Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2022 to Question 154260 on Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Aviation, what the total cost of the 246 domestic flights taken by officials in her Department was between April 2019 and March 2020.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The total cost of domestic flights taken by Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport officials between April 2019 and March 2020 was £40,465.77.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate she has made of the total funds to be allocated for Unboxed: Creativity in the UK.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is an ambitious programme of ten major multi-site and digital creative projects. The programme objectives are to bring people together and celebrate our collective and unique offer to the world. To deliver this, UNBOXED is taking the projects to over 80 places across the UK which have not generally staged such events in the past, all for free.
This programme aims to deliver a wide range of social, cultural and economic benefits which will be independently assessed and a report will be published in early 2023. In particular, the programme will help contribute to people’s happiness and wellbeing across the UK through taking part in and enjoying world-class cultural events, and help support the creative sector’s recovery from the pandemic through employment opportunities and new partnerships. It will demonstrate innovative uses of technology, drive up engagement with science and technology, and showcase the very best of the UK’s creativity to the world.
These benefits are already starting to be realised. For example, thousands of people have enjoyed ‘About Us’, a spectacular light and music production in Paisley, Londonderry, Caernarfon and Luton. Fifty young people are working on ‘Storytrails’, and hundreds of young people are contributing creative work to ‘Tour de Moon’. ‘Green Spaces Dark Skies’ has invited 20,000 people to carry lights in areas of outstanding natural beauty across the UK to create a magical light show. There is an extensive learning and participation programme which includes hundreds of lesson plans, workshops, school trips and other learning resources inspired by the ten projects.
The total budget for UNBOXED is £120 million, of which £98 million has been allocated to DCMS, and the remainder made available to the Devolved Administrations via the Barnett Formula (led by HM Treasury).
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Greening Government Commitments Annual Report, April 2019 to March 2020, published in October 2021 by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason there was an increase in the number of domestic flights taken by her Department between 2009-10 and 2019-20; and if she will provide a breakdown by (a) origin and (b) destination of those flights in 2019-20.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The increase in domestic flights taken by DCMS officials in 2019/20 compared to 2009/10 can be explained by the following:
The department is less London centric, increasing its presence across the UK.
The department has increased in size from 454 FTE in 2009/10 to 1,304 FTE in 2019/20, a 187% increase. The increase in FTE is contributed to by the increased remit of the department, specifically within digital and international policy.
A total of 246 domestic flights were taken by DCMS officials between April 2019 and March 2020, to attend external meetings and conferences.
A breakdown of the flight data, detailing the origin and destination of flights taken in 2019/20 can be found in the attached PDF.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the 25th anniversary of World Book Day.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
We recognise the vital part that books, reading and public libraries play in the lives of so many people, and the pleasure they bring to people of all ages.
DCMS is supporting World Book Day through organisations that are in receipt of public funds provided by the department. Arts Council England provided funding of £94,360 to World Book Day in January 2021, to deliver a multi-year project - ‘Growing reading for pleasure for children & young people 2021-2022’. The project finishes in August 2022 and includes support for this year’s World Book Day event on 3 March.
In addition, Libraries Connected (the sector support organisation for libraries) has been encouraging public libraries to take part in the celebrations, to order publicity materials and to sign up and promote the £1 books. Libraries Connected is also highlighting World Book Day through its social media channels, website and other publicity, as will DCMS.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many of her Department's (a) laptops, (b) mobile phones, (c) memory sticks and (d) external hard drives have been lost or stolen in each of the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The following table includes the number of lost/stolen devices in DCMS in the last five years.
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Laptops | No Data available | 34 | 15 | 199 | 17 |
Mobile phones | No Data available | 13 | 29 | 3 | 12 |
Memory sticks | No Data available | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
External hard drives | No Data available | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
All departmental IT has device encryption enabled, at rest is fully security encrypted.
The departmental security unit records and investigates each reported loss from the Department. If appropriate, the police are invited to undertake further inquiries.
