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 much funding her Department has given to the British Film Institute since 2010.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is committed to the continued success of the film and high end TV (HETV) sectors. As an Arms-Length Body (ALB), the British Film Institute (BFI) plays a critical role in leading the UK’s screen sectors, helping drive economic growth and create jobs while supporting cultural and place-based objectives.
DCMS has provided nearly £400 million of funding in total to the BFI since 2010. The BFI is also a National Lottery Distributor and also has its own self-generated income. More information on the BFI’s funding, including from DCMS, going back to 1998/99 can be found in the BFI’s published accounts via: https://www.bfi.org.uk/strategy-policy/annual-review-management-agreement.
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: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ensure that cost is not a barrier to people accessing heritage visitor attractions in their area.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Many heritage visitor attractions are free to visit or offer schemes to support access, and DCMS-sponsored museums are free to enter for people of any age. The vast majority of the 400 sites in the National Heritage Collection, which is managed by English Heritage Trust on behalf of HM Government, are also free to enter. Where the charity does need to charge visitors an entry fee to support its work, it works to increase engagement with under-represented groups, so that everyone has the opportunity to connect with our shared heritage. English Heritage is also one of the largest providers of free school visits in the UK.
The National Lottery also runs ‘National Lottery Open Week’ which provides free admission for holders of a lottery ticket or scratch card at venues across the UK, including English Heritage Trust, Historic Royal Palaces, and National Trust properties.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has taken recent steps to support independent cinemas.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises that cinemas are a hugely important part of the UK’s fantastic film industry and has been supporting them throughout the uncertainties of the past several years with the pandemic and rising energy costs.
We supported more than 200 independent cinemas through the pandemic, who received £34.4 million from the Culture Recovery Fund as well as benefiting from other pan-economy measures. The Government has also delivered an £18 billion package of support through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme supporting businesses - including cinemas, arts venues, and charities - through the winter.
The Government’s £500m Film and TV Production Restart Scheme also helped keep the cameras rolling at the other end of the screen supply chain. The scheme supported over 100,000 jobs and productions worth more than £3 billion. To build on this, and support the industry to not only survive but thrive, further actions have been taken. This includes the Government’s current £1.6 million annual funding of the British Film Commission, the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, and the continued success of our screen sector tax reliefs. This has been further bolstered at Spring Budget 2024 with the new UK Independent Film Tax Credit, with films with budgets up to £15 million being eligible for an increased benefit of 53% - which is estimated to increase spending on independent films by 70% before 2032.
The British Film Institute (BFI), a DCMS Arms Length Body, is also conscious of the pressures faced by the cinema sector. The BFI’s Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) is a collaboration of 8 film hubs, managed by leading film organisations and venues around the UK. Film hubs are centres of expertise and support that connect cinemas, festivals and creative practitioners. You can also read more about the National Lottery funding the BFI makes available to bring film to a wider UK audience, including through BFI FAN, at: https://www.bfi.org.uk/get-funding-support/bring-film-wider-uk-audience.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that the visitor economy supports the maintenance and upkeep of heritage assets.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The visitor economy has a significant and positive impact on the support and maintenance of our heritage assets. In 2021, despite COVID-19 restrictions, there were over 119 million domestic day visits to heritage sites, 15 million domestic overnight heritage trips, and 2.74 million international visits to heritage sites, demonstrating that heritage is a major driver for both international and domestic tourism, and a key source of income for local people. Twenty-eight per cent of international visits include a castle or historic house, according to VisitBritain research.
The Tourism Recovery Plan, published in 2021, set out the Government's commitment to the enhancement and conservation of the country’s cultural heritage. Our investment in supporting the conservation of tourism assets included the £67 million in capital funding for maintenance and restoration projects for historic sites and destinations through the Heritage Stimulus Fund and National Lottery Heritage Fund Kickstarter funds. We have also established the Tourism Industry Council Working Group on Sustainability with the British Tourism Authority to drive forward this objective.
Following the Review into Destination Management Organisations, the new Local Visitor Economy Partnership accreditation programme will ensure that organisations work in collaboration locally, regionally, and nationally on shared priorities and targets. This includes marketing and promotion of local cultural heritage sites and destinations. There are now 30 newly accredited Local Visitor Economy Partnerships across England.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will develop a national register of (a) the condition and (b) maintenance requirements of heritage assets.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The heritage assets most at risk of loss or irreparable damage are already captured through Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. This tool is used to map the assets at risk, and to improve the likelihood of solutions being found.
