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 proportion of food procured by her Department is sourced in the UK.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
To date the Government has not held information on where publicly procured food is sourced from.
Starting right away, for the first time ever, this government will review the food currently bought in the public sector to determine the standards that it is meeting, where it is bought from and look to introduce monitoring for transparency and accountability within those supply chains to ultimately get the best food for the consumer.
This work will be a significant first step to inform any future changes to public sector food procurement policies as we want to help make it an equal playing field for British producers to bid into the £5 billion spent each year on public sector catering contracts.
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 with local authorities to help maintain community libraries in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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.
I understand that Lincolnshire County Council has a network of 49 static libraries of which 15 are in the statutory service, while the remaining 34 are community run and outside the statutory service. The statutory libraries are operated, on behalf of the Council, by Greenwich Leisure Limited. GLL also provides professional support and advice to the community run libraries, who also have access to the Lincolnshire wide catalogue and stock services.
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, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-25.
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 people with gambling addiction in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Those experiencing gambling-related harm in Lincolnshire can access specialist treatment through the NHS East Midlands Gambling Harms Service and a range of support through the National Gambling Support Network.
To improve and expand the services available to tackle gambling-related harm, the Government is introducing a statutory levy on gambling operators to improve and expand research, prevention and treatment of gambling harms. This will include ringfenced funding overseen by NHS England and appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales to commission the full treatment pathway, from referral and triage through to aftercare.
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 the National Youth Strategy will help tackle barriers to opportunity for children and young people 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)
The National Youth Strategy will be co-produced with young people and the youth sector to ensure it meets the needs of young people right across the country. This Government is also committed to tackling barriers to opportunity for all young people through the Opportunity Mission.
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, for what purposes the Charity Commission has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.
The Charity Commission has used Generative AI (GenAI) in the production and editing of some video content in the past 12 months.
The Charity Commission has robust internal policies in place that define acceptable and prohibited uses for GenAI modules and applications, to ensure its legal and ethical use.
The Charity Commission also considers the Generative AI Framework for HM Government when making decisions concerning the approval of GenAI tools and use cases.
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 much funding her Department has provided to youth groups in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the two latest periods for which data is available; and if she will take steps to increase that funding.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS has not directly provided funding to youth groups for youthwork activities in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency. Local authorities hold the 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.
The National Youth Strategy will be co-produced with young people and the youth sector to ensure it meets the needs of young people right across the country. This Government is also committed to tackling barriers to opportunity for all young people through the Opportunity Mission.
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, for what purposes The National Archives has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.
The National Archives has used artificial intelligence for over the past 12 months and its officials have, with robust safeguards, piloted the use of AI in several areas, seeking to:
Speed up office-based tasks. For example, piloting the transcription of some internal meetings and summarising texts.
Improve public services. For example, investigating creating short summaries of record descriptions for the online catalogue and identifying amendments and enabling powers in legislation on legislation.gov.uk.
Support the government to better manage its information. For example, investigating AI tools to aid officials in the appraisal, selection and sensitivity review of digital records before their transfer for preservation at The National Archives.
Aid research into historical records. For example, transcribing handwritten and printed text in historical records.
The National Archives can draw on a range of resources, published on GOV.UK, to inform AI usage. For example the Generative AI Framework, the Ethics, Transparency and Accountability Framework, the Data Ethics Framework and the AI Opportunities Action Plan.
The National Archives also has access to the Government Digital Service, part of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, for expert advice.
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 adequacy of the availability of public libraries in rural areas.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Public libraries play a vital role in sustaining community networks in rural areas, offering a range of activities and support services to meet local needs and bring people together.
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. They are responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.
There is a network of over 2,500 static libraries in the statutory network across England, supported by a number of mobile and home library services. Public library services are found in all types of communities, urban and rural; and are used by all demographics of people.
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 much was paid in bonuses to staff in her Department in 2023-24.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Departments are required to publish data related to non-consolidated performance payments on an annual basis. The publication date for the 2023/24 data is yet to be confirmed, but will happen over 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, if she will take steps to facilitate education on gambling-related harms for young people.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are committed to protecting children and young people from gambling harm. Since 2020, children have been taught about the risks relating to gambling as part of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum in England. The Gambling Commission also publishes an annual survey on children’s exposure to, and involvement in, all types of gambling to help us monitor gambling-related harm amongst children.
We are introducing a statutory levy to be paid by gambling operators raising funding for research, prevention and treatment of gambling-related harms. The levy will play an important part in the Government’s wider aim to have a better informed and protected public when it comes to gambling-related harms.