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Written Question
Rugby
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

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 the future sustainability of Rugby League.

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

Government has set out its ambitions for supporting the long-term sustainable growth of the sport sector in the new sport strategy, Get Active.

This includes supporting sports like Rugby League to access additional, alternative forms of investment to help the sector to continue to grow and thrive, and by highlighting best practice, good governance mechanisms, and opportunities offered by technology and innovation. This will allow sport to thrive for future generations, and support the continuation of our sporting institutions.


Written Question
Rugby
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has appointed independent advisors to help the Department's work on the future sustainability of Rugby League.

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

To support the Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby Limited on their plans for the future of professional Rugby Union, Government appointed Rugby Football League’s former CEO Ralph Rimmer and Chris Pilling of UK Sport to work with the sport’s authorities.

The independent advisers’ remit only extended to cover issues facing Rugby Union.


Written Question
Rugby: Expenditure
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department has spent on support for (a) Rugby Union and (b) Rugby League clubs in each year since 1 March 2020.

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

Government provides the majority of its support for Rugby Union and Rugby League through its arms-length body Sport England. A breakdown of funding for each year for both sports is outlined below:

Rugby Union

2020/21- £26,305,065 (includes £21,565,000 of COVID-19 Sport Winter Survival Package provided to the RFU)

2021/22 - £1,484,441

2022/23 - £15,185,674 (This includes £12,505,000 of System partner funding provided to the RFU to grow and develop the sport between the years 2022 and 2027)

2023/24 - £5,737,648

Rugby Union also received £160 million through the Sport Survival Package, helping professional and community sport clubs survive the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and ensure the continuation of sport competitions and events.

Rugby League

2020/21 - £7,044,354

2021/22 - £10,860,922

2022/23 - £10,849,990

2023/24 - £886,207 (The Sport England funding register is only updated to December 2023 at this point, so funding awarded since December has not been captured in this sum)

Rugby League also received £17.1 million through the Sport Survival Package, which included grant funding to support the delivery of the Rugby League World Cup in 2022.


Written Question
Football: Regulation
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on establishing an independent regulator for football.

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

The Government is on the side of football fans and the local communities that football clubs serve. We have a clear plan to deliver a sustainable future for football, with fans at its heart, and our legislation will deliver this through a new independent regulator as soon as parliamentary time allows.


Written Question
Rugby: Expenditure
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department has spent on support for grassroots amateur Rugby League clubs since 5 March 2021.

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

Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority and we recognise the importance that high quality facilities play in encouraging people to take part in sport and ensuring participation rates continue to grow. Our new strategy ‘Get Active’ sets out our unapologetic ambition to build a more active nation, with a target to get 3.5 million more people classed as ‘active’ by 2030.

Between 2021 and 2025, the UK Government has committed over £400 million to multi-sport grassroots facilities across the UK. This is all part of our mission to ensure every community has the pitches and facilities it needs.

We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s length body, Sport England - which receives £323m in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year. Since 2021, Sport England has provided over £22.6m of support to programmes which facilitate participation in grassroots rugby league.

In partnership with the National Lottery, Sport England has also supported the ‘CreatedBy’ capital grants programme. Which delivered £26.4m in legacy funding to celebrate England’s hosting of the 2022 Rugby League World Cup, providing investment in facilities and equipment to encourage participation.


Written Question
Music: Urban Areas
Wednesday 21st February 2024

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

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 the grime music scene in urban centres across England.

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

The Government is committed to supporting our world leading music sector, including at a grassroots level across the country. Grime music projects have been successful in applying for the Arts Council England’s (ACE’s) Supporting Grassroots Music Fund, to which the government last year committed an additional £5 million, taking our total investment through the Fund to almost £15 million. The Fund enables grassroots music organisations including venues, rehearsal and recording studios, festivals and promoters from all music genres to increase support for young, emerging and more diverse artists, improve equipment and physical infrastructure, and support them to be more financially resilient.

