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 discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the impact of local authority spending on youth services.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the importance of local youth services. That’s why in England, between 2015 - 2021, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport provided over £1.1 billion to the youth sector. Furthermore, over this Spending Review Period, DCMS is investing over £500 million in youth services to deliver the National Youth Guarantee, a government commitment that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer.
Additionally, local authorities have a statutory duty to provide funding for youth services in line with local needs, and the Government worked closely with local authorities to set out updated statutory guidance to support these efforts.
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the definition of local broadcasting to mean content broadcast within the local licensing transmission area.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government recently consulted on the renewal of local TV licences. This consultation also addressed the current statutory objectives for local TV. Those objectives compel services to be distinctive and meet the needs and interests of those living or working in the locality they are received in.
The Government’s view, as set out in the consultation document, is that the current objectives still act as a pivotal framework for local TV services to operate within and provide clarity for providers when making local content. The objectives also ensure the main beneficiary of local TV output is the viewer and that the specific area and locality of the service remains at the heart of local content. Whilst we are not currently minded to amend the statutory objectives, we have sought stakeholder views on the matter through the consultation process. The consultation responses are currently being analysed and the Government will publish a response in due course.
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 has had recent discussions with the BBC on (a) local broadcasting and (b) the potential impact of its plans relating to local broadcasting on the (i) quality and (ii) availability of local content.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government remains disappointed that the BBC is planning to reduce parts of its local output. Ministers have met with the BBC on several occasions since the announcement where they have expressed our shared concerns in this House about the BBC’s plans.
While it is up to the BBC to decide how it delivers its services, the Government is clear that the BBC must make sure it continues to provide distinctive and genuinely local broadcasting services, with high-quality content that reflects and represents people and communities from all corners of the UK.
The Government expects Ofcom, as regulator of the BBC, to ensure the BBC is robustly held to account in delivering its public service duties. In the publication of the new Licence, which came into effect on 1 April, Ofcom set out that it requires the BBC to continue to deliver a broad range of UK content and play an important role in delivering local, regional and nations content. Ofcom will be monitoring the BBC’s performance closely and will step in if they are concerned the BBC is not delivering for audiences.
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 is she taking to increase the uptake of cultural compact initiatives by local authorities.
Answered by John Whittingdale
HM Government acknowledges and welcomes the positive role the Cultural Compacts initiative has played in forming local partnerships and increasing cultural activity and broader collaboration in places across the country.
Arts Council England has supported 30 Cultural Compacts across England – including in levelling up priority areas – and has committed to providing these existing Compacts with further funding to build capacity and long-term cross-sector relationships. Arts Council England has set itself a target of increasing the number of Cultural Compacts across England by 50% by the end of March 2024 and is in dialogue with partners in a number of places interested in setting them up.
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 availability of swimming (a) pools and (b) lessons for children.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Responsibility for public access to and maintenance of swimming pools lies at local authority level.
In recognition of the benefits of physical activity, including swimming, and the challenges facing the sector, we are providing over £60 million of support for swimming pools. This will help ease cost pressures facing public swimming pool providers and help make facilities sustainable in the long-term through investment in energy efficiency measures. The funding is being delivered in partnership with Sport England and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, following extensive consultation with local authorities and the sector.
Swimming and water safety is a vital life skill, which is why it is a mandatory part of the primary PE National Curriculum. The Department for Education also administers schemes to ensure the provision of lessons and sports facilities for children, such as through the PE and Sport Premium and the Opening School Facilities (OSF) 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 steps she is taking to increase pupil access to (a) sports and (b) arts opportunities out of school.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and this government is committed to ensuring every child, no matter their background or ability, should be able to play sport and be active.
That is why in ‘Get Active: A strategy for the future of sport and physical activity’ we introduce an ambition that all children should meet the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines on physical activity, with a target of getting 1 million more active children by 2030.
Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport, setting them up for a lifetime of physical activity. In July we published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This builds on the announcement we made in March that set out new ambitions for equal access to PE and sport, with guidance on how to deliver 2 hours of quality PE a week, alongside over £600 million funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium and School Games Organiser network.
