Written questions by Shannon.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the provision of youth services in local communities.

Awaiting answer.

Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the National Lottery on the potential merits of uplifting lottery grants that fund improvements to (a) churches and (b) historic buildings.

Awaiting answer.

Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing funding to Mountstewart Gardens to help enable Mountstewart to take her place as a UNESCO world heritage site.

Awaiting answer.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to (a) help support young people who gather in public spaces for want of any other dedicated location to do so and (b) reassure those local communities of their safety.

Through Youth Matters, this Government is delivering better spaces and more engaging activities for young people. We are investing in 250 new or refurbished youth centres alongside 50 Young Futures Hubs in areas to give young people the spaces they deserv...

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of access to sports facilities for people living in rural communities.

The Government is committed to ensure everyone, regardless of where they live, should have access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities.That is why we provide the majority of support for grassroots sports through our Arm’s Length Body, Spor...

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to improve participation in sport among women and girls.

The Government is committed to ensuring that as many women and girls as possible have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities. The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Leng...

Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with national governing bodies of sport on safeguarding standards in youth sport.

The safety and wellbeing of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. Sport England and UK Sport (DCMS’s Arm’s Length Bodies for sport) require National Governing Bodies (NGBs) to adopt and implement safeguarding policies and practices as a c...

Media and Sport, what funding has been provided to grassroots sports facilities through programmes administered by Sport England.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding across England. Sport England allocates funds to National Governing Bodies and grassroot...

Media and Sport, what steps are being taken to support freelance workers in the creative sector.

The self-employed workforce is crucial to the success of the UK's world-leading creative industries, which employ nearly twice the number of self-employed workers as a proportion of the workforce compared to the rest of the economy. We understand that man...

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the level of the contribution of the UK creative industries to economic growth.

DCMS Economic Estimates provide accredited official statistics on the contribution of the creative industries to the UK economy over time, measured by Gross Value Added (GVA). In 2024, the creative industries contributed an estimated £145.8 billion in GVA...

Media and Sport, what support programmes exist to encourage greater participation in the arts among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), alongside its partners Arts Council England (ACE) and the Department for Education (DfE), support a range of programmes designed to increase participation in the arts among young people from disadvantage...

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support local authorities in maintaining access to community library services.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources, including how community libraries may form a part of that.Where a community library is par...

Media and Sport, how many public libraries have closed in England in the past five years.

As the libraries development agency for England, Arts Council England (ACE) collects and publishes data on library closures, openings and relocations in its annual English Public Libraries Location Dataset. The dataset can be found at the following link: ...

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposed reforms to gambling regulation on consumers experiencing harms associated with gambling disorder.

The Government is acutely aware of the impact that gambling harm can have on individuals, families and communities. We therefore consider a wide range of evidence when assessing the impact of gambling regulation on those experiencing harm.

Media and Sport, what funding has been allocated in the current financial year to support regional museums.

Museums funding is fully devolved to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.In England, DCMS announced earlier this year that it would allocate £160 million to accredited local museums in England from 2026/27 to 2029/30. Funding programmes for the current f...

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the sustainability of local journalism.

Awaiting answer.

Media and Sport, what recent estimate she has made of trends in the level of online scams targeting elderly people.

Awaiting answer.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help support independent television production companies with their production costs.

Awaiting answer.

Media and Sport, what support her Department provides for faith-based social enterprises.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities, and Local Government supports grassroots programmes, such as Near Neighbours, which promotes dialogue, relationship building and civic engagement across religiously and ethnically diverse communities. In the previous financial year, MHCLG provided £587,000 of grant funding to the Near Neighbours programme. MHCLG also supported Inter Faith Week 2025, ensuring it remains a key part of the national calendar for dialogue, learning, and connection between people of different faiths and beliefs.

Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to protect local media outlets from needing to consolidate.

This Government is committed to ensuring a healthy and plural local media, for the benefit of communities and citizens across the UK. We recognise the vital role that local media plays in scrutinising local institutions, and reflecting communities’ views and perspectives.The actions in the Local Media Action Plan are aimed at helping local newsrooms across the country to innovate and adapt their business models for the online world, while incentivising and encouraging the production of high quality, trustworthy news.The Local News Fund, which is worth £6m in 2026/2027 and up to £6m in 2027/2028, will help the industry adapt in the short-medium term, before longer term measures set out in the Plan begin to take effect in helping enable a plural and thriving online local media ecosystem. Further detail on the Fund will be announced in the coming weeks.The Secretary of State has powers to intervene in media mergers which she believes are or may be harmful to the public interest. For newspapers, she has the power to intervene if she believes the merger may be harmful for freedom of expression, accurate presentation of news, sufficient plurality of views and sufficient plurality of control. She has the power to define the market in which she considers the public interest tests, and can therefore consider the plurality impacts on a specific region in the context of a local news acquisition or merger.