Significant funding is currently distributed to heritage assets across the country, both through Government and our key partners, such as Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Historic England works to remove buildings from the Register, working with local decision-makers to alleviate risk by facilitating repairs, finding new uses for assets which are unoccupied but capable of reuse, and pursuing creative solutions to sustain those which are not. Historic England also targets the investment of its grants where reducing risk will bring the greatest benefits, an approach which has proved highly successful in its £95 million High Street Heritage Action Zones programme.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to ensure an (a) adequate level of and (b) equitable distribution of funding for the maintenance of heritage assets across each area of the country with those assets.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Significant public funding is distributed to heritage assets across the country, both through HM Government and our key partners, such as Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Historic England provides funding for heritage through various grant schemes, including £11.3 million annually for Heritage at Risk. Funding is allocated to achieve a equitable regional distribution. Historic England has also awarded public funding to 67 historic High Streets across England through the £95 million High Street Heritage Action Zone Programme, with the majority of this funding being used to repair and improve heritage assets. This investment has seen derelict and underused buildings restored to become new community and commercial spaces, with over half of the High Street Heritage Action Zones in priority 1 Levelling Up Areas.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund also provides funding for heritage projects with a community angle across the country, awarding more than £8.4 billion in Lottery funds to more than 46,000 heritage projects across the UK. The Heritage Fund has made awards in every parliamentary constituency in the UK.
More broadly, through the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, HM Government is investing in many projects which benefit heritage across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Furthermore, the £150 million Community Ownership Fund is open to groups across the UK to take ownership of heritage assets which are at risk of being lost to the community. Many of these projects are benefiting heritage assets in areas across the country.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to provide financial support to (a) adult and (b) youth brass bands in (i) Telford and Wrekin borough and (ii) Shropshire in the next five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Arts Council England, which is funded by taxpayers and National Lottery players, is working with Brass Bands England, the sector support organisation for brass bands. In particular, it is providing support to brass bands across the country to develop their membership and audiences.
While there are no specific plans for the funding of brass bands in Telford and Wrekin borough or Shropshire at present, brass bands from anywhere in the country are eligible to apply for Arts Council England’s National Lottery project grants. Since April 2022, the Arts Council has provided over £500,000 of funding for 21 applications from brass bands. It also provides annual funding to the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and the organisation Making Music, both of which support youth and amateur adult brass bands.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 (a) promote the playing of rugby and (b) support the (i) maintenance and (ii) development of (A) rugby clubs and (B) their infrastructure in (1) England and (2) Romford constituency.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority and we recognise the role of high quality accessible facilities in encouraging people to take part in sport and ensuring participation rates continue to grow. Our new strategy ‘Get Active’ sets out our ambition to build a more active nation, with a target to get 3.5 million more people classed as ‘active’ by 2030 including 1 million more children.
We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s length body, Sport England - which receives £323 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year. Sport England has invested £622,606 in the Romford constituency since 2020.
Since 2021, Sport England has provided over £22.6 million of support to programmes which facilitate participation in grassroots rugby league. This includes funding to the Rugby Football League.
In partnership with the National Lottery, Sport England has also supported the ‘CreatedBy’ capital grants programme. This delivered £26.4 million in legacy funding to celebrate England’s hosting of the 2022 Rugby League World Cup, providing investment in facilities and equipment to encourage participation.
Since 2020, Sport England has provided over £14 million of support to programmes which facilitate participation in grassroots rugby union. Additionally, in 2020/21 the Government provided £21,565,000 to rugby union clubs through the COVID-19 Sport Winter Survival Package. In 2022/23 we provided over £12.5 million of system partner funding to the Rugby Football Union to grow and develop the sport between the years 2022 and 2027.
The Government also funds some projects which benefit rugby through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme. Between 2021 and 2025, the UK Government is investing over £325 million to build or upgrade multi-sport grassroots facilities across the UK to ensure every community has the pitches and facilities it needs. Romford has received £10,491 for three projects through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in the Big Lottery Fund have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The National Lottery Community Fund currently has four employees with job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT or (f) race.