this Government, including in South Holland and the Deepings and more broadly across Lincolnshire. The Government understands the important work that local news does across the UK, including outlets such as the Spalding Guardian and the Lincolnshire Echo. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. Our vision is a thriving local media that can continue to play an invaluable role as a key channel of trustworthy information at local level, reporting on the issues that matter to communities, reflecting their contributions and perspectives, and helping to foster a self-confident nation in which everyone feels that their contribution is part of an inclusive national story.
We are working across Government and with other stakeholders as the Strategy develops. DCMS ministers held a roundtable discussion with local news editors in the spring to discuss the planned approach and collaboration with industry on the Strategy. An industry working group has since been set up to consider the issues in more detail and has been meeting regularly since June. More will be announced on the Strategy in the coming months.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 September 2025 to Question 73844 on Social media, how much her Department has spent on promotion through social media influencers by influencer since July 2024.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department works with content creators who are vital trusted voices to help us reach hard-to-reach audiences with government campaign messaging. For example, earlier this year, the Department worked with four social media influencers to promote the National Youth Strategy's survey for young people. We are however unable to provide a cost breakdown on influencers specifically due to commercial sensitivities which could prejudice commercial interests. All spend in these areas are subject to the standard value for money assessments.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of leisure facilities available for disabled people in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government believes that opportunities to play sport and get physically active should be available to everyone.
In June, we committed another £400 million to transform sports facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will ensure that this funding promotes health, wellbeing and community cohesion and helps to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups, including disabled people. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) museums, (b) local arts and (c) cultural organisations have received funding from Arts Council England in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Between 2022-2025 four museums and nine arts and cultural organisations in the South Holland and The Deepings constituency received Arts Council England funding totalling £2,141,302. This includes a £1.8 million Museum Estate and Development Fund award to Spalding Gentlemen’s Society in 2024 towards the museum’s refurbishment and expansion.
Arts Council England funding in Lincolnshire, awarded between 2018 and 2025, totalled £20,184,867. This funding was distributed to 88 arts and cultural organisations, including 1 museum and Lincolnshire County Council, which is designated as a museum National Portfolio Organisation.
Further specific information can be found on the Arts Council England website at https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/research-and-data/our-data
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 gambling adverts on people living in Lincolnshire
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is clear that wherever gambling advertising appears, it must be socially responsible. There are a number of robust measures in place to regulate advertising, designed to protect children and vulnerable adults from harm. Additionally, we have set the gambling industry a clear task to further raise standards to ensure that gambling advertising is appropriate, responsible, and does not exacerbate harm.
The Government monitors the best available evidence from a wide range of sources to aid our assessment of the impact of gambling advertising at a national level. Developing quality evidence in this area is a key priority for the new statutory gambling levy. Twenty percent of funding will be directed towards high quality, independent research to fill gaps in the evidence base on gambling-related harm. We will continue to monitor the developments in the evidence and take action where appropriate.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 (a) promote and (b) support the participation of young people in (i) charities and (ii) the voluntary sector in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities. High-quality, inclusive facilities, including curling rinks, help people get active.
In June, we committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. This funding will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities that promote health and wellbeing and remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 help improve access to sport for children from disadvantaged backgrounds in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Every child should have the opportunity to play sport and do regular physical activity including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Prime Minister recently announced a new School Sport Partnerships approach and a new Enrichment Framework for schools to ensure all young people have equal access to high-quality sport and extracurricular activity. The ongoing independent expert-led review of the curriculum will ensure that all children can engage with a broad range of subjects, including PE and sport.
On 20 June 2025, the Culture Secretary announced that following the Spending Review, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs, including for children and young people, and will then set out further plans.
In the last financial year, 2024-25, Sport England, our Arm’s Length Body for community sport, invested £43,803 into South Holland and the Deepings constituency and £1,924,805 into Lincolnshire to improve access to sport and physical activity.
I met with Sir John Hayes and Deepings Leisure Centre Community Group in July this year to discuss grassroots sport and facilities provision in his constituency.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has spent money on social media influencers since July 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has spent money on social media influencers since July 2024. Influencers can be effective in reaching audiences that the Government and traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.