Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the level of contribution of coaches to the tourism industry.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Coaches are a really important part of the tourism industry, enabling millions of people every year to go on day-trips, visit heritage sites, go to the theatre or travel around the UK, often at affordable prices. We remain committed to collaborating with stakeholders to strengthen our partnerships and promote sustainable growth within the sector.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to increase the opportunities for young people at (a) school, (b) college and (c) university in (i) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (ii) Staffordshire to visit museums, theatres and art galleries.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department wants all children and young people to have access to a variety of enriching experiences as an important part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Educational visits are part of this ambition. The decision to undertake any educational visit is a matter for individual schools, colleges and higher education institutions to determine. As part of studying GCSE drama and A level drama and theatre studies, students are entitled to experience live theatre.
More broadly, the government supports children and young people’s access to theatres, museums and galleries, for example through the Museums and Schools programme. The programme builds partnerships between schools and museums, including The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent. 79% of Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations, which include theatres, museums and galleries, work with children and young people.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
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 support the comedy industry.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Comedy is a serious business. It is a vital performing art and contributes to the mental health and wellbeing of people, not just in the UK, but around the world. It forms part of our cultural landscape, enriching lives, shaping our collective identity and often providing a necessary corrective to political pomposity.
Arts Council England funds numerous organisations and venues that support comedy. For the purposes of ACE funding, comedy is considered under the broad term of ‘theatre.’ This means that as long as a performer, club or promoter meets the eligibility criteria for specific programmes, then ACE welcomes funding applications. Between the financial years covering 2010/11 to 2024/25 ACE has awarded £12,296,254 in funding where an applicant name, project title or subclassifier contains the word “comedy”.
Venues such as theatres also benefit from tax relief. The government believes tax relief is essential to help incentivise investment in productions, and to contribute to innovation and economic growth, enabling arts organisations to continue to produce new content which is vital in keeping them competitive on an international stage.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing to regional theatre in England.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises the vital role that the arts, including theatre, play for people and communities in all parts of this country, and delivers funding to theatres primarily through Arts Council England (ACE).
Arts should not be the preserve of the privileged few. It is a priority for this government and ACE to support more people to access great theatre, via funding programmes such as Project Grants and the National Portfolio. ACE’s regional theatre National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) are key to delivering this priority, with many of their funded venues delivering high quality productions every year.
Since 2022, the Arts Council has invested nearly £43 million into community theatres, supporting theatres like the award winning Little Bulb Theatre in Mendip, which receives £720,000 per annum which will help the theatre continue to engage with community groups close to its home base in rural Somerset; and the Royal & Derngate in Northampton, that received £300,000 towards costs and loss of income relating to RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) identified in the building and the mitigating actions it took in response.
Asked by: Jeevun Sandher (Labour - Loughborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve maternity services in Leicestershire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following Care Quality Commission inspections in January 2024, the trust has strong improvement plans in place for maternity services at the Leicester Royal Infirmary and Leicester General Hospital (LGH). Many actions from both the 2023 and 2024 inspections are already complete or well underway, with key achievements including a targeted improvement programme for Induction of Labour, and implementing a new Telephone Triage system to reduce delays and improve experience.
In September and November, the University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) respectively opened a new maternity theatre and a new day assessment unit at the LGH, meaning that planned and emergency caesareans can take place in separate areas, further improving access to non-urgent appointments. The UHL have also welcomed 40 midwives, with 28 more due to start before the end of 2024. The trust has also recruited three new consultant obstetricians, alongside nine speciality doctors. The UHL have over 230 student midwives in training, and the trust is also seeing a higher proportion of permanent employees, with the turnover rate reducing to just over 7%, as of April 2024, versus 10% the previous year.
Asked by: David Taylor (Labour - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to healthcare services in Hertfordshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for improving access to healthcare services in Hertfordshire.
NHS England has informed us that the ICB is delivering its responsibility to improve support for those in mental health crisis through the launch of a Mental Health Urgent Care Centre, providing a more appropriate and therapeutic environment at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage. The ICB has also increased children and young people’s mental health access by 44% year-on-year, according to the latest data.
According to NHS England’s assessment, people across Hertfordshire now have significantly improved access to blood pressure checks across a range of settings, including general practice, community pharmacy, some dental and optometry sites, outpatient departments, and through community services.
A purpose-built theatre suite is set to open at St Albans City Hospital in Spring 2025. The ICB states that this will provide non-complex orthopaedic, hip and knee surgery, spinal injections, and ear, nose and throat procedures for approximately 4,400 patients per year, from across the ICB’s area.
The 10-Year Health Plan will consider the change needed to meet the three Health Mission goals, those being: a fairer system where everyone lives well for longer; a National Health Service that is there when people need it; and fewer lives lost to the biggest killers.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of conflict in (a) Gaza and (b) Lebanon on stability in Syria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Recent developments in Syria demonstrate how unstable the situation is. As I told colleagues in the House on 2 December, events in Syria are moving quickly, and the trajectory is unclear. Syria continues to be a theatre for regional tensions to play out, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian and security situation. Conflict in Lebanon led to the mass displacement of over half a million Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians fleeing into Syria. We continue to monitor this as people are displaced, once again, due to developments in the North West. The UN-led political process remains the only path to a stable, peaceful and prosperous Syria and we continue to call on the Assad regime to engage meaningfully with the process.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) causes and (b) consequences of the recent road traffic incident in Estonia involving British armed forces personnel.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The safety and welfare of our personnel is of the utmost importance. An Estonian investigation is underway and it would be inappropriate to comment whilst inquiries are ongoing. In addition, as with all incidents of this nature, an internal review is being conducted in-theatre about further preventative measures to ensure the safety of our deployed personnel.
My thoughts are with all those affected, and I wish those injured a full, swift recovery.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the results of training flights using Watchkeeper WK450 tactical unmanned aerial vehicle systems in Estonia in August 2024.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
A battery from 47th Regiment Royal Artillery successfully deployed to Estonia this August to operate the Watchkeeper system as part of Exercise ATHENA SHIELD. This was a proof-of-concept exercise to fly Watchkeeper at the latest build standard, in a strategically relevant theatre.
Lessons from this deployment are still being analysed and no decisions about Watchkeeper’s future commitments have been made. While there are no current plans to permanently deploy a full Drone Regiment to Estonia, the recently updated defence roadmap with Estonia demonstrates the UK’s continuing commitment to Estonia and securing NATO’s eastern flank.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to permanently deploy a drone-specialist regiment in Estonia.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
A battery from 47th Regiment Royal Artillery successfully deployed to Estonia this August to operate the Watchkeeper system as part of Exercise ATHENA SHIELD. This was a proof-of-concept exercise to fly Watchkeeper at the latest build standard, in a strategically relevant theatre.
Lessons from this deployment are still being analysed and no decisions about Watchkeeper’s future commitments have been made. While there are no current plans to permanently deploy a full Drone Regiment to Estonia, the recently updated defence roadmap with Estonia demonstrates the UK’s continuing commitment to Estonia and securing NATO’s eastern flank.