Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring publicly funded broadcasters to provide all entertainment content on free to access digital platforms 10 years after first transmission.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is supportive of a modern system of public service broadcasting (PSB) that remains relevant and can continue to meet the needs of UK audiences in the future.
Ensuring that content is universally available on a free-to-air basis is a core tenet of PSB, and the government is committed to ensuring this remains the case. This means that PSB content should be delivered via technologies that are commonly available, familiar to audiences, and offer a high-quality viewing experience.
As independent organisations, the UK’s two publicly funded broadcasters – the BBC and S4C – are responsible for negotiating the length of time for which entertainment content is available on their platforms with producers and other rights holders. At present, the BBC allows access to most of its programmes for at least one year on the BBC iPlayer and S4C allows access to its programmes for up to 150 days on Clic.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the depth that HMT Empire Windrush lies at.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government has adopted as best practice the Rules set out in the Annex to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. The Rules indicate that the protection of underwater cultural heritage through in situ preservation should be considered as the first option. Consequently, no estimate has been made of the cost of recovering the anchor of HMT Empire Windrush (the wreck of which is understood to lie at a depth of c. 8,500 ft, 23 nautical miles off the coast of Algeria).
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an estimate of the cost of raising the anchor of HMT Empire Windrush.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government has adopted as best practice the Rules set out in the Annex to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. The Rules indicate that the protection of underwater cultural heritage through in situ preservation should be considered as the first option. Consequently, no estimate has been made of the cost of recovering the anchor of HMT Empire Windrush (the wreck of which is understood to lie at a depth of c. 8,500 ft, 23 nautical miles off the coast of Algeria).
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how his Department enforces the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 in foreign and international waters.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The powers conferred by the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 relate to wreck sites located in UK territorial waters. They do not extend to those located in the territorial waters of other nations or in international waters.
Currently, 54 wreck sites located in UK territorial waters adjacent to England, and 1 wreck site located in UK territorial waters adjacent to Northern Ireland, are protected under the terms of section 1 of the 1973 Act (‘protection of sites of historic wrecks’).
Responsibility for the operation of section 1 of the 1973 Act in Scotland and Wales is a devolved matter. The number of wreck sites currently protected under the terms of section 1 of the 1973 Act in UK territorial waters adjacent to Scotland and Wales is understood to be 0 and 6, respectively.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many maritime wrecks in overseas waters of (a) historic, (b) archaeological and (c) artistic importance have been designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The powers conferred by the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 relate to wreck sites located in UK territorial waters. They do not extend to those located in the territorial waters of other nations or in international waters.
Currently, 54 wreck sites located in UK territorial waters adjacent to England, and 1 wreck site located in UK territorial waters adjacent to Northern Ireland, are protected under the terms of section 1 of the 1973 Act (‘protection of sites of historic wrecks’).
Responsibility for the operation of section 1 of the 1973 Act in Scotland and Wales is a devolved matter. The number of wreck sites currently protected under the terms of section 1 of the 1973 Act in UK territorial waters adjacent to Scotland and Wales is understood to be 0 and 6, respectively.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many wrecks in UK territorial waters have been designated as of (a) historical, (b) archaeological and (c) artistic importance under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The powers conferred by the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 relate to wreck sites located in UK territorial waters. They do not extend to those located in the territorial waters of other nations or in international waters.
Currently, 54 wreck sites located in UK territorial waters adjacent to England, and 1 wreck site located in UK territorial waters adjacent to Northern Ireland, are protected under the terms of section 1 of the 1973 Act (‘protection of sites of historic wrecks’).
Responsibility for the operation of section 1 of the 1973 Act in Scotland and Wales is a devolved matter. The number of wreck sites currently protected under the terms of section 1 of the 1973 Act in UK territorial waters adjacent to Scotland and Wales is understood to be 0 and 6, respectively.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 the inbound tourism industry as part of the UK's economic recovery from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is taking a number of steps to support inbound tourism’s recovery from the pandemic. In total, at least £25 billion has been provided to the leisure, tourism and hospitality sector so far over the course of the pandemic - saving jobs and businesses across the UK.
The Tourism Recovery plan sets out the Government’s aim to recover domestic overnight trip volume and spend to 2019 levels by the end of 2022, and inbound visitor numbers and spend by the end of 2023 – both at least a year faster than independent forecasts predict. We will work with VisitBritain to welcome back international visitors as soon as it is safe to do so.
We are regularly engaging with travel industry bodies - such as UKInbound and the European Tour Operators Association - to monitor the pandemic’s impact and to further support the sector’s recovery.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 pandemic on the (a) inbound tourism and (B) the tourism economy in the UK.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
COVID-19 has had a significant impact on inbound tourism and the wider tourism industry. From last March, inbound flight arrivals were down 90% for over a year compared to 2019 levels, hotel occupancy far lower than normal, and the sector was closed for at least six of the last 12 months - more so in some parts of the country subject to local lockdowns last autumn.
We also know that tourism has been the sector most reliant on the government’s unprecedented package of support measures. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was crucial in saving tourism jobs, which at its peak supported 87% of hospitality and leisure businesses. In total, at least £25 billion has been provided to the leisure, tourism and hospitality sector so far over the course of the pandemic.
In June, we published the Tourism Recovery Plan to help the sector recover back to pre-pandemic levels and build back better for the future. The plan aims to recover domestic tourism to pre pandemic levels by 2022 and international tourism by 2023; both at least a year faster than independent forecasts predict.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what mechanisms are in place to audit information provided to his Department by (a) regulatory bodies and (b) non-departmental public bodies.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
All DCMS sponsored bodies are required to prepare their annual reports and accounts in accordance with their governing and other relevant legislation and the accounts directions given by this department and HMT PES papers as long as it does not supersede or affect compliance with their governing legislation.The ALB annual reports are audited and published on their own websites and on gov.uk. Similar to other government departments DCMS produces consolidated group accounts annually which includes all ALBs within its accounting boundary which are audited by the NAO. The most recent set of audited DCMS consolidated group accounts for 19-20 were published on gov.uk in December 2020. The DCMS Group audit for 20-21 is currently in progress and we expect to lay the accounts in parliament later in the year.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the extension of School Games Organiser contracts is planned to be announced.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Physical education (PE) and school sport plays an important role in supporting children and young people to be physically active, particularly during the current COVID-19 restrictions. The Department is working with the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care on how to support better PE, sport and physical activity provision for all children and young people. This is part of our continuing work to deliver our joint school sport and activity action plan, published in 2019.
I can confirm that the School Games Organisers are now fully funded for the 2021/22 financial year. Funding beyond that point will be subject to future Government Spending Review decisions.