Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people were subject to legal action for camping on National Trust property in each of the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS does not collect this information from the National Trust. It is an independent charity, not a departmental Arm’s Length Body. Queries on this matter are best passed to the National Trust directly.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people were fined for littering on National Trust property in the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS does not collect this information from the National Trust. It is an independent charity, not a departmental Arm’s Length Body. Queries on this matter are best passed to the National Trust directly.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the national expansion of the blue plaques scheme on the cultural heritage of Hendon constituency.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The blue plaque scheme plays an important role in championing local cultural heritage, and its expansion will ensure that more places around the country will be able to commemorate local people who made their mark on national (and international) life.
The national expansion will build on the success of the London scheme operated by English Heritage, which covers the Hendon constituency, and which is now more than 1,000 blue plaques strong. The London scheme remains open for nominations via the English Heritage website. There are 19 blue plaques in the London Borough of Barnet, including ones dedicated to the football manager Herbert Chapman, the music hall comedian Little Tich, and Juan Pujol Garcia, also known as Agent Garbo.
Public nominations for the national blue plaques scheme will be launched at the end of May and will invite nominations from people across England to celebrate inspirational figures who deserve commemoration. The scheme, which is being developed and led by Historic England, recognises that every place has a unique story to tell, and will help communities across England discover the history and cultural heritage on our doorsteps.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Swimming Pool Support Fund on (a) the Copthall pools and (b) other leisure facilities in the Hendon constituency.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities. In 2023/24, the Government has provided over £60 million additional funding to support operating costs and help improve energy efficiency of facilities through the Swimming Pool Support Fund, delivered via Sport England.
Announcement of successful Swimming Pool Support Fund (SPSF) Phase I revenue funding awards was made by Sport England and on gov.uk on 4 November 2023. The fund was significantly oversubscribed and as a result we were unfortunately not able to fund all centres who applied. The criteria considered a range of factors including: financial need; the risk of closure; the proximity to other swimming pools providing public swimming access, and the level of demand for the facility.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what targets her Department has set to help achieve the Government's commitments on net zero.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government set out how we would meet our commitments in the Net Zero Strategy in 2021 which included a detailed breakdown of actions required across all sectors in the economy. This was updated in 2023 through the publication of ‘Powering Up Britain’.
The UK has halved its emissions, ahead of every other major economy, and we have grown our economy by over 70% since 1990. The UK over-achieved against the first and second carbon budgets, and the latest projections show that we are on track to meet the third.
We have one of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the world, and we have set more stretching targets for 2030 than most countries. We plan to cut emissions by 68% by 2030, which is more than the EU, Japan or the United States.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an alternative funding scheme to the licence fee for the BBC.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC is a great national institution and we want to ensure it is fit for the present and whatever the future holds.
That is why the Government has launched a review into how the BBC should be funded in the future, supported by a panel of independent experts soon to be announced from across the broadcasting sector and wider business world. It will assess a range of options for funding the BBC, and look at how alternative models could help secure the broadcaster’s long-term sustainability amid an evolving media landscape, increased competition and changing audience behaviour, while reducing the burden on licence fee payers.
The findings will inform the Charter Review, which is where any final decisions on changing the BBC’s funding model will be made by the Government.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has had recent discussions with (a) representatives and (b) Members of the Diversity in the Public Realm Commission on that initiative.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The department has held no recent discussions with representatives or members of the Diversity in the Public Realm Commission.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with (a) representatives and (b) all members of the Diversity in the Public Realm Commission.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The department has held no recent discussions with representatives or members of the Diversity in the Public Realm Commission.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with the Director General of the BBC on impartiality in its coverage of the Israel and Gaza conflict.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC has a duty to provide accurate and impartial news and information. That is particularly important when it comes to coverage of highly sensitive events. The BBC’s accuracy and impartiality is critical to viewer trust.
The events in Israel since 7 October are terrorist acts committed by a terrorist organisation, proscribed in the United Kingdom since 2021 and designated as such by many other governments and international organisations.
The BBC is editorially and operationally independent and decisions around its editorial policies and guidelines are therefore a matter for the BBC.
However, calling these acts what they are, and accurately labelling the perpetrators, helps audiences to understand what has happened, is happening and its context.
That is why the Secretary of State has communicated with the BBC, and with the public, her disappointment that the BBC has refused to describe Hamas as terrorists, or the atrocities it has carried out as terrorism. The Secretary of State made that point to the BBC on multiple occasions since the terrorist attacks on 7 October.
As the external independent regulator of the BBC, Ofcom is responsible for ensuring BBC coverage is duly impartial and accurate under the Broadcasting Code and BBC Charter. Ofcom has been clear that responsibility lies with the BBC to decide the vocabulary it uses to describe unfolding events. The Broadcasting Code does not prevent broadcasters referring to terrorist organisations, nor does it prevent them referring to Hamas as terrorists.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of competition between the BBC and the commercial radio sector.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The BBC has responsibilities set out in its Charter to avoid unnecessary adverse impacts on the market, including on the commercial radio sector. It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator of the BBC, to hold the BBC to account on this.
However, commercial radio now represents a majority (54% as of Q3 2023, according to RAJAR data) of radio listening in the UK, with BBC stations accounting for 44%.
The Government is currently undertaking the Mid-Term Review of the BBC’s Charter, which will look at how the BBC and Ofcom assess the market impact of the BBC in an evolving marketplace, and how that relates to the wider UK media ecology, including the commercial radio sector. We will publish the results of the review in due course.