Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the £825 million owed by BT to his Department following rural broadband upgrades has been returned; and how much of that funding has been re-invested to complete rural upgrades.
Answered by Matt Warman
£825m is BT's current forecast of clawback repayments due over the terms of the respective contracts awarded under the Superfast programme, not a figure that is owed immediately.
Contractually, take-up clawback can be placed in an account held by the supplier for up to the full seven years of the contract's term. An early release of these clawbacks was agreed to be reinvested through the programme of up to £129m for the furtherance of the programme's objectives.
Returned funding beyond this will be apportioned to the public investors in each superfast contract across the country in line with contracted investment ratios and the public investors in turn will need to decide how they wish to utilise this funding.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much has been invested in the delivery of super-fast broadband by constituency for each year since 2015.
Answered by Matt Warman
DCMS does not hold information on spend on superfast broadband at constituency level. Spend within superfast broadband project areas in England is summarised in the below table:
DCMS Investment in the delivery of Superfast Broadband from financial year 2015/16
Financial year = April to March
Negative amounts represent unused funding returned to DCMS.
County | 2015/16 £m | 2016/17 £m | 2017/18 £m | 2018/19 £m | 2019/20 £m | 2020/21 £m |
South Yorkshire | 0.85 | 2.37 | 1.21 | 3.21 | 1.98 | - |
Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes | 0.70 | 0.08 | 2.38 | 1.31 | 1.13 | 0.62 |
Cheshire | 1.35 | 2.29 | 0.08 | - | - | - |
Cornwall | - | 2.29 | 0.84 | 1.40 | 1.43 | - |
Cumbria | 8.06 | 4.21 | 1.60 | - | - | - |
Derbyshire | 6.47 | 1.58 | 0.61 | - | - | - |
Dorset | 5.66 | - | 1.30 | 0.16 | 1.84 | - |
Durham | 4.38 | 1.40 | 1.28 | - | 0.33 | - |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 2.17 | 1.92 | 2.39 | 1.60 | - | - |
East Sussex | 5.18 | 2.00 | 1.00 | - | - | - |
Essex | 3.01 | 2.67 | 2.43 | 1.20 | 0.96 | 0.54 |
Hampshire | 2.22 | 2.64 | 4.51 | 2.05 | - | - |
Herefordshire & Gloucestershire | 9.72 | 0.06 | 1.50 | 0.65 | 0.73 | 4.05 |
Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire | 0.22 | 2.03 | 2.81 | 0.30 | - | - |
Isle of Wight | 1.34 | (0.93) | (0.01) | - | - | - |
Kent | 0.62 | 3.38 | 1.68 | - | - | - |
Lancashire | 2.10 | 0.47 | 2.44 | 0.93 | - | - |
West Yorkshire | 0.35 | 1.04 | - | - | - | - |
Leicestershire | 0.42 | 0.94 | 3.61 | - | - | - |
Lincolnshire | 5.94 | 0.68 | - | - | - | - |
Merseyside | 2.70 | - | - | - | - | - |
Norfolk | 2.70 | - | 3.41 | 4.40 | - | - |
North Lincolnshire | 0.39 | 1.10 | - | 0.40 | - | - |
Northamptonshire | 0.49 | 3.18 | 0.13 | 0.85 | 0.85 | - |
Northumberland | 4.24 | 1.58 | 1.42 | - | - | - |
Nottinghamshire | 3.49 | 2.63 | - | - | 0.55 | 0.17 |
North Yorkshire | - | - | - | 1.14 | 6.18 | - |
Oxfordshire | 4.12 | - | - | - | - | - |
Rutland | - | 0.18 | - | - | - | - |
Black Country | 2.19 | 0.71 | 0.09 | - | - | (0.08) |
Shropshire | 3.01 | 0.10 | 2.89 | 2.03 | 4.25 | 0.73 |
Devon & Somerset | 17.97 | 1.01 | - | 1.36 | 1.09 | 0.42 |
South Gloucestershire | 0.05 | 0.46 | - | 0.11 | 1.58 | 0.46 |
Staffordshire | 1.43 | 1.85 | 0.33 | - | - | - |
Greater Manchester | 0.85 | - | - | - | - | - |
Suffolk | 1.41 | - | - | 13.85 | - | - |
Swindon | 0.19 | 0.54 | - | 0.20 | - | - |
Telford & Wrekin | 0.13 | 0.28 | 1.75 | - | - | (0.05) |
Warwickshire | 0.99 | 2.83 | 1.12 | 0.67 | 1.62 | 2.27 |
Berkshire | 1.35 | 0.72 | 0.57 | 0.10 | 0.94 | - |
West Sussex | 2.04 | 0.92 | 0.33 | - | - | - |
West Oxfordshire | - | - | - | - | 1.60 | - |
West Yorkshire | - | 1.44 | 2.08 | 2.71 | 0.06 | - |
Wiltshire | 0.05 | 2.22 | 0.33 | 0.07 | 0.53 | 0.58 |
Worcestershire | 1.39 | 2.39 | - | 0.02 | 0.87 | 0.61 |
Funding for delivery in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland was provided through funding transfers to the devolved administration governments. The devolved administrations in turn manage deployment and funding delivery in each of the nations. In the period 2015/16 to 2020/21 the relevant funding transfers were: Scotland £50.99m; Wales £12.11m; Northern Ireland £11.45m.
The total DCMS investment in the Superfast Broadband Programme to date across the UK as whole is £737m from the start of the programme in 2011.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
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 adequacy of (a) support and (b) opportunities for disabled children in gymnastics.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring support and opportunities for sport, including gymnastics, are available disabled people. Our strategy ‘Sporting Future’ sets out a clear ambition to increase levels of physical activity amongst under-represented groups, working closely with the sector to achieve this.
