Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people were subject to legal action for camping on National Trust property in each of the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS does not collect this information from the National Trust. It is an independent charity, not a departmental Arm’s Length Body. Queries on this matter are best passed to the National Trust directly.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people were fined for littering on National Trust property in the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS does not collect this information from the National Trust. It is an independent charity, not a departmental Arm’s Length Body. Queries on this matter are best passed to the National Trust directly.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many grants were made to local newspapers under the Future News Fund pilot; and what the value was of each grant.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Future News Fund sought to invest in new technological prototypes, start-ups and innovative business models to explore new ways of sustaining the industry in this changing landscape. In 2019, Government invested £2 million in the Future News Fund, which received 178 applications. Grants were awarded to 19 projects, ranging from funding to support the trial of a digital wallet model where publishers were able to offer the option to readers to pay for news on a casual basis, to funding to a local news publisher to build a new system to involve members and the local community in the reporting of local news.
It was designed to be open to as wide a range of innovations as possible, including those from existing news publishers. The government was not involved in deciding which organisations should receive funding. Nesta made these decisions independently with advice from industry experts. Nesta’s evaluation of the Fund was completed in 2020, and can be found alongside further information on the grantees here: https://www.nesta.org.uk/project/future-news-fund/
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the BBC’s proposal to introduce advertising on podcasts and on-demand content streamed through third-party services on the commercial (a) news and (b) audio sectors.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The BBC has responsibilities set out in its Charter to avoid unnecessary adverse impacts on the market, which were underscored in the Government’s recent Mid-Term Review. The Government will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the reforms as we approach the renewal of the BBC’s Charter.
As the BBC’s independent regulator, it is for Ofcom to robustly hold the BBC to account in meeting its obligations to both its audiences and the market, as set out in the Royal Charter and Framework Agreement.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to tackle the practice of museums marginally editing non-copyrighted media in order to charge people to use that media.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Museums operate independently from the Government, and are responsible for managing their own commercial activities, which can include maintaining databases of images and other media. It is for museums to determine appropriate terms and conditions, in accordance with their internal policies.
Depending on their operating models, different museums will adopt differing approaches to monetising their spaces and collections to reinvest in their public programmes, expanding their reach and impact.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much VisitBritain spent on the promotion of tourism to London under its GREAT-funded international campaigns in financial years (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23, and (c) 2023-24.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As VisitBritain’s GREAT-marketing campaigns cover the whole of Britain, they do not break down spend by specific regions.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage international events organisers to hold events in the UK.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK has a strong track record of hosting international events.
From the Women’s Euros to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, these events bring economic and social benefits across the country, and allow us to showcase the UK to the world. My department works with organisations including VisitBritain and UKSport to encourage international event organisers to hold events in the UK.
UKSport recently published its new major event hosting target list for the coming decade, and we will continue to work closely with UKSport and national governing bodies to ensure we develop a strong pipeline of future hosting opportunities that drive significant economic and social benefits for communities across the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will list Heritage Lottery Fund Northern Ireland grants in each of the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Information on grants are publicly available on the National Lottery Database, found at https://nationallottery.dcms.gov.uk/data.
Between 26 March 2019 and 21 February 2024, 215 grants were awarded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, totalling £25,962,712.
Of these awards, 7 were made in the North Down constituency, with awards ranging from £4,700 to £1,048,020.
Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken to publicly advertise application opportunities to the BBC funding model review panel.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The BBC Funding Review is looking at how alternative funding models could help secure the broadcaster’s long-term sustainability amid an evolving media landscape, increased competition and changing audience behaviour, while reducing the burden on licence fee payers. It is a government-led review, supported by an expert panel that incorporates a broad range of views from across the sector, providing advice and external challenge on the issues set out in the review’s Terms of Reference, which are available on gov.uk..
The Panel does not have any decision making powers, and is one aspect of the Government’s BBC Funding Model Review.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport appointed Panel members based on their expertise across relevant sectors, including television, radio, news and international relations. The experts were selected in consultation with industry stakeholders based on their experience and knowledge of wide ranging issues at the heart of the UK media sector such as the role of Public Service Broadcasters, press sustainability and content for children and young adults. Panel membership is voluntary. The Expert Panel has no legal status and was therefore not set up under the Cabinet Office guidelines for public appointments.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to (a) enable partnership working and (b) increase collaboration between schools, youth organisations and sport providers.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the importance of encouraging partnership working between schools, youth organisations, and sports providers to provide opportunities for young people. Our current Enrichment Partnerships pilot, which was a joint bid with the Department for Education, is working closely with schools, youth organisations, councils and enrichment and sports providers to test whether greater coordination locally can enhance school enrichment offers and remove barriers to participation, create efficiencies (reducing the burden on school staff resources) and unlock existing funding and provision.
The Government-funded network of 450 School Games Organisers (SGO) works directly with local schools and sports providers to coordinate inclusive sport competitions across 40 different sports and activities. In the 2022/23 academic year, the SGO network provided over 2.2 million opportunities for children to take part in local, inclusive sport and physical activity.
Our updated statutory guidance and peer review programme for Local Authorities aims to encourage best practice of local youth provision and advice on how to create a sufficient and unified approach to out of school provision for young people. We also are providing £320,000 to Regional Youth Work Units across England (RYWUs) over the next two years, to build upon their current practices and ensure a consistent minimum level of regional leadership. The funding will support RYWUs to influence youth policy, develop partnerships, support and grow the youth workforce, ensure young people's voices are heard, and improve collaboration across the regions.
Working with the Young People Foundation Trust, DCMS also encourages and supports local youth partnerships through the Local Partnerships Fund. The fund is designed to encourage productive connections between youth services and councils, schools, local sporting and smaller community based organisations, as well as local businesses and funders so they can provide a more holistic experience for young people.