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  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to increase participation in motor sport for young people from families with lower incomes.

    Tracey Crouch

    Around 25,000 adults already participate in motorsports each week in England and with support this number could increase further. Motor sports and motor cycling clubs and associations are eligible to apply to Sport England for funding and I would encourage them to consider this as an option to help increase participation.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to promote the legacy of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

    Tracey Crouch

    The Rugby World Cup is expected to attract 466,000 international visitors to England – more than any previous RWC. Research from Visit Britain tells us that sport tourists traditionally stay for longer, have a propensity to travel around the country and spend more money when doing so. International visitors are expected to contribute up to £869 million in direct expenditure to the UK economy. Last year, an economic impact study by EY estimated a boost of almost £1bn to the UK’s GDP (of £2.2bn total spend generated). This includes £85m of infrastructure projects and the support of 41,000 jobs.

    There are strong plans to drive legacy benefits from the tournament. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is working to spread the game’s popularity and there are also plans around the host cities to maximise economic and community benefits.

    The RFU’s plans to grow the game include:

    • improving facilities through £10m investment
    • investing in people, including by recruiting and training nearly 3,000 referees and over 3,000 new coaches, and recruiting 6,000 volunteers (‘the Pack’) to help run the tournament
    • increasing schools’ participation in rugby, especially state schools. 130,000 new state school pupils have played rugby, of whom a third are girls and of whom 3,000 are now playing regularly for a club
    • attracting 16-24 year old players back to clubs
    • promoting touch rugby to appeal to more people
    • the Unity Project to promote rugby in Europe’s developing rugby nations; and
    • cultural engagement through over 700 rugby themed events and celebrations.

    DCMS and the Government continue to be fully supportive of these plans.UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is coordinating a Rugby World Cup Business Festival programme of activity across 8 of 9 regions, aligned to the locations of fixtures. A Global Investment Conference (GIC), hosted by UKTI, launched the festival on 17 September 2015 at Lancaster House. This brought together government leaders and 150 senior potential and existing investors from 9 key Foreign Direct Investment target market countries with teams competing in the tournament.

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) Connecting Cheshire and (b) other local authority partnerships provide timely and accurate advice to homes and businesses about when work will take place to connect them to superfast broadband.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    All local BDUK project are required to have project websites providing information to their residents of the roll out plans for their area. All projects include maps of their intervention areas and regular updates on progress. The majority of projects have seven digit postcode checkers on their site to provide greater localised information. Details for Cheshire’s broadband rollout can be found on the Connecting Cheshire postcode checker (http://www.connectingcheshire.org.uk/check-availability) and on deployment maps indicating broader timescales for upgrades (http://www.connectingcheshire.org.uk/connecting-cheshire-deployment-maps).

    “

  • Nigel Adams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Nigel Adams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that payment of royalties is made by platform providers to broadcasters as well as to the rights-holders of programmes.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government’s consultation on the balance of payments between pay TV platforms and Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) closed on 30 June 2015. The consultation examined the flow of payments between PSBs and pay TV platforms, and whether regulations relating to these transactions are necessary to ensure broadcasters can deliver the highest quality content, at the best price, to the widest possible audience. Department for Culture, Media and Sport officials are now analysing with a view to publishing a Government response in due course.

  • Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ian C. Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of television licences for people over the age of 75 in each of the last three years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    DWP’s expenditure figures on TV licences for the over 75s can be found in table 1a of the ‘summer budget’ link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2015

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  • Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will hold discussions with the FA about the affordability of tickets to Premier League matches for people on the national average wage.

    Tracey Crouch

    The pricing of tickets is a matter for the clubs to decide on, however we would encourage all clubs, whether in the Premier League or not, to think carefully about affordability for all fans when setting their ticket prices.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October 2015 to Question 10535, what steps he is taking specifically to encourage the deployment of fibre to the premises in new build housing developments.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is looking at ways to ensure that newly built premises get at least superfast broadband connectivity, including legislation if necessary. We are discussing this with telecoms infrastructure providers and developers. But it is for the market to determine the most appropriate technology that should be used.

  • Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to assist local authorities to safeguard the residential amenity of urban residential locales with high numbers of private sector lettings; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    A local housing authority can, through licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation and other privately rented properties (selective licensing), impose conditions relating to the management of the premises so its use does not adversely impact upon its vicinity. Since 27 March 2015 an authority can make a selective licensing scheme in an area where (a) it has recently, or is experiencing, a high level of migration into the private rented sector and (b) the scheme will help preserve or improve the social or economic well-being of that area.

  • Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to reduce barriers preventing tenants in shared ownership properties from staircasing up to increase the share of the property they own; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    This Government is determined to extend home ownership to anyone who aspires to own their own home.

    Shared ownership has proven to be extremely popular and has played an important role in helping families who are otherwise priced out of the market. This is why between April 2010 and March 2015 we have delivered 41,000 new shared ownership homes through the Affordable Homes Programme.

    The Government is committed to ensuring that shared ownership continues to be effective at helping hard working families meet their aspiration to own their own home. This is why earlier this year we consulted on a range of possible proposals to streamline the process for selling on shared ownership properties.

    As a result we have simplified the process for resale of shared ownership properties by removing the pre-emption right, or right of first refusal for housing providers, from those former shared ownership homes where the owner has ‘staircased’ to 100% ownership.

    But there is more that can be done and the Government is currently looking at how we can make shared ownership even more accessible as a route to full home ownership.

  • Mark Garnier – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Mark Garnier – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Garnier on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to help local councils with pooled funding tackle unpredicted revenue shortfalls due to the revaluation of the business rates levied on GP surgeries.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The business rates retention scheme in England is providing real incentives for councils to support enterprise and economic growth. In 2015/16, 362 authorities expect to retain an extra £544 million in business rates above baseline funding. Under the scheme, local authorities or pools of local authorities are protected against significant declines in business rates income, such as from rating appeals on GP surgeries, through a safety net that guarantees income at 92.5% of baseline funding.