Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much their Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) marketing in each of the last three years.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Total spend with our media buying and planning agencies for the last three financial years is as follows:
Financial years under the previous government
22/23 | 23/24 |
£313,854 | £110,818 |
23red (creative agency, media planner); OmniGov (media buyers) | OmniGov (media planners and buyers) |
Financial years under the previous and current government
24/25 |
£59,433 |
OmniGov (media planners and buyers) |
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 support independent museums.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government supports independent museums around the country through funding delivered via Arts Council England (ACE), with ACE investing over £80 million in museums in 2025/26 across its programmes. This funding includes £25 million to support museums across England with urgent infrastructure and maintenance backlogs through the Museum Estate and Development Fund, and a brand new £20 million Museum Renewal Fund, both announced last February, in addition to core programming funding for the over 200 museum sites forming part of the National Portfolio. As the National Development Agency for Museums, ACE also funds the Museum Development Network, providing expert advice to smaller museums across the country, and delivers Cultural Property functions that support museums with everything from insurance, to new acquisitions.
Most recently, eligible independent museums could apply to the latest round of the £4 million DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, launched in September 2025 to support local and regional museums to improve displays, enhance collections care and make exhibitions more accessible to wider audiences. Independent museums are also supported through government schemes including the VAT Refund Scheme for museums and galleries, and the Museums and Galleries Exhibitions Tax Relief.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 increase the provision of visually impaired sport in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) the UK.
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. We are committed to breaking down the barriers that contribute to the persisting inequalities in participation and want to ensure that everyone can experience the physical, mental and social benefits that come with being active.
To achieve this, the Government works closely with its Arm's Length Bodies, Sport England and UK Sport, as well as other partners in the sector, to improve access to sports for all.
Sport England's ten-year Uniting the Movement strategy reinforces its commitment to increasing participation in sport and physical activity for those from under-represented groups, including disabled people. Sport England has ensured that each of their programmes impact directly on disabled people and those with a long-term health condition, with initiatives like the 'We are Undefeatable' campaign and partnerships with Disability Rights UK, Activity Alliance, Aspire, and Sense.
Sport England also launched a partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People and British Blind Sport in 2021. This involved investing £1 million into the See Sport Differently programme, which has been designed to tackle the biggest barriers that stop blind and partially blind people from getting involved in sport and activity.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 increase the provision of disability sport in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) the UK.
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. We are committed to breaking down the barriers that contribute to the persisting inequalities in participation and want to ensure that everyone can experience the physical, mental and social benefits that come with being active.
To achieve this, the Government works closely with its Arm's Length Bodies, Sport England and UK Sport, as well as other partners in the sector, to improve access to sports for all.
Sport England's ten-year Uniting the Movement strategy reinforces its commitment to increasing participation in sport and physical activity for those from under-represented groups, including disabled people. Sport England has ensured that each of their programmes impact directly on disabled people and those with a long-term health condition, with initiatives like the 'We are Undefeatable' campaign and partnerships with Disability Rights UK, Activity Alliance, Aspire, and Sense.
Sport England also launched a partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People and British Blind Sport in 2021. This involved investing £1 million into the See Sport Differently programme, which has been designed to tackle the biggest barriers that stop blind and partially blind people from getting involved in sport and activity.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 improve availability of grassroots football facilities in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that communities across the UK benefit from high-quality sport facilities - including new and improved pitches, changing rooms, goalposts and floodlights - to help enable people to get active and build pride in place in local communities.
In 2024/25, the constituency of Ashfield received a total of £1,849,232 from DCMS’s Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities programme, primarily towards a new artificial grass pitch and changing pavilion at Sutton Lawn Pleasure Ground.
This programme is investing a further £98 million towards new and upgraded sports facilities across the whole of the UK in 2025/26. At least £400 million more will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities between 2026 and 2030. DCMS is working with the sports sector and local leaders to develop plans for delivering this funding, ensuring that investment best serves the needs of local communities, in the areas which need it most across the UK.
Our delivery partner in England, the Football Foundation, plans its investment pipeline using Local Football Facility Plans (LFFPs), which are developed in partnership with local authorities in line with the needs of each community. The LFFP for Ashfield can be found at https://localplans.footballfoundation.org.uk/local-authorities-index/ashfield/ashfield-executive-summary/.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 promote UK tourism in other countries.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS works with the national tourism agency, VisitBritain, to champion visits to Britain to a worldwide audience with the aim of ensuring that the economic benefits of tourism are felt by all regions and nations.
To drive more inbound visits across Britain, VisitBritain launched a global screen tourism campaign ‘’Starring Great Britain’’ in January 2025. The campaign uses the country's rich film and television history as a hook to inspire visitors to explore diverse and often rural destinations. The launch was supported by a wider advertising campaign across the UK’s largest and most valuable inbound visitor markets including Australia, the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, France, Germany and the USA.
The Government is committed to supporting the sector through the forthcoming Visitor Economy Growth Plan, which will set out a long term plan to increase visitor flows across the UK, boost value, and deliver sustainable growth.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, we are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.
Civil Service recruitment must follow the rules set out in legislation within the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaGA) 2010 which outlines the requirements to ensure that civil servants are recruited on merit, via fair and open competition.
Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) accredits life chance recruitment pathways across government. GFiE pathways recruit people from a wide range of backgrounds into the Civil Service, including people from low socio- economic backgrounds, prison leavers, veterans, carers and care leavers. People recruited by GFiE develop skills, gain experience and build a career, contributing to the Opportunity Mission and to the wider economy.
In the last year, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport participated in the Care Leavers Internship Pathway.
In relation to internships in the last year, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport participated in the Civil Service Summer Internship Programme and the Autism Exchange Internship Programme.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what criteria her Department uses to choose sites for the tentative list for nominative UK sites to become UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS carried out a review of the UK’s Tentative List in 2022/23 under the previous government. The process and application forms are available online, outlining the information required for assessment and the need to demonstrate the potential for Outstanding Universal Value.
UNESCO encourages Tentative Lists to be reviewed and updated every ten years. We do not expect the next review of the UK’s Tentative List to take place until 2033 at the earliest.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to increase the number of venues offering curling rinks in England.
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: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of crime on inbound tourism to the UK.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
While DCMS has not made a specific assessment of the impact of crime on inbound tourism, we work closely with the Home Office, police and local partners to ensure that visitors to the UK have a safe and enjoyable experience.
Through our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we will place thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers in neighbourhood policing roles. This will provide a more visible and effective service to the public, with each neighbourhood having a named, contactable officer dealing with local issues, including robbery and theft from the person.
The Government recognises the serious impact that crime has on public safety, both in terms of the harm caused to victims and the wider implications for tourism.