DCMS welcomes the recent formation of the British Gymnastics Disability Gymnastics Panel which aims to provide more opportunities for disabled participants, with the group seeking to influence, shape and drive inclusive opportunities in gymnastics.
Sport England, DCMS's arm’s length body for grassroots sport in England, recently launched their new ten year strategy, ‘Uniting the Movement’. The strategy reinforces their commitment to tackle inequalities in sport and physical activity, and provide opportunities to people that have traditionally been left behind, including disabled people. Sport England’s Active Lives Children surveys provide information on activity levels across a variety of sports, including gymnastics, and include data on participation by children with disabilities. The latest reports can be found here.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
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 potential merits of introducing re-opening grants for the live events sector.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We appreciate the important role that the live events sector plays in the UK’s economy, and that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to this sector.
That is why we announced the unprecedented £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund in July 2020. This includes over £800 million to almost 3800 arts, culture and heritage organisations in England, helping to support at least 75,000 jobs. Additionally, the Chancellor announced in the 2021 Budget an additional £300 million to support theatres, museums and other cultural organisations in England through the Culture Recovery Fund. This extra funding, together with other cultural support such as funding for our national museums, means that our total support package for culture during the pandemic is now approaching £2 billion.
More generally, the Prime Minister has set out the Roadmap to reopening the Economy, and the Budget has set out a ‘Restart Grant’ of up to £18,000 to over 680,000 business premises, giving them the cash certainty they need to plan ahead and safely relaunch trading over the coming months. We are also providing all English local authorities with an additional £425 million of discretionary business grant funding, on top of the £1.6 billion already allocated. Altogether, this support will cost £5 billion. This brings the total cost of cash grants provided by the Government to £25 billion.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
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 potential merits of introducing Government-backed covid-19 cancellation Insurance for the live events sector.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is aware of the concerns which have been raised about the challenge of securing indemnity cover for live events. My officials continue to work closely with the affected sectors to understand all barriers to reopening, including potential challenges around indemnity cover.
Understandably, the bar for considering Government intervention is set extremely high, especially in light of recent announcements including the extension to the furlough scheme and local business support. My officials are continuing to collect evidence of all of the barriers live events are facing to reopening, including access to indemnity insurance through the market.
We are keeping the situation under review and working closely with HMT on this issue to determine the appropriate and most effective response for the sector within the public health context.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many properties in Ellesmere Port and Neston constituency are connected to broadband via exchange-only lines.
Answered by Matt Western
According to Ofcom’s 2018 Connected Nations report, 3% of UK broadband lines are exchange only lines.
Given the continued deployment of alternative networks, Ofcom estimates that the number of premises that can only receive broadband from such lines is around 1%.
Ofcom does not hold this data at a constituency level.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
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 level of disabled access and opportunities in British Gymnastics at (a) youth and (b) adult level.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Sport England’s Active Lives Adult and Children surveys provide information on activity levels across a variety of sports, including gymnastics, and include data on participation by disabled people. The latest reports can be found here.
Government recognises the importance of ensuring disabled access to sports facilities. Our sport strategy, Sporting Future, sets out a clear ambition to increase levels of physical activity, particularly amongst under-represented groups, including disabled people.
This is reinforced in Sport England’s new strategy Uniting the Movement, which sets out their 10 year vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity. The strategy seeks to tackle the inequalities seen in sport and physical activity and provide opportunities to people that have traditionally been left behind, including those with a disability, helping to remove barriers to activity.
Government is also currently in the process of recruiting a new cohort of Disability and Access Ambassadors, one of whom will focus on the Sport and Physical Activity sector. The ambassador will help to drive improvements in the accessibility and quality of services and facilities in the sector for disabled people, as consumers and employees.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many properties in the UK are connected to broadband via Exchange Only lines.
Answered by Matt Warman
According to Ofcom’s 2018 Connected Nations report, 3% of UK broadband lines are exchange only lines. Given the continued deployment of alternative networks, Ofcom estimates that the number of premises that can only receive broadband from such lines is around 1%.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish the latest scientific evidence supporting the closure of golf courses during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown period.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Sports and physical activity, including golf, are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus.
The purpose of the restrictions is to reduce the time people spend outside of their homes and the number of interactions they have to an absolute minimum. The severity of the current situation means that we have been required to close all sports facilities. This is a decision that no government would want to take and we will remove the restrictions, as a priority, as soon as the public health situation allows.
The restrictions are designed to get the R rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions. All decisions made by the Government relating to the pandemic have been based on advice and guidance from health and scientific experts. These regulations were voted on by the House on 6 January.
You can continue to exercise alone, with one other person or with your household or support bubble. This should be limited to once per day, in a public outdoor place and you should not travel outside your local area. You should maintain social distancing.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the National League Board on (a) the distribution of funds to National League Football clubs to assist with covering lost gate revenue due to the covid-19 outbreak and (b) publishing the findings of the Independent Review Panel on club funding.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The government brokered a promotional deal between the National League and Camelot in September 2020. This led to an invaluable injection of £10m support to help clubs in completing their 2020/21 season. Whilst the distribution of this funding is a matter for the National League, the government was clear in supporting the deal that it expected the proceeds to be allocated sensibly to support clubs for as long as possible. The Secretary of State has had no conversations with the National League Board on either the actual distribution of funds or the findings of the Independent Review Panel.
Separately, in November 2020 the government announced a £300m Sports Winter Survival Package. This funding aims to support major spectator sports severely impacted by covid restrictions to help them survive through the winter period. The needs of the lower tiers of the National League are being considered in relation to this support package by Sport England, who are administering the fund. Final funding decisions are being taken by an independent board.