17 Apr 2025·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she has taken to celebrate the feast day of Saint David in 2025.
ReplyI refer the Hon member to my answer to PQ 38000 answered on the 26th March. In addition to the regular annual celebrations of St George’s Day, this year St George’s Day marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Mallord William Turner, which has been celebrated in many museums and galleries up and down the country.
17 Apr 2025·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, whether she has considered providing funding for the creation of a Covid-19 memorial in Romford constituency.
ReplyThe UK Commission on Covid Commemoration consulted on how to commemorate the COVID-19 pandemic and mark this distinctive period in our history at a national and community level. This Commission made a number of recommendations, including the importance of local memorials in commemorating the Covid-19 pandemic in providing a place to grieve and remember their loved ones. Since the publication of the Commission’s report, a number of COVID-19 memorials have been developed across the country by local Government, local businesses and community groups.This government wants to carefully consider all the Commission's recommendations, working closely with Bereaved Family groups, wider stakeholders and the Devolved Governments to do justice to the hard work of the Commission, and will publish a response, including to the recommendation around the creation of new memorials, in due course.
17 Mar 2025·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the Crown Dependencies to tackle illegally-operated online gambling in the (a) Isle of Man and (b) Channel Islands.
ReplyAs set out by the Gambling Act 2005, the Gambling Commission regulates gambling in Great Britain only.Both DCMS and the Commission stand ready to support the Crown Dependencies on matters relating to gambling if requested. The Gambling Commission has a Memorandum of Understanding on Gambling with the Isle of Man regulator, the Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC).
13 Mar 2025·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she is taking to promote cultural awareness of patron saints of the United Kingdom.
ReplyDCMS has no such plans, but we know that St David, St Andrew, St Patrick and St George are as well-sewn into the fabric of our national identities as they are inscribed on many of our buildings, including in the mosaics above Central Lobby in the Palace of Westminster.
21 Feb 2025·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she is taking to provide funding for local sports clubs in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.
ReplyThis Government recognises that grassroots sports clubs are central to communities up and down the country.The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year.The Government has also committed to continued funding for grassroots facilities, investing £123 million UK-wide via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme throughout 2024/25, working with our delivery partner the Football Foundation. In this year, Romford has had one funded project in Raphael Park.
21 Feb 2025·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help promote tourism within the Channel Islands.
ReplyDCMS is responsible for tourism within England, however the UK Government continues to consult and engage with the self-governing Crown Dependencies within the Channel Islands and their respective tourism boards (Visit Jersey and Visit Guernsey).These tourism boards for the Channel Islands are accountable to their respective Governments and the UK works in collaboration with the Crown Dependencies on tourism policy issues as part of the Common Travel Area.
13 Feb 2025·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she is taking to promote Morris dancing in England.
ReplyThe UK ratified the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in March 2024.Intangible Cultural Heritage, also known as living heritage, includes the folklore, performance, customs and crafts that play an important role in the identity, pride, and cohesion of communities across the UK, and includes traditions such as Morris dancing.The Government is committed to ensure the safeguarding of living heritage and as a first step of implementing the Convention will be creating, with the Devolved Governments, an inventory of living heritage in the UK later this year.We would expect this to include Morris dancing.
27 Jan 2025·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she is taking with local authorities to maintain community libraries in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.
ReplyPublic libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources. DCMS Secretary of State has a duty to “superintend and promote the improvement of the public library service provided by local authorities in England” under the Public Libraries and Museum Act 1964.I understand that Havering had 10 static libraries as of December 2023, all local authority run, with three (Collier Row, Gidea Park and Romford) in Romford constituency.The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available £69 billion for local government, which is a 3.5% real terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25.
22 Jan 2025·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the greyhound racing industry.
ReplyThe Government recognises the importance of Greyhound Racing to our economy - providing employment to 5400 people across Britain - and its contribution to British cultural life.The greyhound racing industry is supported by the British Greyhound Racing Fund in the form of voluntary contributions from bookmakers on betting turnover on licensed greyhound racing. The Government remains committed to ensuring that those voluntary contributions reflect the benefits the betting industry derives from Greyhound Racing as a betting product. The levy has an important role in supporting the growth and sustainability of the sport.The Government welcomes the progress of the industry’s regulatory body, the Greyhound Board for Great Britain, in driving improvement in rehoming and overall welfare standards through its Greyhound Commitment and its long term national welfare strategy, “A Good Life for Every Greyhound”. The Government is committed to continuing to work with the greyhound and betting industries to deliver a more sustainable future for the Sport.
3 Dec 2024·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she has taken to support listed places of worship.
ReplyThere is a range of funding available via DCMS and the Department’s Arm’s-Length Bodies that supports listed places of worship, including Church of England buildings. These include the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme; the National Lottery Heritage F...
3 Dec 2024·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the Church of England in maintaining its built heritage.
ReplyThere is a range of funding available via DCMS and the Department’s Arm’s-Length Bodies that supports listed places of worship, including Church of England buildings. These include the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme; the National Lottery Heritage F...
19 Nov 2024·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps she is taking to help support press freedom.
ReplyHaving a free and fair press in an age of misinformation and disinformation, is more important than ever. It is vital that the public have access to accurate and trustworthy information from a range of different sources.To ensure journalists operating wit...
13 Nov 2024·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of pursuing machine ratio reforms to the land-based gambling industry.
ReplyWe are considering the best available evidence in respect of machine ratio reforms, and the Minister for Gambling has met with a wide range of stakeholders including industry trade bodies. We will provide further updates to the House soon.
31 Oct 2024·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, if she will make an estimate of the economic contribution of adult gaming centres to (a) high streets and (b) town centres.
ReplyOfficial statistics from a range of sources provide the Government with insights into the economic contribution of the betting and gaming industry as a whole. The latest headline statistics show that the gambling sector contributed £4.9bn to Gross Value A...
28 Oct 2024·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to promote the heritage of county Essex.
ReplyHis Majesty’s Government is committed to promoting local heritage for the benefit of present and future generations.Historic England (HE), the government’s expert advisor on heritage, works closely with heritage organisations in Essex, such as the Thomas ...
14 Oct 2024·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help local authorities fund public libraries.
ReplyPublic libraries are funded by local authorities and each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.I will work with my colleagues in th...
4 Oct 2024·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, whether she has had discussions with the Director of the British Museum on the long-term ownership of historic artefacts originating from other countries.
29 Jul 2024·Department for Culture, Media and Sport·Answered
AskedMedia and Sport, whether her Department has (a) organised events and (b) taken other steps to celebrate the Olympic Games in the next two weeks.
ReplyThe Government is committed to supporting elite sport and enabling our athletes to excel on the world stage. The Secretary of State and I were both fortunate enough to attend the Paris Olympics to cheer on our athletes. The Government welcomes the free, accessible, fan zones that Team GB set up around the UK for fans to watch live coverage with friends and family, and the many local events that communities across the country enjoyed. We were also delighted to join the celebrations for our Olympians at the National Lottery’s Team GB Homecoming in Manchester on 17 August.