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Written Question
Loneliness
Thursday 25th January 2024

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on tackling loneliness.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Many people experience loneliness and social isolation, and the Government is committed to reducing the stigma associated with loneliness, and building a more connected society. Government, local councils, health systems and voluntary and community sector organisations all have an important role to play in achieving this.

Since publishing the first ever government Strategy for Tackling Loneliness and appointing the world’s first Minister for Loneliness in 2018, we have invested almost £80 million in tackling loneliness. These interventions include a national communications campaign that aims to reduce the stigma of loneliness, which has reached at least 25 million people across the country. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is also delivering the ‘Know Your Neighbourhood Fund’ to boost volunteering and reduce loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. We have also brought together over 750 people from across the public, private and charity sectors through our Tackling Loneliness Hub, where members can learn from events and workshops, share the latest research and collaborate on new initiatives.

Last March, we published the fourth annual report of our Tackling Loneliness Strategy. It contains over 60 new and ongoing commitments from 11 government departments. So far, we have made progress against at least 46 of these commitments and at least 7 have been completed. Due to the nature of the commitments many have now been incorporated into business as usual. The fifth annual report will provide a full update on commitments, and is due to be published in March.


Written Question
Sports: Finance
Thursday 16th November 2023

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to provide funding for the additional sports that will be included at the Olympics in 2028.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We welcome the additional sports that have been approved for the LA28 Olympic Programme.

UK Sport’s investment process for Los Angeles is underway with currently funded sports, in line with their strategic plan. UK Sport will consider new sports that have been added to the programme. Should they make a case for investment, it would be considered alongside the currently funded sports in UK Sport’s evaluation process.


Written Question
Russian Embassy: Twitter
Tuesday 20th September 2022

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) social media platforms to prevent the Russian Embassy in the UK from sharing hateful content relating to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine via its official Twitter account.

Answered by Damian Collins

The Government takes the issue of disinformation seriously. The DCMS Counter Disinformation Unit leads the domestic operational and policy response for countering disinformation across HMG, working closely with major social media platforms to encourage them to swiftly remove disinformation and coordinated inauthentic or manipulated behaviour, as per their Terms of Service. We also engage with platforms to understand policy changes and other countermeasures related to Russian information activities, and the effectiveness of these actions. This work aids HMG assessment bodies and the UK Government Information Cell, which brings together the government’s counter-disinformation expertise and capabilities to identify and counter Russian information aggression and disinformation.

It remains of significant concern that the network of Russian diplomatic accounts continues to disseminate pro-Russian content with the aim of sowing distrust and questioning the veracity of reports of Russian atrocities committed in Ukraine. Although the government welcomes steps that platforms have taken in response, including demonetising, deamplifying and labelling content from Russian state affiliated accounts, the government is clear that there is more that needs to be done and that the recent tweets from the Russian Embassy in the UK are unacceptable. In our view Twitter should apply its policies consistently, removing content that it has acknowledged breaches its Terms of Service.


Written Question
Rugby: Coronavirus
Wednesday 2nd December 2020

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

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 make a decision on the timescale for the resumption of grassroots rugby during the period of covid-19 restrictions.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus. That’s why we made sure that people could exercise at least once a day even during the height of the first period of enhanced national restrictions and why we opened up grassroots sport and leisure facilities as soon as it was safe to do so.

However, as the Prime Minister said on 23 November national restrictions will end on Wednesday 2 December. This will allow both rugby union and rugby league to resume in accordance with their return to play guidance. Higher risk activity such as scrums have been removed from both codes of the game to ensure the risk of transmission is reduced.


Written Question
Scouts and Guides: Coronavirus
Friday 10th July 2020

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

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 potential benefits to children's mental health of allowing UK scouting to recommence as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.

Answered by John Whittingdale

Government recognises the unprecedented impact which Covid-19 has had on young people, particularly on their mental health.

We recognise the impact Uniformed Youth groups like the Scouts have on the wellbeing of young people, helping them to develop life skills and be a part of their communities.

Youth centres and Uniformed Youth groups are able to re-open from 4th July, and DCMS has supported the National Youth Agency to produce guidance for youth organisations on operating safely during Covid-19.


Written Question
Chatham Dockyard: Coronavirus
Monday 15th June 2020

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

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 8 June 2020 to Question 54086 on Chatham Dockyard: Coronavirus, if it will issue the Trust with a letter of comfort that guarantees its limited reserves position to assist cash flow management and credit status along similar lines to that issued to the Historic Royal Palaces.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

DCMS is in close contact with the senior team at Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust about the challenging situation the Trust is facing. We are in active conversations to explore what support might be available.


Written Question
Historic Buildings: Coronavirus
Wednesday 10th June 2020

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

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 (a) English Heritage, (b) Historic England, (c) Historic Royal Palaces and (d) the Churches Conservation Trust on (i) support for and (ii) the preservation of built heritage during the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government fully recognises the significant impact that COVID-19 is having on the heritage sector. From the very beginning of this crisis, I have been hosting weekly meetings with the sector to better understand how it is affecting organisations and where we can provide support. English Heritage, Historic England, Historic Royal Palaces and the Churches Conservation Trust are either represented directly at these meetings or are members of other organisations that are.

They continue to provide a valuable opportunity for me to listen to concerns of the sector and for the attendees to flag any emerging issues including those related to the preservation and support of our built heritage.


Written Question
Chatham Dockyard: Coronavirus
Monday 8th June 2020

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department has provided to Chatham Historic Dockyard during the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

During the COVID-19 outbreak DCMS has maintained a consistent line of communication with Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust. Officials have worked closely with the Trust to understand the challenges they are facing and ensure they are aware of the support available to them at this time.

DCMS supports Chatham Historic Dockyard through an ongoing funding arrangement that enables vital conservation and maintenance work.


Written Question
Skateboarding
Monday 28th January 2019

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of how many people aged (a) under 16 and (b) over 16 participate in skateboarding each week.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Active Lives provides a comprehensive overview of sport and physical activity in England. Within Active Lives, there are two surveys: Active Lives Adult, which is published twice a year, and Active Lives Children and Young People, which is published annually.


Sport England does not hold weekly figures for adults; these are only held for children. Also Sport England does not have skateboarding separated for children.


71,600 adults aged 16+ (0.2%) took part in Skateboarding at least twice in the last 28 days (May 2017/18).


322,700 children aged 5-16 (4.6%) took part in Skateboarding, roller skating, blading at least once a week (Academic Year 2017/18).


Written Question
Skateboarding
Monday 28th January 2019

Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the inclusion of skateboarding at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, what plans he has to support skateboarding in the UK.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

UK Sport announced on 7 December 2018 that 14 Olympic and Paralympic sports, including skateboarding, will receive investment from the new £3m Aspiration Fund, which aims to support sports that do not currently receive full UK Sport funding to develop plans to help teams and athletes qualify and prepare for Tokyo 2020. Alongside their qualification plan, sports seeking funding submitted details on how they intend to capitalise on the impact of competing at the 2020 Games and engage and inspire future generations.

This Aspiration Fund provides a fantastic opportunity for sports to develop their potential not only to inspire through their performances, but also to have a genuine social impact in communities across the UK