Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish the minutes of the (a) Cultural Renewal Taskforce and (b) the Taskforce's working groups.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport currently has no plans to publish the minutes of respective Taskforce and working group meetings, but is considering ways to communicate summaries of the Taskforce’s work.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the (a) current status is and (b) priorities are of the Creative Industries Council.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Creative Industries Council is a joint forum between government and industry. Council members are leading figures drawn from across the creative and digital industries including TV, computer games, fashion, music, arts, publishing and film.
Secretary of State Oliver Dowden co-chairs the Creative Industries Council and we have been in continual dialogue with the Council through the Covid-19 crisis at both ministerial and official level. The next full meeting of the Council is in early July at which we expect the Council to confirm their priorities for 2020-21.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many FTE staff in his Department have been allocated to support the work of the Cultural Renewal Taskforce; and what other resources his Department has allocated to that Taskforce.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We recognise that these are challenging and unprecedented times, which demand the right affirmative action, and this is why my department has prioritised our handling of COVID-19 to support our citizens, sectors, and public bodies. We temporarily reorganised the department and redeployed staff as necessary to support the Cultural Renewal Taskforce and effectively address the challenges our sectors and stakeholders are facing. 4 FTE members of staff are working directly on the running of the Taskforce.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
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 Answer of 5 February 2020 to Question 10754 on Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Staff, whether the 111 FTE Civil Servants remain allocated to work in relation to culture; and whether there has been changes to the level of staff working on the cultural industries as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As of 31 May 2020, 114.1 FTE Civil Servants are deployed in DCMS Culture teams. Of these, 11 Civil Servants (10.8 FTE) have been allocated to Covid-19 priority work, including work to support the cultural sector at this time.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how often the Cultural Renewal Taskforce will meet.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As part of the Government’s roadmap for recovery from Covid-19, DCMS has launched the Cultural Renewal taskforce which will support plans for reopening across DCMS sectors.
The Taskforce meets weekly and is supported by eight sector-specific Working Groups.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
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 is taking to provide financial support for freelance creative professionals with portfolio careers who are unable to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and universal credit.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to many of DCMS’ sectors including the creative industries, which is why the Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency.
DCMS is engaging with a range of departments to support the economic response, and ensuring that the needs of its sectors, and those who work in them, are fully understood. DCMS will continue to work with these valuable sectors to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.
To ensure we are assisting all our sectors as effectively as possible, regular ministerially-chaired roundtables are held with business representative organisations as well as trade associations from across the Creative Industries. In addition, officials are in regular contact with stakeholders from these sectors, and we continue to speak with HM Treasury colleagues to ensure that the full spectrum of government support reaches the UK's world-leading media and Creative Industries.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department has spent on advertising with public service broadcasters in each of the last three years.
Answered by John Whittingdale
DCMS have not purchased advertising with public service broadcasters in the last three years.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many workers in the creative industries are beneficiaries of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Applications for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) opened on Monday 20th April. As of midnight on 23 April, HMRC had over half a million claims with a total value of around £4.5bn. CJRS, tax deferral of VAT payments due to coronavirus, deferral of Self-Assessment payments due to coronavirus and Statutory Sick Pay rebate are new schemes and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will make the timescales for publication and the types of data available in due course.
As of 22 April, over £2.8bn worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme across all sectors, to over 16,600 businesses. At this time, the Government cannot provide a breakdown of funding by sector, as lenders have been given a temporary dispensation from uploading their data to the British Business Bank’s system in order to let lenders focus on issuing new loans. This is a pragmatic step that reflects the urgency of getting loans issued.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many companies in the creative industries have claimed support through the (a) Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (b) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (c) VAT payment deferral (e) PAYE self-assessment payment deferral and (f) Statutory Sick Pay rebate; the amounts supplied through each; and if he will publish this information on a regular basis.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Applications for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) opened on Monday 20th April. As of midnight on 23 April, HMRC had over half a million claims with a total value of around £4.5bn. CJRS, tax deferral of VAT payments due to coronavirus, deferral of Self-Assessment payments due to coronavirus and Statutory Sick Pay rebate are new schemes and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will make the timescales for publication and the types of data available in due course.
As of 22 April, over £2.8bn worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme across all sectors, to over 16,600 businesses. At this time, the Government cannot provide a breakdown of funding by sector, as lenders have been given a temporary dispensation from uploading their data to the British Business Bank’s system in order to let lenders focus on issuing new loans. This is a pragmatic step that reflects the urgency of getting loans issued.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of organisations in the creative industries that are using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme top up their employees' salaries to 100 per cent.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Applications for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) opened on Monday 20th April. As of midnight on 23 April, HMRC had over half a million claims with a total value of around £4.5bn. CJRS, tax deferral of VAT payments due to coronavirus, deferral of Self-Assessment payments due to coronavirus and Statutory Sick Pay rebate are new schemes and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will make the timescales for publication and the types of data available in due course.
As of 22 April, over £2.8bn worth of loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme across all sectors, to over 16,600 businesses. At this time, the Government cannot provide a breakdown of funding by sector, as lenders have been given a temporary dispensation from uploading their data to the British Business Bank’s system in order to let lenders focus on issuing new loans. This is a pragmatic step that reflects the urgency of getting loans issued.