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Written Question
Advisory Council on National Records and Archives: Termination of Employment
Friday 24th May 2024

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, how many staff have left The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives in each year since 2015.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS does not hold this data centrally.


Written Question
Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art: Termination of Employment
Friday 24th May 2024

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, how many staff have left the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest in each year since 2015.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS does not hold this data centrally.


Written Question
Children: Social Services
Friday 24th May 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of Newcastle (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase investment in children’s services and provide updated funding formulae to (1) direct resources according to deprivation-based need, and (2) account for changing levels of deprivation.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is aware the costs of delivering children’s social care are rising, which is why the department has already taken action and announced a series of additional measures:

  • In January 2024, the government set out a support package for local government worth £600 million, including £500 million of ringfenced funding for children’s and adults’ social care services distributed through the Social Care Grant. Councils were advised to invest in areas that will help place children’s social care services on a sustainable financial footing. This includes investment in expanding family help and targeted early intervention, expanding kinship care and boosting the number of foster carers.

  • Over financial year 2024/25, a total of £5 billion will be distributed to local authorities through the Social Care Grant, including a £1.2 billion increase from financial year 2023/24.

  • Councils in England will see an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion in financial year 2024/25, or 7.5% in cash terms, an above inflation increase, rising from £60.2 billion in 2023/24 to £64.7 billion in 2024/25.

This additional funding illustrates our commitment to support councils in continuing to deliver high-quality services to vulnerable children and families.

But the department knows that rising costs are unsustainable and that whole system reform is needed. It is more important than ever that the department continues with the plans to improve and stabilise the children’s social care system. The department's ambitious strategy, set out in ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ will bring about fundamental reform, rebalancing local authority spending from costly acute services to effective earlier intervention, thereby improving outcomes for children and families. More information can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/642460653d885d000fdade73/Children_s_social_care_stable_homes_consultation_February_2023.pdf.

When ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ was published, the department announced an additional £200 million funding for implementation. However, this is only part of the wider picture of spending on children’s social care reform. In total, across the department's programmes, almost £700 million has been committed to start delivering the reforms.

In ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, the department committed to work with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to update, publish and consult on a new funding distribution formula. Departmental officials are working in partnership towards implementing an updated approach to distributing available funding for children and young people’s services, based on an up-to-date assessment of relative need in local authorities.

Whilst the government is not able to implement funding reform in this spending period, the department remain committed to updating the funding formula for children’s services to better direct resources to where they are most needed, and work will continue across government to that end.


Written Question
National Lottery Community Fund: Termination of Employment
Friday 24th May 2024

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, how many staff have left the National Lottery Community Fund in each year since its creation.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS does not hold this data centrally.


Written Question
Education: Mental Health Services
Friday 24th May 2024

Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Mental Health Support Teams there were in (a) Wellingborough constituency, (b) Northamptonshire and (c) London in each year since 2010.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

​​Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) are now in place in around nearly 8,500 schools and colleges across the country, with 498 expert teams offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues. MHSTs have achieved their NHS Long Term Plan coverage ambition a year early and more teams are coming. By March 2025, there will be over 600 MHSTs up and running. Further information regarding this can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6641f1e1ae748c43d37939a3/Transforming_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_implementation_programme_2024_data_release.pdf.

​Data from NHS England shows that since 2018/19, when the first wave of MHSTs were commissioned, there are currently nine MHSTs in Northamptonshire and 99 MHSTs for the London integrated care system region. A link to the data can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/cyp/trailblazers/#_Mental_Health_Support.

Data on the number of MHSTs by constituency is not currently available.​


Written Question
VisitBritain: Termination of Employment
Friday 24th May 2024

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, how many staff have left VisitBritain in each year since 2015.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS does not hold this data centrally.


Written Question
Music: Artificial Intelligence
Friday 24th May 2024

Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to respond to the APPG on Music report entitled Artificial Intelligence and the Music Industry- Master or Servant, published on 1 May 2024.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Broadcasting: Political Impartiality
Friday 24th May 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

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 help ensure compliance of broadcasters with impartiality rules (a) in general and (b) in the run-up to a General Election.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Broadcasting: Political Impartiality
Friday 24th May 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on what date Ofcom last imposed statutory sanctions on a broadcaster for breaches of impartiality rules; and what the circumstances of that instance were.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Television: Local Broadcasting
Friday 24th May 2024

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 discussions her Department has had with Ofcom on greater flexibility for local TV licences.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.