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Written Question
Cinemas: Government Assistance
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has taken recent steps to support independent cinemas.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government recognises that cinemas are a hugely important part of the UK’s fantastic film industry and has been supporting them throughout the uncertainties of the past several years with the pandemic and rising energy costs.

We supported more than 200 independent cinemas through the pandemic, who received £34.4 million from the Culture Recovery Fund as well as benefiting from other pan-economy measures. The Government has also delivered an £18 billion package of support through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme supporting businesses - including cinemas, arts venues, and charities - through the winter.

The Government’s £500m Film and TV Production Restart Scheme also helped keep the cameras rolling at the other end of the screen supply chain. The scheme supported over 100,000 jobs and productions worth more than £3 billion. To build on this, and support the industry to not only survive but thrive, further actions have been taken. This includes the Government’s current £1.6 million annual funding of the British Film Commission, the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, and the continued success of our screen sector tax reliefs. This has been further bolstered at Spring Budget 2024 with the new UK Independent Film Tax Credit, with films with budgets up to £15 million being eligible for an increased benefit of 53% - which is estimated to increase spending on independent films by 70% before 2032.

The British Film Institute (BFI), a DCMS Arms Length Body, is also conscious of the pressures faced by the cinema sector. The BFI’s Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) is a collaboration of 8 film hubs, managed by leading film organisations and venues around the UK. Film hubs are centres of expertise and support that connect cinemas, festivals and creative practitioners. You can also read more about the National Lottery funding the BFI makes available to bring film to a wider UK audience, including through BFI FAN, at: https://www.bfi.org.uk/get-funding-support/bring-film-wider-uk-audience.


Written Question
Local Broadcasting: Rural Areas
Wednesday 15th November 2023

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of households in rural communities have full access to (a) television and (b) local radio services.

Answered by John Whittingdale

Freeview currently reaches nearly 99% of UK households. However, good terrestrial television signals may not be available to all households in rural areas due to a number of factors including local topography and spectrum availability. In these cases, Everyone TV – the organisation responsible for the day-to-day running of Freeview – advises that viewers consider other options to access free-to-air television such as the satellite service Freesat, which provides near total coverage in the UK.

Details of local radio coverage provided have been published by Ofcom in May 2022 and are available here.

More detailed data on the usage of free-to-air radio and TV is available from a variety of sources. For example, Ofcom produces its Media Nations report which reviews key trends in the media sector and sets out how audiences are served across the UK. The most recent report was published in August 2023 and can be found here. Ofcom also publishes the results of a number of annual surveys addressing these issues, as well as an interactive data set in the form of its annual Communications Market Report. Many of these publications include relevant analysis broken down by geographic area.


Written Question
Sports: Finance
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding the Government provides to grassroots sports clubs in England.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of their age or background, is able to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that sport and physical activity provide.

We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. To help achieve this, Government is investing over £300 million between 2021 and 2025 to make essential facility improvements at grassroots sports clubs.

In 2021/22, 177 grassroots facilities projects across the UK were supported through the Football Foundation in England and the Football Associations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This includes the creation or resurfacing of over 80 artificial grass pitches, over 20 grass pitch improvements, and other projects such as changing rooms, floodlights and goalposts. Over 1,600 sites benefitted from funding in 2022/23 across a similar range of projects, improving both provision and quality of pitches.

We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arms Length Body, Sport England. Every year, Sport England invests over £250 million of National Lottery and public money to help people engage in sport and physical activity. Funding pots like the Small Grants and the Active Together programme offer over £18 million of funding for grassroots clubs across England to help get local communities active and to support clubs through specific issues such as adverse weather.


Written Question
Television: Rural Areas
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

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 ensure access to digital terrestrial television in rural communities.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The Government remains committed to digital terrestrial television (DTT), the technology which underpins Freeview. Millions of households across the UK rely on DTT, particularly rural communities and older people.

While Freeview currently reaches nearly 99% of UK households, good terrestrial television signals may not be available to all households due to a number of factors such as local topography and spectrum availability. In these cases, Everyone TV – the organisation responsible for the day-to-day running of Freeview – advises that viewers consider other options to access free-to-air television such as the satellite service Freesat, which has total coverage in the UK.