Any mobile device reported as lost is immediately and remotely deactivated and the contents deleted. The user account on any laptop reported as lost is immediately and remotely locked.
There has been no data loss or compromise as a result of these losses.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will make provisions to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the travel sector beyond 30 September 2021 when the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has provided over £35 billion in support to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors over the course of the pandemic and is committed to supporting the safe return of tourism to the UK, as set out in the Government's Tourism Recovery Plan published in June.
Businesses across the economy, including the travel industry, can draw on over £350 billion worth of loans, rates relief, VAT deferrals and the furlough scheme, the latter of which ended on 30 September. The Government continues to take a flexible approach and keep all impacts and policies under review.
The Government is regularly engaging with travel industry bodies - such as UKInbound, the European Tour Operators Association and the Association of British Travel Agents - to monitor the pandemic’s impact and to support the sector’s recovery.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support small and medium-sized enterprises within the travel sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has provided over £35 billion in support to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors over the course of the pandemic and is committed to supporting the safe return of tourism to the UK, as set out in the Government's Tourism Recovery Plan published in June.
Businesses across the economy, including the travel industry, can draw on over £350 billion worth of loans, rates relief, VAT deferrals and the furlough scheme, the latter of which ended on 30 September. The Government continues to take a flexible approach and keep all impacts and policies under review.
The Government is regularly engaging with travel industry bodies - such as UKInbound, the European Tour Operators Association and the Association of British Travel Agents - to monitor the pandemic’s impact and to support the sector’s recovery.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of providing further financial support to the travel sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has provided over £35 billion in support to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors over the course of the pandemic and is committed to supporting the safe return of tourism to the UK, as set out in the Government's Tourism Recovery Plan published in June.
Businesses across the economy, including the travel industry, can draw on over £350 billion worth of loans, rates relief, VAT deferrals and the furlough scheme, the latter of which ended on 30 September. The Government continues to take a flexible approach and keep all impacts and policies under review.
The Government is regularly engaging with travel industry bodies - such as UKInbound, the European Tour Operators Association and the Association of British Travel Agents - to monitor the pandemic’s impact and to support the sector’s recovery.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mandatory police permits for street charity collectors who ask for direct debits.
Answered by Matt Warman
Effective and responsible fundraising underpins the success of the charity sector, and is essential for charities’ independence. Face to face (direct debit) fundraising is self-regulated by the Fundraising Regulator and there are no national official figures on volumes. The Fundraising Regulator stands up for best practice in fundraising, in order to protect donors and support the vital work of fundraisers.
Direct Debit fundraising does not require licences or permits, however the fundraiser must meet Chartered Institute of Fundraising site management agreements that are in place with the local authority for regular face-to-face fundraising on the street. These Site Management Agreements (SMA) set controls on where and when fundraising can take place.
If members of the public are concerned that a group or individuals are acting fraudulently they should report this matter to their local police force. They can also complain to the Fundraising Regulator.
Government continues to encourage and support collaborative work between the charity sector, licensing and enforcement agencies in an effort to curb unlicensed or bogus collections.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make it his policy to expand the Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme to include urban areas with poor broadband connectivity.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme closed on 31st March 2021. The programme sought to test ways in which the government could intervene to provide gigabit broadband coverage in rural areas which were unlikely to be covered through commercial roll-out. The experience of the RGC programme has helped shape Project Gigabit, which is aimed at all premises which are not likely to be covered commercially.
The government is working closely with telecoms providers through detailed market reviews to ensure that only premises which are not likely to get commercial gigabit coverage are in scope for Project Gigabit. This will include premises in urban areas if there are no commercial coverage plans in place.
Today, over two in five premises can access gigabit-capable networks, up from just one in ten in November 2019. By the end of the year, 60% will have access, and by 2025 the government is targeting a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage, working with industry to reach as close to 100% as possible.