Outside of the school day, the £57 million Opening School Facilities programme will support the most inactive young people to access facilities that will enable them to play sport and take physical exercise. By opening school sport facilities, including swimming pools, disparities in access to opportunities seen between socio-economic groups will begin to be tackled through the programme.
Over the school holidays, the Government offers £200 million of support per year to the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides disadvantaged children in England with enriching activities (including physical and creative activities) and healthy meals. Last summer, the programme reached over 685,000 children and young people in England, including over 475,000 children in receipt of free school meals.
We are also investing over £300 million in grassroots football and multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025 which will further support youth participation in sport.
The Government is additionally providing significant arts and cultural opportunities for young people both in and out of school.
This includes our creative careers promise, which is backed by £115m a year to increase young people’s access to cultural and music education. The upcoming Cultural Education Plan will support all children and young people to access a broad range of high-quality cultural and creative activities and experiences inside and outside of school. Our Enrichment Partnerships Pilot aims to improve the availability and quality of enrichment activities in up to 200 secondary schools within Education Investment Areas. In addition, 79% of the organisations in Arts Council England’s 2023-26 Investment Programme portfolio are delivering activity specifically for children and young people of all ages, wherever they live.
Separately, the Government funds a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes that are designed to improve participation in the arts for children. The National Saturday Club, for example, gives 13 to 16-year-olds across the country the opportunity to study the subjects they love for free, including arts and creative subjects, on a Saturday at their local university, college or cultural institution. Government and Arts Council England also co-fund 15 National Youth Music Organisations offering large-scale, inclusive performances, high-quality music programmes, residencies, summer schools and workshops, to help develop young people’s skills, experience, and knowledge of music, supporting them to excel as young creatives outside of school.
The National Plan for Music Education includes £25m funding for musical instruments and equipment for schools, and the Music Progression Fund supports disadvantaged pupils with music tuition. Furthermore, we have created four new Music Hub Centres of Excellence to improve inclusion and create pathways to industry for talented young people from all backgrounds.
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 help music centres to recruit young musicians from Europe for training in the UK.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport works closely with Arts Council England and others across the sector to understand the opportunities and challenges facing both inbound and outbound touring musicians. The Government is committed to supporting touring artists and the wider music industry to adapt to new arrangements following our departure from the EU. We have worked with the sector and directly with Member States to clarify what creative workers need to do, noting that the vast majority of EU Member States — including the biggest touring markets such as Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands — have confirmed that they offer visa- and work permit-free routes for some short-term touring activities. The Government has also launched an Export Support Service through which UK businesses, including touring professionals, can access advice and guidance.
Arts Council England supports the 4 Nations International Fund, which assists those working in the arts and creative industries across the UK, together with their counterparts in Europe and beyond. Bilateral programmes, such as Cultural Bridge, which helps arts practitioners from the UK and Germany work together, as well as partnerships with the Arts Councils of Norway and Denmark on the International Touring and Environmental Fund, provide further assistance to musicians and music organisations.
Arts Council England supports a range of other international activity, including through the Developing Your Creative Practice Programme, the National Lottery Project Grants, and through National Portfolio Organisations — such as the National Centre for Early Music, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Serious/London Jazz Festival, and Wigmore Hall — all of which enable mobility and exchange for young artists across Europe.
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 support arts and music organisations following the UK's departure from Creative Europe.
Answered by John Whittingdale
His Majesty’s Government recognises the great value of the UK’s world-leading creative sectors. The creative industries continue to thrive and are a key high-growth sector of our economy, as well as bringing great joy and wellbeing to people’s lives. The sector contributed £108 billion to the economy in 2021, accounting for 6% of UK GVA, and employed 2.3 million people – 7% of the total UK workforce – with employment growth increasing at almost five times the rate of the economy more widely since 2011.