The Government recognises the crucial role that DTT services such as Freeview play in the wider UK broadcasting system, in particular in helping ensure that public service content continues to be widely available and free-to-air to all audiences. For these reasons, we have legislated to secure the continuity of DTT until at least 2034.

We have also recently launched a major research and engagement programme looking at how UK audiences will get their TV in the decades to come, including digital terrestrial television (DTT), satellite, cable, and online.

Before any decisions about the future of terrestrial television are made, close consideration will be given to how any changes would impact audiences, and especially those who rely on DTT as their primary means of watching television.


Written Question
Sports: Rural Areas
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

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 support sports clubs in rural areas.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. This includes bold targets to reach communities with the lowest levels of physical activity.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arms Length Body, Sport England. Since 2019, we have invested over £773,000 in the Penrith and Borders area supporting projects such as the refurbishment of the Hunsonby Community Centre, the Wigton Baths Trust and the Castle Park tennis project. A further £50,000 has been invested in the area as part of the Multi-Sports Grassroots Facilities Investment programme, providing funding for new goalposts, floodlights and improving grass pitch surfaces.

Building on their 12 local delivery pilot areas in areas such as Withernsea, Sport England is expanding their place-based work so that at least 75% of their investment is committed to areas with the lowest levels of physical activity and social outcomes.

Sport England are using a range of data sources to inform this approach, including physical activity data from the Active Lives Surveys as well as wider social data including IMD, community need and health inequalities data. These datasets help to identify a range of communities, including rural communities, across England that need support to become more active.


Written Question
Sports: Electronic Cigarettes
Wednesday 12th July 2023

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July to Question 191414 on Sports: Electronic Cigarettes, if her Department will collect information on the level of sponsorship of sports teams by vaping companies.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The department does not currently plan to assess the levels of sponsorships by vaping companies in sport, or the level of vaping advertising more broadly. Sports are responsible for their own commercial deals.


Written Question
Sports: Electronic Cigarettes
Wednesday 12th July 2023

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July to Question 191413 on Sports: Electronic Cigarettes, if her Department will collect information on the level of advertising by vaping companies.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The department does not currently plan to assess the levels of sponsorships by vaping companies in sport, or the level of vaping advertising more broadly. Sports are responsible for their own commercial deals.


Written Question
Sports: Electronic Cigarettes
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

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 (a) of levels of sponsorship of sports teams by vaping companies and (b) the potential implications of those levels for her Department's policies.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

No assessment has been made by the department into levels of sponsorships by vaping companies in sport. Sports are responsible for their own commercial deals.


Written Question
Sports: Electronic Cigarettes
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

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 (a) of levels of sports advertising by vaping companies and (b) the potential implications of those levels for her Department's policies.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

No assessment has been made by the department into levels of sponsorships by vaping companies in sport. Sports are responsible for their own commercial deals.


Written Question
Electronic Cigarettes: Advertising
Thursday 8th June 2023

Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)

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 a ban on vaping advertisements on levels of vaping.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is responsible for regulating advertising in the UK. The ASA already has rules in place that prohibit adverts for nicotine-containing vapes not licensed as medicines from appearing on TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and periodicals, online, and in commercial emails and text messages. Only a small number of nicotine-containing vaping adverts are permitted, and the ASA requires all vaping advertising to be socially responsible and not be placed in media targeted at under-18s or in media where more than 25% of its audience is under-18.

The Government currently has no plans to further ban the advertising of vaping products; however, we are working to close the loophole allowing retailers to give free samples of nicotine-containing vapes to children in England. Additional reviews are being carried out into banning retailers selling nicotine-free vapes to under-18s, and the rules on issuing fines to shops that illegally sell vapes to children. In April, we launched a call for evidence to explore where we can go further to reduce youth vaping, which closes on 6 June. This will help us explore where we can go further to reduce the number of children accessing and using vape products. We are also examining the regulatory model for online advertising to ensure it protects consumers and minimises harm through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Online Advertising Programme. The consultation closed last year, and we will be publishing a Government response in due course.