Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ensure that cost is not a barrier to people accessing heritage visitor attractions in their area.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Many heritage visitor attractions are free to visit or offer schemes to support access, and DCMS-sponsored museums are free to enter for people of any age. The vast majority of the 400 sites in the National Heritage Collection, which is managed by English Heritage Trust on behalf of HM Government, are also free to enter. Where the charity does need to charge visitors an entry fee to support its work, it works to increase engagement with under-represented groups, so that everyone has the opportunity to connect with our shared heritage. English Heritage is also one of the largest providers of free school visits in the UK.
The National Lottery also runs ‘National Lottery Open Week’ which provides free admission for holders of a lottery ticket or scratch card at venues across the UK, including English Heritage Trust, Historic Royal Palaces, and National Trust properties.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that important items from national collections are shared with museums and galleries around the country.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Museums with national collections have a long history of loaning objects from their collection and touring exhibitions across the country. The 15 museums and museum groups directly sponsored by DCMS report annually on their UK loans and regional engagement, encouraging strategic dialogue between national collections to lend and foster collaborations, with data from 2022/23 showing that over 1,100 UK venues received loans. Non-national museums are also supported to borrow, through public funding, via Arts Council England, to organisations like the Touring Exhibition Group.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to help support libraries that have had a reduction in funding from local authorities.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service which meets local needs. It is for each local authority to consider how best to deliver this.
His Majesty’s Government has provided an additional £600 million on top of the £64 billion Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 — an increase of 7.5% in cash terms. This uplift will help to reduce pressure on councils’ budgets, and protect services including public libraries.
In addition, DCMS announced on 25 March that 43 library services in England would benefit from Round 3 of the Libraries Improvement Fund which is allocating £10.5 million across this financial year and next. The Fund has allocated £20.5 million since 2021 to public library services across England to support them to upgrade their buildings and improve digital infrastructure so that they are better placed to respond to the changing ways people want to use them.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that libraries are receiving adequate funding from local authorities.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service which meets local needs. It is for each local authority to consider how best to deliver this.
His Majesty’s Government has provided an additional £600 million on top of the £64 billion Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 — an increase of 7.5% in cash terms. This uplift will help to reduce pressure on councils’ budgets, and protect services including public libraries.
In addition, DCMS announced on 25 March that 43 library services in England would benefit from Round 3 of the Libraries Improvement Fund which is allocating £10.5 million across this financial year and next. The Fund has allocated £20.5 million since 2021 to public library services across England to support them to upgrade their buildings and improve digital infrastructure so that they are better placed to respond to the changing ways people want to use them.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase access to libraries.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We will be publishing a refreshed Government strategy for public libraries later this year. This will be informed by Baroness Sanderson’s independent review of English public libraries and will help ensure that people across the country can benefit from great public library services.
The DCMS-funded £20.5 million Libraries Improvement Fund (2021-2025) is supporting public library services in England. It is enabling them to upgrade their buildings and improve digital infrastructure, increasing their potential to develop more flexible spaces and improving digital access, thereby increasing library access and use.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that the visitor economy supports the maintenance and upkeep of heritage assets.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The visitor economy has a significant and positive impact on the support and maintenance of our heritage assets. In 2021, despite COVID-19 restrictions, there were over 119 million domestic day visits to heritage sites, 15 million domestic overnight heritage trips, and 2.74 million international visits to heritage sites, demonstrating that heritage is a major driver for both international and domestic tourism, and a key source of income for local people. Twenty-eight per cent of international visits include a castle or historic house, according to VisitBritain research.
The Tourism Recovery Plan, published in 2021, set out the Government's commitment to the enhancement and conservation of the country’s cultural heritage. Our investment in supporting the conservation of tourism assets included the £67 million in capital funding for maintenance and restoration projects for historic sites and destinations through the Heritage Stimulus Fund and National Lottery Heritage Fund Kickstarter funds. We have also established the Tourism Industry Council Working Group on Sustainability with the British Tourism Authority to drive forward this objective.
Following the Review into Destination Management Organisations, the new Local Visitor Economy Partnership accreditation programme will ensure that organisations work in collaboration locally, regionally, and nationally on shared priorities and targets. This includes marketing and promotion of local cultural heritage sites and destinations. There are now 30 newly accredited Local Visitor Economy Partnerships across England.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will develop a national register of (a) the condition and (b) maintenance requirements of heritage assets.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The heritage assets most at risk of loss or irreparable damage are already captured through Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. This tool is used to map the assets at risk, and to improve the likelihood of solutions being found.
Significant funding is currently distributed to heritage assets across the country, both through Government and our key partners, such as Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Historic England works to remove buildings from the Register, working with local decision-makers to alleviate risk by facilitating repairs, finding new uses for assets which are unoccupied but capable of reuse, and pursuing creative solutions to sustain those which are not. Historic England also targets the investment of its grants where reducing risk will bring the greatest benefits, an approach which has proved highly successful in its £95 million High Street Heritage Action Zones programme.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing people under of the age of 16 with free access to (a) museums, (b) galleries and (c) heritage assets.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS sponsored museums are already free to enter for people of any age. HM Government also operates a VAT refund scheme (known as section 33a), for other museums offering free entry across the UK, with 159 museums currently benefiting from it.
Many museums, galleries and heritage sites also offer free or discounted entry to young people specifically, both through general admission or educational events and activities inside and outside school. For example, English Heritage, which manages the National Heritage Collection, offers free entry to pre-booked schools and other learning groups at any of the 400+ historic places in its care.
HM Government recognises and celebrates the critical role that museums and heritage organisations have in delivering education and supporting the national curriculum, and funds Arts Council England and Historic England to deliver the Museums and Schools and Heritage Schools programmes.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to introduce a Football Governance Bill.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Football Governance Bill was introduced to Parliament on 19 March 2024.
This delivers on the Government's longstanding commitment to protect the national game. By establishing an Independent Football Regulator we are safeguarding the future of clubs for the benefit of communities and fans.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she had discussions with the Secretary of State for Education on increasing children's access to (a) music, (b) drama, (c) dance and (d) other arts and cultural activities out of school.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ministers in both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education have regular discussions on a range of subjects, including the development of their joint Cultural Education Plan, as committed to in the DfE’s Schools White Paper, which aims to support for all children and young people (aged 0–18) to access a broad range of high-quality cultural education subjects, activities, and experiences in and out of school. This includes encouraging engagement and partnerships between schools and cultural providers out of school, such as public libraries, theatres and museums.
The Government also published a new National Plan for Music Education in June 2022. This refreshed plan, The Power of Music to Change Lives, aims to level up music opportunities for all children and young people, regardless of circumstance, needs or geography, in addition to raising the profile and time spent on music lessons in school. We are making £25 million of new funding available to purchase hundreds of thousands of musical instruments and equipment for young people, including adaptive instruments for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities so more young people can find and explore a passion for music.