Since leaving the EU, the UK is no longer part of the Creative Europe programme. The Government decided not to seek continued participation in the Creative Europe programme, but to look at other, more targeted ways of supporting the UK’s cultural and creative sectors.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund delivers on a commitment to match EU funding across all four nations of the UK and gives local people control of how their money is spent, removing unnecessary bureaucracy and enabling them to invest in the cultural organisations that particularly matter to them.
Similarly, the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund invests in local infrastructure projects which improve life for people across the UK, focusing on regeneration, local transport, and supporting cultural, creative and heritage assets. The second round of the Fund was announced in January 2023, and included more than £16 million for a new Production Village in Hartlepool, for instance, providing new jobs and opportunities in the creative industries and boosting the local economy.
Arts Council England supports the Four Nations International Fund, launched in 2021. This supports people working in the arts and creative industries across the UK, together with their counterparts in Europe and beyond.
This is in addition to support given through the Government's extension of the higher rates of theatre and orchestra tax relief for a further two years, as announced at the last Budget. This extension will continue to offset ongoing pressures and boost investment in our cultural sectors. Collectively, the two-year extension to the higher rates of theatre, orchestra and museums tax reliefs is estimated to be worth £350m over the five-year forecast period.
To support independent screen content – including film – to grow internationally, the Government launched the UK Global Screen Fund in April 2021 with initial funding of £7 million. We have committed a further £21 million to this Fund over the period 2022–25 to develop, distribute, and promote independent UK screen content in international markets.
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 of the potential merits of the UK participating in Creative Europe.
Answered by John Whittingdale
His Majesty’s Government recognises the great value of the UK’s world-leading creative sectors. The creative industries continue to thrive and are a key high-growth sector of our economy, as well as bringing great joy and wellbeing to people’s lives. The sector contributed £108 billion to the economy in 2021, accounting for 6% of UK GVA, and employed 2.3 million people – 7% of the total UK workforce – with employment growth increasing at almost five times the rate of the economy more widely since 2011.
Since leaving the EU, the UK is no longer part of the Creative Europe programme. The Government decided not to seek continued participation in the Creative Europe programme, but to look at other, more targeted ways of supporting the UK’s cultural and creative sectors.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund delivers on a commitment to match EU funding across all four nations of the UK and gives local people control of how their money is spent, removing unnecessary bureaucracy and enabling them to invest in the cultural organisations that particularly matter to them.
Similarly, the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund invests in local infrastructure projects which improve life for people across the UK, focusing on regeneration, local transport, and supporting cultural, creative and heritage assets. The second round of the Fund was announced in January 2023, and included more than £16 million for a new Production Village in Hartlepool, for instance, providing new jobs and opportunities in the creative industries and boosting the local economy.
Arts Council England supports the Four Nations International Fund, launched in 2021. This supports people working in the arts and creative industries across the UK, together with their counterparts in Europe and beyond.
This is in addition to support given through the Government's extension of the higher rates of theatre and orchestra tax relief for a further two years, as announced at the last Budget. This extension will continue to offset ongoing pressures and boost investment in our cultural sectors. Collectively, the two-year extension to the higher rates of theatre, orchestra and museums tax reliefs is estimated to be worth £350m over the five-year forecast period.
To support independent screen content – including film – to grow internationally, the Government launched the UK Global Screen Fund in April 2021 with initial funding of £7 million. We have committed a further £21 million to this Fund over the period 2022–25 to develop, distribute, and promote independent UK screen content in international markets.
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 has had discussions with the manufacturers of wearable devices on the potential role of such devices in encouraging an increase in (a) levels of exercise and (b) participation in sport.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Wearable devices often provide real-time feedback to the user, including step counts, heart rate, and calories burned, and it is this type of feedback that can promote increased self- awareness and drive motivation to maintain or increase physical activity levels.
Research suggests that the consistent use of wearable devices can help to establish healthier routines and habits, leading to sustained physical activity. However, effectiveness varies based on individual factors, design considerations, and alignment with users' motivations and preferences.
No discussions have been held directly with manufacturers on this matter.