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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times she met with the Disability and Access Ambassador for Arts and Culture in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.

David Stanley BEM was appointed as the Disability and Access Ambassador for Arts and Culture on 8 June 2021 for a term of three years. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) regularly engages with him on opportunities to support the Government’s work to widen access to culture for people with disabilities. This has included supporting Mr Stanley when he was appointed as one of the panel of experts who helped to devise the joint Department for Education and DCMS National Plan for Music Education.

On 8 February 2022, Mr Stanley met the then DCMS Ministerial Disability Champion, the Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society, as part of a meeting with the other DCMS Disability and Access Ambassadors.

On 17 October 2023, the current DCMS Ministerial Disability Champion, The Rt. Hon. Stuart Andrew MP, held a roundtable discussion with all the DCMS Ambassadors to discuss young disabled people’s access and participation in DCMS sectors. The Arts and Culture Ambassador was part of this discussion.

Mr Stanley also regularly engages with the Department for Work & Pensions to discuss his work in the arts and culture sectors. For example, on 16 May 2022, Mr Stanley met the then Minister for Disabled People to provide an update on his work as Disability and Access Ambassador and to discuss his wider work as CEO of The Music Man Project. In June 2022 a video of Mr Stanley and his work was included within a presentation from the Minister at the United Nations’ 15th Conference of states parties to the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (COSP15) in New York.

On 5 June 2023, Mr Stanley met the previous Minister for Disabled People, to provide an update on his work as Disability and Access Ambassador and discuss The Music Man Project. The Rt. Hon. Penny Mordaunt MP and Anna Firth MP were also in attendance at this meeting in their roles as patrons of The Music Man Project.