Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what (a) EU agencies and other organisations within her Department's remit the Government plans to withdraw from when the UK leaves the EU, (b) staff time was spent on engagement with those bodies and (c) financial resources were spent on engagement with those bodies in 2015-16.
Answered by Matt Hancock
As set out in the recent White Paper (The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union), the Government will discuss with the EU and Member States our future status and arrangements with regard to EU agencies. It would not be appropriate to prejudge the outcome of the negotiations
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of households in which the occupants qualify for free television licences that will make voluntary payments in each year up to 2022.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government has agreed that the BBC will be able to ask for voluntary payment of the licence fee from those aged 75 and over who are entitled to a free licence. We are working with the BBC to implement the legal aspects of this agreement, but the number of households which may choose to make such a payment is unknown.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 50 of the White Paper, A BBC for the future: a broadcaster of distinction, published in May 2016, if he will publish details of the appointment process for members of the new BBC unitary board.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
As a result of the proposals set out in the White Paper the BBC, for the first time, will be responsible for appointing at least half of its own board members. This approach will enhance the independence of the BBC and its Board. For the public appointments to the new Unitary Board, these will be made in line with OCPA processes, with final approval coming from the Queen's Council. Appointments made by the BBC to the new board will also follow public appointments best practice, including independent members on the selection panels.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 50 of the White Paper, A BBC for the future: a broadcaster of distinction, published in May 2016, if he will publish details of the public appointments process for the chair, deputy chair and non-executive members from the four nations of the UK for the new BBC unitary board.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
As a result of the proposals set out in the White Paper the BBC, for the first time, will be responsible for appointing at least half of its own board members. This approach will enhance the independence of the BBC and its Board. For the public appointments to the new Unitary Board, these will be made in line with OCPA processes. With particular reference to the appointment of the four national representatives the Government's intention is to follow the existing protocol of involving each of the devolved administrations in the process for the relevant representative.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to pages 13 and 39 of the White Paper, A BBC for the future: a broadcaster of distinction, published in May 2016, what his Department plans to spend the £85 million of new funding for the World Service on.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The additional Government funding for the BBC World Service was agreed as part of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 and will be provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It will be used to provide additional language services subject to agreement by the Foreign Secretary and the BBC Trust.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Culture and Digital Economy of 23 May 2016, Official Report, column 371, what estimate his Department has made of the number of households that will not request broadband access under the broadband universal service obligation.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
We do not yet have a specific estimate for the future take-up under the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO). Once in place the USO will act as a safety net giving homes and businesses the right to a fast broadband connection of at least 10 Mbps where superfast broadband is not available. Superfast broadband is available to 90% of premises, up from 45% in 2010 and roll-out will continue when the Government’s target of at least 95% superfast broadband coverage by the end of 2017 has been met. The Government is committed to reinvesting funding to extend superfast broadband to as many rural homes and businesses as possible.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how his Department plans to allow rural communities to table collective requests for broadband connections.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom has been commissioned to provide technical analysis and recommendations to help inform the design of the broadband Universal Service Obligation. One of the issues that they have been asked to advise on is how individual consumer requests for a broadband connection can be aggregated so that communities can benefit. Ofcom have published a call for inputs to support this work, which will run until 23rd June and this is available at:- http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/broadband-USO-CFI/ Ofcom has been asked to report on its findings by the end of the year.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of how much people in rural areas will have to contribute to receive a basic 10 Mbit/s broadband connection as a result of his Department's decision not to automatically roll-out broadband to all households and businesses.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
This information is not yet available. Ofcom's call for evidence on the the design of the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) invites views on how a reasonable cost threshold for a broadband connection might be determined. The new broadband USO will give all households and businesses the legal right to request a fast broadband connection. This would work similarly to the telephone USO, where there is a reasonable cost threshold above which the hardest to reach properties are expected to contribute to the cost of the installation.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the Government's targets for participation in grassroots football were for (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14, (e) 2014-15 and (f) 2015-16.
Answered by David Evennett
Through Sport England's Whole Sport Plan process the FA has been challenged each year to demonstrate an increase in the number of people playing grassroots football in this country. In 2010/11 the target number of people aged 16 and over playing football for at least 30 minutes every week was 2,219,700; in 2011/12 it was 2,257,200; in 2012/13 it was 2,294,700; in 2013/14 it was 2,150,050; in 2014/15 it was 2,208,902 and in 2015/16 it is 2,267,386.
As set out in 'Sporting Future', The Government has set out our intention to increase the number of people who engage in all types of sport and physical activity. However, from now on will move away from our historic focus on how many people are playing one sport or another at a particular moment to understanding how active people are overall. As part of this, we will also target funding at groups which have traditionally had lower participation rates, including by extending Sport England’s remit to engage people from as young as five, to help create a much healthier and more active nation.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his Department allocated to the Football Association in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14, (e) 2014-15 and (f) 2015-16.
Answered by David Evennett
Through Sport England the Government has invested a record £47.5 million in the Football Association (FA) directly since 2010 to help grow and sustain grassroots football participation in this country. That equates to £8,176,302m in 2010/11; £5,550,910m in 2011/12; £5,042,685 in 2012/13; £10,287,050m in 2013/14; £9,175,259m in 2014/15 and £9,345,964m over this last year.
Since 2010 the Government has also provided £10m each year to improving grassroots facilities in partnership with the FA and the Premier League through the Football Foundation, and we will look to invest a further £40m over the next 5 years to the FA's Parklife programme that aims to deliver 150 football hubs in 30 English cities by 2020. Funding for Parklife began in 2015/16.
The Government is also supporting the FA's aim to increase the number of qualified coaches in this country by providing £10m over the next 5 years up to 2020, with a particular emphasis on supporting coaches from under-represented groups. This builds on the £3m The Department for Culture Media and Sport provided to the FA in 2012 for that purpose.