Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to enable indoor sports clubs and activities to operate as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are lifted.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Indoor sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting people to be active and the Government is committed to reopening facilities, including sports halls, as soon as it is safe to do so.
We are holding regular discussions with representatives from the leisure sector and national sports organisations to develop guidance that will support them to open their facilities in a timely and safe manner once lockdown measures are eased.
As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, we will be guided by the science to ensure that as restrictions are eased people can return to activity safely.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the Government's £750 million support package for charities has been allocated.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The £750 million funding package announced by the Government on 8 April is to ensure charities providing frontline services to vulnerable people affected by the pandemic can continue their vital work.
£360 million of this has been distributed to individual government departments based on evidence of service need. This includes £200 million to directly support hospices, which is being administered by the Department of Health and Social Care. Departments are using a range of approaches to allocating the remaining funding in order to meet identified needs quickly, including bidding processes and awarding funding directly. As applications are still open for several of the open funds, it is not possible to determine how much of this funding has been received by charities at this stage.
£370 million has been allocated to support small and medium sized charities during the pandemic. This includes £60 million funding through the Barnett formula to support charities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Of the £310 million to be spent in England, £200 million has been distributed to the National Lottery Community Fund to award grants through the Coronavirus Community Support Fund. Applications for this fund opened on 22 May.
In addition, the Government is matching public donations to the BBC Big Night In. The first £20 million of match funding went to the National Emergencies Trust. The 47 local Community Foundations across the UK, including Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland will then provide grant funding to eligible organisations within their community.
Further information on available funds and how to apply for them can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/financial-support-for-voluntary-community-and-social-enterprise-vcse-organisations-to-respond-to-coronavirus-covid-19.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on ensuring that community publications can be delivered by (a) local deliverers and (b) delivery companies under social distancing guidance.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government considers continued access to quality news, including via community publications, to be vitally important at the current time. My officials and I are working closely with publishers to ensure that we are aware of any issues with delivery and are responding to concerns as a matter of urgency, including, where appropriate, raising issues with Cabinet colleagues.
For the most part delivery is able to continue as normal under social distancing guidance. Journalists and ancillary staff (including those responsible for delivery) have been recognised by the government as key workers and can continue to travel as necessary for work.
Where newspapers are delivered by young people of school age it is up to local authorities to decide whether this should continue, and safeguarding children’s wellbeing is rightly their priority. However, the Department for Education has advised local authorities to take account of employers’ measures to safeguard young workers and whether these are enough to address any safeguarding concerns.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to provide support for sports clubs and social enterprises that have their activities and income affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports clubs and social enterprises form an integral part of this country and it is important they are given as much support as possible.
The government has announced a comprehensive and sizable package of direct fiscal support for business through tax relief and cash grants. This package means that all businesses eligible for small business rates relief and rural rates relief will receive a grant of £10,000 to help with the impact of Covid-19. Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors can receive even more: up to £25,000 per business, if they have a property with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000.
This comes on top of business rates holidays given to several hundred thousand businesses and compensation for statutory sick pay. As the Chancellor said, we plan to go further with regards to employment support and supporting people's jobs and incomes.
Sport England have also issued guidance (https://www.sportengland.org/news/coronavirus-information-sector) to the sport and leisure sector to introduce, for an initial period of three months, significant flexibility for funding partners to reflect the current circumstances. Relevant funding partners can get in touch with Sport England using funding@sportengland.org or on 03458 508 508.
We will continue to engage closely with the sector and the Government will do whatever it takes to get our nation through the impacts of COVID-19.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
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 total amount of funding from the public purse given by his Department to (a) civil society and (b) campaigning bodies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Civil Society forms an essential part of our communities up and down the country. It includes large, national charities, social enterprises, volunteers and small grassroots organisations but what joins them all is the idea of creating social value to help build a better society.
Government funding to civil society is ring-fenced for particular projects or programmes. Grant agreement terms and conditions prohibit grant funding being used for paid for lobbying and political campaigning.
The figures quoted below represent the total amount of expenditure incurred by the Office for Civil Society since it joined DCMS as part of a Machinery of Government transfer. Any information prior to 2015-16 would be held by the Cabinet Office.
| 2018-19 | £178,929,480 |
| 2017-18 | £228,705,555 |
| 2016-17 | £253,708,419 |
| 2015-16 | £169,082,246 |
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if the Government will increase the annual sales limit on society lotteries to £50 million by the end of the first quarter of 2020.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
New limits to the per draw sales, annual sales and maximum prize for society lotteries were announced on 16 July 2019. Affirmative secondary legislation is required to change the limits, and the Gambling Commission is also required to consult on changes to its Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).
I hope to lay the draft Order in Parliament in January 2020, and the changes to come into force during 2020. The Order will include transitional arrangements for the first year, to enable operators to take advantage of the new limits as soon as possible.
The Gambling Commission has already launched its consultation in anticipation of the legislation, and this will help ensure the new limits can come into force as swiftly as possible. Their consultation also covers measures to improve transparency of society lotteries and will run until 12 March 2020.
I shall not be making any further statement at this time.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government has taken to implement the society lotteries annual sales increased limit, announced in July 2019.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
New limits to the per draw sales, annual sales and maximum prize for society lotteries were announced on 16 July 2019. Affirmative secondary legislation is required to change the limits, and the Gambling Commission is also required to consult on changes to its Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP).
I hope to lay the draft Order in Parliament in January 2020, and the changes to come into force during 2020. The Order will include transitional arrangements for the first year, to enable operators to take advantage of the new limits as soon as possible.
The Gambling Commission has already launched its consultation in anticipation of the legislation, and this will help ensure the new limits can come into force as swiftly as possible. Their consultation also covers measures to improve transparency of society lotteries and will run until 12 March 2020.
I shall not be making any further statement at this time.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of his Department's review of gaming machines on trends in the level of betting shop closures.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The consultation on proposals for changes to gaming machines and social responsibility measures closed on 23 January and the responses are being considered. The Government’s response will be published in due course with a revised final impact assessment.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made the effect of potential betting shop closures as a result of changes to the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals on trends in the level of illegal gambling.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The consultation on proposals for changes to gaming machines and social responsibility measures closed on 23 January and the responses are being considered. The Government’s response will be published in due course with a revised final impact assessment.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department gives to grassroots football; and how much government investment there has been in football in Harlow constituency.
Answered by Helen Grant
This Government is committed to supporting football at a grassroots level. I am pleased that Sport England is investing over £160 million to get more people playing grassroots football across England. This includes a £120m investment into facilities, £6m into FA skills and £4.5m into the Premier League Kicks programme. Sport England is also investing £28.4 million in the Football Association’s Whole Sport Plan, which goes directly into participation projects and facilities in all parts of England. Sport England does not break down Whole Sport Plan funding by constituency.