Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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 partners on the future of the UK Youth Parliament and its funding.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Delivery partners for the UK Youth Parliament participated in the evaluation of the 2023-25 programme, delivered by IFF Research, which includes recommendations on the future of the programme.
DCMS is currently going through our internal business planning processes and budgets are not yet confirmed for the next financial year. The outcomes of this process will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has plans to meet with representatives of faith communities to discuss the potential impact of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme on freedom of religious practice in England and Wales.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On the 22nd of January, I was pleased to announce that the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme would continue from March 2025 to March 2026 with a budget of £23m. Further details can be found in this Written Statement.
Both myself and my officials have met with a range of stakeholders since July 2024 and discussed as part of those meetings the future and impact of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. The Department also received and responded to a large number of correspondence on the scheme including from representatives from faith communities sharing their views.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) applications were submitted to and (b) grants were awarded during the first phase of the swimming pool support fund.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Phase I of the Swimming Pool Support Fund was oversubscribed, with the Government receiving applications from 221 Local Authorities, on behalf of 630 facilities. After assessment against a range of criteria to target pools most at risk of closure, awards were made to 103 Local Authorities, covering 196 facilities. The full list of awards made can be found on the Sport England website here.
An additional £40 million of capital funding will be provided in Phase II, which will support local authorities to make their facilities more energy efficient and reduce future operating costs. Applications were open to local authorities from 7 September to 16 October, and are now being assessed. Awards for this phase of the fund will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of (a) local and (b) regional news outlets on the impact of the economic situation on (i) those organisations and (ii) their employees.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government understands that people across the UK are worried about the rising cost of living and are seeing their disposable incomes decrease as they spend more on the essentials. In May, we announced over £15 billion of additional cost of living support, targeted at those with the greatest need. As a result, millions of vulnerable households will receive at least £1,200 of support this financial year, with the vast majority of households receiving at least £550. This package builds on the over £22 billion previously announced, meaning government support for the cost of living now totals over £37 billion this year, equivalent to 1.5% of GDP.
With regard to energy costs, while the majority of UK non-domestic customers are on fixed price energy deals, some are not. Businesses did not benefit from the Ofgem price cap and there was a risk that some would fall through the gap, unable to fix their energy price and unable to access the kind of support we are making available to households. A new 6-month scheme for businesses and other non-domestic energy users (including charities and public sector organisations like schools) will be offered support as is being provided for consumers. After this initial 6 month scheme, the government will provide ongoing focused support for vulnerable industries. There will be a review in 3 months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support. Further details will be published shortly.
In addition to timely, temporary and targeted support, the government is also committed to tackling the root cause of the cost of living challenge – high inflation. Through independent monetary policy, responsible management of the public finances and supply-side reforms, we will combat high inflation and reduce it over time.
More specifically in relation to local and regional news outlets, the government is committed to supporting local newspapers as vital pillars of our communities. We are in regular contact with news organisations to understand the financial pressures they face and we have taken action to support them. Our plans for a pro-competition regime for digital markets will, among many other things, help to rebalance the relationship between news publishers and online platforms. We have also delivered a £2 million pilot innovation fund, zero rated VAT on e-newspapers, extended business rates relief on local newspaper office space, and published the Online Media Literacy Strategy. In addition, the BBC Charter Mid Term Review will evaluate how the BBC and Ofcom assess the market impact and public value of the BBC in an evolving marketplace and how that relates to the wider UK media ecology, including with regard to the local news sector. We will continue to consider all possible options in the interest of promoting and sustaining the sector.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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 help support journalists at local newspapers, in the context of rising inflation.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government understands that people across the UK are worried about the rising cost of living and are seeing their disposable incomes decrease as they spend more on the essentials. In May, we announced over £15 billion of additional cost of living support, targeted at those with the greatest need. As a result, millions of vulnerable households will receive at least £1,200 of support this financial year, with the vast majority of households receiving at least £550. This package builds on the over £22 billion previously announced, meaning government support for the cost of living now totals over £37 billion this year, equivalent to 1.5% of GDP.
With regard to energy costs, while the majority of UK non-domestic customers are on fixed price energy deals, some are not. Businesses did not benefit from the Ofgem price cap and there was a risk that some would fall through the gap, unable to fix their energy price and unable to access the kind of support we are making available to households. A new 6-month scheme for businesses and other non-domestic energy users (including charities and public sector organisations like schools) will be offered support as is being provided for consumers. After this initial 6 month scheme, the government will provide ongoing focused support for vulnerable industries. There will be a review in 3 months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support. Further details will be published shortly.
In addition to timely, temporary and targeted support, the government is also committed to tackling the root cause of the cost of living challenge – high inflation. Through independent monetary policy, responsible management of the public finances and supply-side reforms, we will combat high inflation and reduce it over time.
More specifically in relation to local and regional news outlets, the government is committed to supporting local newspapers as vital pillars of our communities. We are in regular contact with news organisations to understand the financial pressures they face and we have taken action to support them. Our plans for a pro-competition regime for digital markets will, among many other things, help to rebalance the relationship between news publishers and online platforms. We have also delivered a £2 million pilot innovation fund, zero rated VAT on e-newspapers, extended business rates relief on local newspaper office space, and published the Online Media Literacy Strategy. In addition, the BBC Charter Mid Term Review will evaluate how the BBC and Ofcom assess the market impact and public value of the BBC in an evolving marketplace and how that relates to the wider UK media ecology, including with regard to the local news sector. We will continue to consider all possible options in the interest of promoting and sustaining the sector.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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 requested that the Natural History Museum to collect from specific incidences of algal blooms in the North Sea as part of its AlgaeVision database in (a) September 2021,(b) October 2021, (c) February 2022 and (d) April 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
DCMS-sponsored museums operate at arm’s length from the Government. The specifics of projects are therefore operational matters for museums to decide independently.
The Natural History Museum has not been asked by the Government to collect any samples of algal blooms in the North Sea, nor would they have the required equipment to do so.
DCMS understands that the Algaevision project is a database and virtual collection of images of freshwater and terrestrial algae collected in Britain and Ireland. The project’s aim is to digitise the current algae species already in the Natural History Museum’s algae collection. Identifying the cause of crustacean deaths is outside the scope of the museum’s work and would be better directed to one of the marine monitoring research groups within the UK, such as the Scottish Association for Marine Science.