The Government also supports our world leading music industry through a range of export support programmes, including the Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) co-funded by DCMS and DBT. MEGS has supported over 300 musical acts from a range of genres and backgrounds, including grime artists, to grow their international profile and exports in global markets. As part of the Creative Industries Sector Vision we announced that funding for MEGS will be tripled to £3.2 million over the next two years, helping to support more artists than ever before.

DCMS works closely with ACE to develop and invest in artistic and cultural experiences to enrich people's lives. ACE offers a range of grants and support offers, such as Developing Your Creative Practice and Project Grants, which are open to applicants from any music genre or background. DCMS officials continue to engage with a diverse range of stakeholders from across the music industry to better understand issues and concerns and to identify opportunities to support.


Written Question
Charities: Finance
Wednesday 5th July 2023

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing the £100 million fund for frontline charities announced at the Spring Budget 2023; whether there will be deadlines for applications; and whether organisations in the violence against women and girls sector be able to apply for funding.

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

As announced in the Spring Budget, the Government will provide over £100 million of support for charities and community organisations in England.

Around three quarters of the £100 million funding package will be targeted this year towards those frontline organisations most at risk as a result of cost of living pressures, due to increased demand from vulnerable people and higher delivery costs. The other quarter will be used to provide investment in energy efficiency measures to help civil society organisations reduce their future operating costs.

Officials are working at pace to finalise the delivery time frames and eligibility criteria. Further details, including how to apply for funding, eligibility criteria and application deadlines, will be announced as soon as possible.


Written Question
Entertainments: Disease Control and Emergencies
Friday 30th June 2023

Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool, Wavertree)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has in place to support the entertainment industry in a (a) national emergency and (b) pandemic.

Answered by John Whittingdale

Responses to national emergencies and pandemics are led by the Cabinet Office, and the UK has well-developed contingency plans to respond to a wide range of scenarios.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) co-ordinated unprecedented levels of support for the cultural and creative sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to the Live Events Reinsurance Scheme, the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, and the Culture Recovery Fund. Evaluations and lessons learned from these schemes will allow the UK to respond effectively to any future scenario where similar initiatives may be required.

Following our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, DCMS has established a small, permanent incident response team which will coordinate across the Department and with the central response team in the event of a national emergency.


Written Question
Channel Four Television: Privatisation
Thursday 27th October 2022

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 her planned timetable is for publishing the reassessment of the business case to privatise Channel 4.

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

Channel 4 is a great UK success story and, in a rapidly changing media landscape, the government wants it to thrive in the long-term while maintaining its distinctiveness.

As set out in our recent white paper, Up Next - the government’s vision for the broadcasting sector, Channel 4 - along with all broadcasters - is facing challenges to its future success and sustainability. This is due to the rapidly evolving media landscape, including unprecedented competition for viewers, programmes and talent from overseas as well as new, rapidly growing, streaming platforms.

As the Secretary of State has said, she is carefully considering the business case for a sale of Channel 4 and we will set out more detail in due course.


Written Question
Youth Services: Disadvantaged
Wednesday 29th June 2022

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, whether her Department has plans to increase the funding allocated to youth services in areas of high deprivation.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Local Authorities have a statutory duty to allocate funding to youth services in line with local need. This is funded from the Local Government settlement, which was over £12 billion last year. DCMS is currently reviewing the guidance associated with the statutory duty.

The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people. The Government has committed to a National Youth Guarantee: that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. This will be supported by a three year £560 million investment in youth services, reflecting young people's priorities and addressing the inconsistencies in national youth spending, with a firm focus on levelling up.

The £368 million Youth Investment Fund will fund the construction or redevelopment of up to 300 youth facilities - such as small youth facilities, youth centres and activity centres - targeting investment in left-behind areas, where young people have the greatest need and lowest provision. Phase One of the Youth Investment Fund, administered by BBC Children in Need, has delivered £12 million of funding this year to over 400 local youth organisations in levelling up priority areas in England.