Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many youth centres there were in the Yorkshire and the Humber region in (a) 2010 and (b) 2020.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Youth services are provided by local authorities and the data concerning the number of youth centres there were in the Yorkshire and Humber region in (a) 2010 and (b) 2020 is not held by my department.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many libraries there were in the Yorkshire and the Humber region in (a) 2010 and (b) 2020.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Libraries Taskforce published the public libraries in England extended dataset on 11 January 2018 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-libraries-in-england-basic-dataset#history This provides details of static libraries (statutory and non-statutory) in England as at 1 April 2010 and 1 July 2016. Data on mobile libraries was inconsistent and incomplete, and therefore was not included in this dataset.
Details of the number of libraries as at 31 December 2019 has been collected by Arts Council England and will be published shortly.
The following table lists the number of static libraries in each local authority within the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Local Authority | 1 April 2010 | 1 July 2016 |
Barnsley | 17 | 15 |
Bradford | 35 | 33 |
Calderdale | 22 | 22 |
Doncaster | 26 | 25 |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 23 | 23 |
Kingston upon Hull | 14 | 14 |
Kirklees | 26 | 24 |
Leeds | 50 | 35 |
North East Lincolnshire | 10 | 8 |
North Lincolnshire | 15 | 15 |
North Yorkshire | 42 | 42 |
Rotherham | 15 | 15 |
Sheffield | 29 | 28 |
Wakefield | 27 | 19 |
York | 15 | 15 |
Total | 366 | 333 |
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the average broadband speed is in the Hemsworth constituency.
Answered by Matt Warman
Officials have checked the Ofcom Connected Nations performance data at constituency level, and it reports that as at May 2019, the average download speed in Hemsworth is 37.7 Mbit/s. This is the most recent performance data available - unlike coverage data it's only published once a year.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on the role of (a) Government and (b) professional football governing bodies in examining the potential link between football and risk of dementia.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. National Governing Bodies are responsible for the regulation of their sports and for ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to protect participants from harm, including serious injuries. With that in mind, we expect sports to do all they can to protect their players.
It is clear that further examination of the links between health, dementia and football is needed to better understand this issue. I welcome the Professional Footballers' Association’s recent move to set up a dedicated task force to further investigate the issue of brain injury diseases in football.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the average broadband speed is in England.
Answered by Matt Warman
Ofcom’s latest UK Home Broadband report found that the average download speed in the UK was 72 megabits per second. The report did not break this down by nation.
In terms of access, ThinkBroadband estimates that a third of premises in England are now connected to gigabit-capable networks, while superfast broadband is available to 97% of English premises.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many people have cancelled their TV licence since 2010.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC is responsible for administration of TV licences and, therefore, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not hold this information.
The TV Licensing website has some information on the number of cancelled licences for 2018/19 and 2019/20: https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/foi-licences-facts-and-figures-AB18
More information may be held by the BBC.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason a maximum of 300 spectators are allowed to attend football matches at Step 7 of the pyramid but not in steps 5 and 6 during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The safety and security of players and spectators is of paramount importance.
On Tuesday 22 September it was announced that all sports pilot events currently ongoing would be paused with immediate effect, due to the sharp upward trajectory of Covid-19 cases. As set out in our Roadmap, sports events pilots, and the full return of fans to stadia would only ever take place when it was safe to do so.
Under government guidance non-elite sport clubs are able to admit spectators, whilst adhering to COVID-19 guidance. It is up to the respective governing bodies to determine what constitutes the boundary between elite and non-elite within their sports, and consider any appropriate additional regulation including total spectator numbers should that be appropriate within their sport.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on the role of (a) Government and (b) professional sporting governing bodies in providing financial support to financially stricken sports clubs during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses throughout the pandemic, including a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support. Many sports clubs have benefited from these measures.
Where it can, we will expect the top tiers of professional sport to look at ways in which it can support itself, with government focusing on those most in need. I also welcomed the Premier League announcement to advance funds of £125 million to the EFL and National League to help clubs throughout the football pyramid and encourage the ongoing discussions
The Government recognises the impact that Covid-19 is having on the sporting sector, and has supported elite sports to return to "behind closed doors" competition, which enabled vital broadcast revenue, retained competitive integrity and brought joy to millions of sports fans.
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is working with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what can be done to provide further support. The Department will also continue to work with colleagues across Whitehall to support the sector.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of financial support available to freelance musicians during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We recognise the crucial role that freelance individuals play in making our arts and creative industries world-leading.
We recognise the crucial role that individuals play in making our arts and creative industries world-leading. As a result of these grants and loans, organisations will be more able to resume cultural activity, albeit in a socially distanced way, which will increase employment opportunities for freelancers. Each organisation that receives money will know what best they can do to support their workforce, including their freelance workforce.
And the culture recovery fund will benefit freelancers, because it will invest in organisations and help them to reopen, and restart performances. It will help many put on cultural activity within this Financial Year which wouldn’t have been possible without this funding.
The government has taken active steps to support the self-employed. Over three quarters of eligible people in the cultural sectors have benefitted from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS).
The Arts Council England has made £119 million available to individuals, with £23.1 million already distributed and £95.9 million currently available to apply for via open funds. This includes:
£17.1 million distributed through the Emergency Response Fund for individuals;
£6 million distributed by a series of Benevolent Funds focused on the self employed.
£18 million available through their Developing Your Creative Practice fund;
£77.9 million available through National Lottery Project Grants (available to both individuals and organisations).
And the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund will benefit freelancers, because it will invest in organisations and help them to reopen, and restart performances. It will help many put on cultural activity within this Financial Year which wouldn’t have been possible without this funding.
The 1,385 successful arts recipients that were announced on Monday 12 October set out in their applications that this support would enable them to deliver over £150million of cultural activity before the end of March 2021. As organisations prepare for this activity, they will likely increase their employment of cultural freelancers.
We continue to engage with the sector to discuss the on-going challenges facing the industry.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will develop an action plan to support the response to the (a) community, (b) amateur and (c) professional sports funding crisis as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has provided unprecedented support to businesses through tax reliefs, cash grants and employee wage support, which many sport clubs have benefited from. Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund has also provided £210 million directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic.
We have also supported elite sports to return to "behind closed doors" competition, which enabled vital broadcast revenue, retained competitive integrity and brought joy to millions of sports fans. The Government recognises the implications for elite and professional sports clubs of not being able to admit spectators to stadia from 1 October, and are working urgently on what we can do now to support them.
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is working with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what can be done to provide further support to the sector.