Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish the Community Life Survey 2021-2022.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Community Life Survey 2021-2022 is due to be published in February 2023. Further details on the exact publication date will be released by the end of January at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/community-life-survey
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the value of the current and future role of the Your School Games programme; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing increased funding for that programme for the National Network of School Games Organisers.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Sport and physical activity provide important physical and mental health benefits and also help to develop vital social connections and leadership skills that will set young people up for life.
The Government is committed to ensuring that children and young people can be physically active and to increase the chances for children to take part in competitive sport.
The School Games form a key part of this. In the academic year 2021/22, the School Games delivered over 2.19 million participation opportunities and 2,500 events across the country, with an equal number of boys and girls taking part.
The Government confirmed that the School Games Organisers will continue for the 2022/23 academic year and is considering the position beyond that point.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is for the Department's response to the consultation on the English portion of dormant assets funding.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The consultation on the English portion of dormant assets funding closed on Sunday 9 October and received over 3,300 responses.
The consultation has enabled the public, civil society sector, and the Dormant Assets Scheme’s voluntary industry participants to have their say in how funds are spent in England.
The Government is considering all responses and plans to publish a response in early 2023 setting out the future social and/or environmental purposes of the English portion.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of provisions for autistic children to attend (a) major sporting events and (b) Premier league football games.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As set out in the National Autism Strategy published in 2021, the government aims to encourage businesses and organisations across the country to take steps to become more autism friendly to help tackle exclusion, loneliness and social isolation. As part of this, we expect sports organisations and major sporting events to do all they can to ensure autistic spectators have the best possible experience.
In 2016, the Premier League, alongside The Shippey Campaign and The Lord’s Taverners, launched a programme to fund sensory rooms in 20 top-flight clubs. These provide a more comfortable and appropriate environment for autistic children to watch football matches. They are in use at several Premier League clubs including Chelsea FC, Manchester City FC and Arsenal FC.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 ensure the adequacy and effectiveness of the (a) Gambling Commission and (b) Financial Conduct Authority, in the context of the collapse of Football Index.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The independent review into the regulation of Football Index, undertaken by Malcolm Sheehan QC and published last September, identified lessons to be learnt and provided recommendations for both the Gambling Commission and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Both regulators have taken steps to address the issues identified in the report. The Gambling Commission has updated the frameworks for risk based regulation so that product novelty is properly considered alongside other factors in determining the level of scrutiny an operator is placed under. The Commission has also consulted on tighter rules for the terminology used to describe gambling products.
The Commission and FCA have also worked together to strengthen their Memorandum of Understanding in response to Mr Sheehan’s recommendations, including with new escalation routes and commitments on timeliness of responses to ensure regulatory impasses can not remain unsolved. The FCA has additionally nominated an Executive Director to oversee the relationship with the Commission.
Our Review of the Gambling Act 2005 called for evidence on the powers and resources of the Commission and how it uses them, and we will publish a White Paper in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities in offering swimming lessons to children.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools and swimming lessons. Swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy as well as being a crucial life skill in terms of water safety. Swimming and water safety is an important part of the primary PE curriculum. The Government has published national guidance encouraging primary schools to use their share of the £320 million PE and Sport Premium to fund additional swimming lessons and train teachers.
The Government has provided a range of support for swimming pools during the pandemic. The £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country. Sport England continues to invest in access to swimming, awarding £9,112,544 in grassroots swimming and diving since 2019, including £6,230,502 directly to Swim England. This supports Swim England’s work to develop the swimming workforce, including the Institute of Swimming which delivers training for swimming teachers.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding her Department has provided to the Rugby Football League since 2017; and on what projects that funding has been spent.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
I am looking forward to welcoming teams from across the world to the Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup which will take place in October and November. As part of this, the government has provided £10 million worth of funding to the CreatedBy legacy programme to support the development of large and small scale projects.
The Rugby Football League has received support from the government’s £600 million Sport Survival Package which ensured the survival of sports organisations throughout the pandemic. The Rugby Football League received £16.7 million loan support and £1.95 million grant support from the package, totalling £18.6 million of combined funding. This funding has safeguarded the immediate future of the sport for the communities it serves.
Furthermore, rugby league clubs will have benefitted from the £220m of National Lottery and Exchequer funding committed by Sport England since March 2020 to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic.