Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Joint Council for Qualifications' findings that (a) between 2010 to 2021 in England there was a serious decline of -38 per cent in the number of arts GCSE entries, from 673,739 in 2010 to 419,357 in 2021 and (b) from 2010 to 2019 the number of teachers in arts based subjects fell by 23 per cent, what steps her Department plans to take to promote arts and culture for disadvantaged young people (i) in traditional educational settings and (ii) more widely.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Art and design and music are compulsory in the National Curriculum in all maintained schools from the age of 5 to the age of 14, and academies are also required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, which Ofsted considers in their inspections. At key stage 4 all pupils in maintained schools have an entitlement to study an arts GCSE if they wish.
The Government has a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes that are designed to improve access to the arts for all children, regardless of their background, and to develop talent across the country. The Department for Education have commited to invest around £115 million per annum in cultural education over the next three years and we will work closely together to ensure that all children and young people, regardless of their background, have the opportunity to access arts and culture and develop their creative talents.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of state funding for grassroots sports across the UK; and what plans the Government has to increase that funding in response to achievements at the Tokyo Olympics and the European Championships.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and all generations and communities should be able to enjoy the health, wellbeing, social and other benefits of being active. Because of this, we made sure that people could exercise at least once a day even during the height of the first period of enhanced national restrictions and we opened up grassroots sport and leisure facilities as soon as it was safe to do so.
National pride in our Olympic and Paralympic heroes has provided a source of genuine inspiration and motivation for the public. On 15th August, the Government announced that it will provide £232 million to support Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The £232 million will be invested into aspiring Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes as well as their coaches and support staff, in addition to funding from the National Lottery.
In recognition of how the sector has been impacted by the pandemic working closely with Sport England, UK Sport and the National Lottery, the Government have provided an unprecedented £1 billion to ensure the survival of the grassroots, elite and leisure sectors.
This includes the £220m Sport England has provided directly to support community sport clubs and exercise centres through this pandemic, including their £35 million Community Emergency Fund in supporting people to be more active, including a specific focus on those people who are inactive and engaging people from underrepresented groups.
On 26 January, Sport England also published their strategy ‘Uniting the Movement’ and as part of this have committed an extra £50million to help grassroots sports clubs and organisations affected by the coronavirus pandemic. This is on top of the £18m a year it spends on grassroots facilities through the Football Foundation.
The Government also announced an additional £25m for grassroots sports facilities earlier this year with the Prime Minister committing a further £50m in his Levelling Up speech on 15 July. These contributions are part of the government’s ambition to deliver the pitches that every community in the UK needs by 2030.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to empower football fans in response to failed plans by certain clubs to form a European Super League; and whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prevent clubs forming breakaway leagues in the future.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government was vocal in its opposition to the European Super League (ESL) proposals, which were not in the interests of the game, and I was glad to see the withdrawal of all English teams from the project.
The Government launched the fan-led review of football governance in the immediate aftermath of the ESL. The Chair, the Honourable Member for Chatham and Aylesford, has heard extensively with fans over the past few months including on the subject of supporter engagement. The interim report has already been published and I look forward to receiving its full recommendations in the autumn.
The Government has already taken action to prevent a future ESL breakaway. We have worked with The Football Association (FA) to amend the Governing Body Endorsement criteria document. This criteria has been amended to ensure that overseas players can now only participate in competitions that have been organised and/or sanctioned by The FA. This would exclude such players from participating in the ESL.
The Government continues to work with the football authorities to understand what further policy interventions may be possible though, including legislative options.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what timeframe he plans for the rollout of superfast broadband and improved broadband connection speeds throughout the Liverpool area to help support business recovery as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased and as part of the Government's levelling up agenda.
Answered by Matt Warman
Earlier Superfast contracts took place across Merseyside and were completed fully in March 2019. Across the two phases of the contract, 43,966 premises were connected to Superfast broadband.
Building Digital UK is looking at how to improve levels of gigabit-capable broadband across the UK, and has split the Project Gigabit programme into three phases of delivery. The programme will carry out a national Open Market Review with telecommunications providers across the country to establish which premises will not be covered by commercial plans for gigabit-capable broadband rollout in the coming 3 years. Merseyside and Greater Manchester are currently allocated as a single lot as part of the third phase of rollout which is expected to commence in 2022. At this stage, we will work with the local bodies in that region to highlight communities which require improved connectivity and the appropriate procurement processes for ensuring this takes place.
Furthermore, due to Liverpool’s location, it benefits from a large amount of commercial investment from telecommunications providers. BDUK will be working over the coming months to establish which specific premises are excluded from these plans, and how these can be specifically addressed as part of Project Gigabit.
