Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many organisations in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire have received funding through the £1.57 billion arts, culture and heritage covid-19 rescue fund.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Arts Council England, British Film Institute, Historic England and National Lottery Heritage Fund are considering applications for grant funding against agreed criteria, as set out in the published guidance.
Our priority is to ensure that organisations get the funding they need as swiftly as possible and we expect some funding decisions to be made this month with announcements soon after that. A list of the recipients of the Arts Council’s Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund can be found here:
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/document/emergency-grassroots-music-venues-fund-recipients
This funding will provide a lifeline for thousands of organisations facing imminent challenges and will be available this financial year.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress he has made on plans for UK Festival 2022; and how (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire can participate in that festival.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Festival UK 2022 is a major nationwide festival of creativity and innovation. It will deliver a programme of ten ground-breaking large-scale new commissions with the ambition of bringing people together and promoting the UK’s creativity to the world.
The programme, led by Martin Green, Chief Creative Officer, recently launched a £3m R&D Project. This is an open call for creative teams of organisations and individuals from across Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths to come together to receive funding to develop new ideas for 2022.
I encourage people and organisations in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire to get involved by registering on the Festival website (www.festival2022.uk)
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) the film sector and (b) other creative industries.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government recognises the huge contribution the film and wider creative industries sectors make, not only to the economy and international reputation of the United Kingdom, but also to the wellbeing and enrichment of its people.
Regarding the film sector specifically, the Government has worked alongside industry to quickly develop guidance allowing for the restart of production activity and has continued to support the sector in applying this guidance. In addition, in July 2020 the Government granted quarantine exemption for cast and crew of eligible film and high-end television productions, bespoke action which has helped ensure that significant inward investment projects have still been able to operate safely in the UK.
Since then, the Government has also announced the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, a £500m scheme to help TV and film productions get back up and running across the country, despite a lack of available insurance for Covid-19 losses. It is a temporary scheme that will compensate eligible productions for costs incurred due to delays or abandonment of productions because of Covid-19.
As you will know, in March, the Government implemented an unprecedented package to support businesses, charitable organisations, workers and the self-employed through the Coronavirus crisis. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and business rates relief in particular are providing support to organisations across these sectors.
The extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was announced in May, which was extended to the end of July, with more flexibility being introduced from August to October.
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme has also been extended with applications opening in August for a second and final grant. The grant will operate in the same way as the existing scheme with self-employed workers eligible for a single payment covering three months, at a level of 70% of average monthly earnings up to a maximum of £6,570 (i.e. down from 80% and a maximum of £7,500).
The Secretary of State provided a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of cultural and creative sectors.
We are committed to continuing to work with the film and creatives industries sectors to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports, what fiscal steps he is taking to support cultural and creative industries affected by the covid-19 outbreak in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Culture Recovery Fund will provide £1.57 billion of targeted support to critical cultural, arts and heritage organisations to help them survive and recover through the coronavirus pandemic. Funding will be prioritised to institutions of national and international significance and those that are crucial to levelling up places and communities, including smaller organisations and cultural venues that are at the centre of their communities.
Key organisations in England have been able to apply for grants or loans. The relevant DCMS Arms Length Bodies (Arts Council England, Historic England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute) will make funding decisions for grants against the published criteria agreed by Ministers. In addition, the independent Culture Recovery Board will make decisions regarding applications for loans, and provide additional assurance over the largest grants.
Our priority is to ensure that organisations get the funding they need as swiftly as possible and we expect some funding decisions to be made this month with announcements soon after that.
The Underground live music venue in Stoke on Trent has already benefited from the £3.36 million Emergency Grassroot Music Venues Fund which has been shared among 135 venues across England who applied for support to survive the imminent risk of collapse caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the delivery of the Youth Fund.
Answered by John Whittingdale
DCMS officials are rapidly assessing how the impact of Covid-19 will affect the delivery of the Youth Investment Fund in 2020-21 and beyond.
We hope to provide further information during the summer.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the provision of youth services for at risk young people.
Answered by John Whittingdale
My department is aware that Covid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on young people, in particular those deemed at risk. DCMS has been working with departments across Whitehall, including the Department of Education and the Home Office, to ensure at risk young people are supported during and post Covid-19.
Youth centres are able to re-open from 4th July, to ensure at risk young people have access to support, and opportunities to engage in safe activities. Youth workers are already supporting vulnerable young people through detached youth work, and we have supported the National Youth Agency to produce guidance for youth organisations on operating safely during Covid19.
This government will further support youth services with the new £500m Youth Investment Fund, designed to increase the capacity of youth services and the opportunities available to young people.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to help the tourism sector to reopen safely after the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are regularly engaging with tourism stakeholders and are feeding into cross-Government discussions on how we can safely reopen the tourism sector.
As part of the Government’s leisure and recreation taskforce, my Department has set up a Visitor Economy Working Group to specifically focus on the practicalities and guidelines for opening up the sector during the recovery period. We will issue further guidance shortly on our phased reopening approach, including which businesses could be covered in each phase and the timeframes involved.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) the creative industries and (b) workers in those industries during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government recognises the important role creative industries play in the UK by providing access to entertainment, culture and news during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To ensure we are assisting the sectors as effectively as possible, regular ministerially-chaired roundtables are held with business representative organisations (BROs) as well as trade associations within the creative industries. In addition, officials are in regular contact with stakeholders from all sectors.
To further support businesses and workers in the creative industries the Government has launched a number of schemes. For example, the Chancellor announced £330bn of guaranteed loans (equivalent to 15% of GDP) for supporting businesses to access finance. This support is delivered through two main schemes: the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and the Coronavirus Corporate Financing Facility. More recently, the Government launched the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, which helps small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2,000 and up to 25% of their turnover during the coronavirus outbreak. For workers in the creative industries, the Government has sought to protect millions of jobs by introducing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. This has now been extended to the end of October, with new flexibility being introduced from August to get employees back to work and boost the economy. For those who are self-employed, the coronavirus self-employment income support scheme can provide grants, worth 80% of trading profits/partnership trading profits, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.
Alongside these support measures, we continue to speak with HM Treasury colleagues to ensure that the full spectrum of government support reaches the UK's world-leading creative industries.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to hold the Festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2022.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department remains committed to delivering Festival 2022 which will showcase the UK’s unique strengths in creativity and innovation, and celebrate our place in the world in the 21st century. The Festival is currently in its development phase and Martin Green (Chief Creative Officer) is leading work collaboratively with the devolved administrations. We expect Festival 2022 will offer opportunities for research, strategic and development work through the commissioning phase later this year.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions officials in his Department have had with representatives of sporting bodies on the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
I am having regular discussions with sector and industry bodies to understand the full impact of COVID-19 on sport and how the government can best provide support. This includes a fortnightly meeting with sporting organisations including national governing bodies. My officials maintain daily contact with sporting organisations.