Statistics according to Thinkbroadband which also takes into account the commercial build undertaken by suppliers are:
| Liverpool | Merseyside | UK |
Superfast (>24mbps) | 97.87% | 98.86% | 97.13% |
Superfast (>30mbps) | 97.85% | 98.78% | 96.82% |
Gigabit-capable broadband (>1000mbps) | 84.08% | 73.44% | 40.98% |
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how the £1.57 billion support package for the arts and culture sectors has been allocated.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
On 22nd August, the £3.36 million Emergency Grassroot Music Venues Fund was shared among 136 venues across England who applied for support to survive the imminent risk of collapse caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The first independent cinemas to be funded by the BFI grants were also announced on 2nd October. In total, 42 independent cinemas across England received a share of £654,883 in funding to preserve the local cultural offer and rescue organisations at risk of insolvency. As this is a rolling fund, more funding decisions regarding cinemas will be announced over the coming weeks. Awards for cinemas can include £10k to help with safety improvements and up to £200k available for business sustainability.
On Friday 9th October 445 heritage organisations were awarded £103 million from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage. Grants of up to £1m will deliver a lifeline for the heritage sector in England with further support to follow and larger grants for capital projects awarded through the Heritage Stimulus Fund.
On Monday 12th October Arts Council England awarded £257 million to over 1,300 organisations which applied for less than £1 million. The funding goes to theatres, galleries, performance groups, arts organisations, museums and local venues facing the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic to ensure they have a sustainable future.
Further announcements of how the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund will be allocated will be made in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
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 number of indoor sport and leisure facilities that have not reopened since the easing of covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. Outdoor swimming pools have been able to open from 11 July, and from 25 July indoor gyms, leisure centres (including sports halls) and swimming pools in England should be able to reopen. These facilities will be able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are COVID-secure and follow Government guidance.
Sport England have announced a £195 million package of support to help community clubs through this crisis. It recently boosted its Community Emergency Fund by a further £15 million to meet the demand, taking the total up to £210 million.
The income scheme announced on Thursday 2 July by the Secretary of State for Local Government, aims to support local authorities who have incurred irrecoverable loss of income from sales, fees and charge which they had reasonably budgeted for.
We are continuing to work across government to ensure the sector has the support it needs to continue providing their central role in helping people be active.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on support for public indoor sport facilities; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. Outdoor swimming pools have been able to open from 11 July, and from 25 July indoor gyms, leisure centres (including sports halls) and swimming pools in England should be able to reopen. These facilities will be able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are COVID-secure and follow Government guidance.
Sport England have announced a £195 million package of support to help community clubs through this crisis. It recently boosted its Community Emergency Fund by a further £15 million to meet the demand, taking the total up to £210 million.
The income scheme announced on Thursday 2 July by the Secretary of State for Local Government, aims to support local authorities who have incurred irrecoverable loss of income from sales, fees and charge which they had reasonably budgeted for.
We are continuing to work across government to ensure the sector has the support it needs to continue providing their central role in helping people be active.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help ensure that (a) community indoor tennis centres and (b) other public sport and leisure facilities do not close permanently following their mandatory closure as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. Outdoor swimming pools have been able to open from 11 July, and from 25 July indoor gyms, leisure centres (including sports halls) and swimming pools in England should be able to reopen. These facilities will be able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are COVID-secure and follow Government guidance.
Sport England have announced a £195 million package of support to help community clubs through this crisis. It recently boosted its Community Emergency Fund by a further £15 million to meet the demand, taking the total up to £210 million.
The income scheme announced on Thursday 2 July by the Secretary of State for Local Government, aims to support local authorities who have incurred irrecoverable loss of income from sales, fees and charge which they had reasonably budgeted for.
We are continuing to work across government to ensure the sector has the support it needs to continue providing their central role in helping people be active.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timeframe is to enable (a) non-league football and (b) amateur clubs to safely host small crowds at matches.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 18th August, the Government amended its guidance to provide extra clarification for organisers of non-elite sports events to help them manage and admit spectators safely, adhering to social distancing.
Non-league football clubs from level seven of the pyramid, below the National League North / South, can admit spectators in line with the FA’s definition of non-elite football.
We continue to work closely with all sports, including the interests of football from National League and above to support the safe return of spectators to stadia more widely from October 1st. As announced by the Prime Minister, this remains subject to successful pilots events and wider prevailing public health factors, both of which remain under active consideration.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to provide immediate (a) business and employment support packages and (b) access to finance for company directors in the (i) creative sector and (ii) night time economy.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a huge challenge to the creative and night time industries and the freelancers and the self-employed workers within it. The Government’s response has been one of the most generous and comprehensive in the world, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Bounceback Loan Scheme and business rates reliefs. In addition, the Government has adapted the welfare system so that the self-employed can access Universal Credit in full, to help people get quicker and more generous support when they need it most.
On Sunday 5 July 2020, the Secretary of State announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of cultural and creative sectors including some businesses operating in the night time economy.
We are working closely with DCMS’ Arm’s Length Bodies to develop guidance indicating who can apply for the different elements of this funding, and we will publish detailed guidance as soon as possible in July.