Written questions by Vickers.

Media and Sport, what steps have been taken to support the heritage sector in maintaining and restoring historic buildings.

The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) is committed to supporting the heritage sector in maintaining and restoring historic buildings,through direct funding and partnership working.We provide significant financial support through our Arm's-Length Bodies, primarily Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, who last year spent £287.2m on heritage. We have introduced dedicated funding streams, such as the £4.85m Heritage Revival Fund and the £15m Heritage at Risk Capital Fund, which provides support for the rescue, repair, and adaptive reuse of neglected historic buildings, often focusing on community-led projects and regeneration in deprived areas.DCMS also supports maintenance through specialist schemes, including the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme which helps cover the cost of VAT on repairs and has been extended until March 2026.

Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the distribution of grassroots sports funding between urban and coastal towns.

The Government is investing £98 million in grassroots sports facilities to support increased participation across the UK via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme in 2025/26. Projects funded through the programme include new artificial grass pitches, changing rooms and pavilions, and floodlights.A full list of projects funded through the Programme, as well as an interactive map for each funding year, can be found on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/multi-sport-grassroots-facilities-programme-projects-2021-to-2025.At least £400 million will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities over the next four years, promoting health and wellbeing while ensuring community cohesion and pride of place.Officials are now working with the sports sector and local leaders to develop plans for delivering this funding through a place-based approach. This will allow us to better understand the differing needs for grassroots facilities in communities across the UK, including coastal areas and their specific needs, and will ensure that investment best meets demand.

Media and Sport, what assessment has been made of regional disparities in access to elite sports pathways.

Elite pathways are designed and operated by National Governing Bodies and are independent from the Government. Widening access is a condition of the public funding they receive. All funded sports must publish Diversity and Inclusion Action Plans and show annual progress in improving representation across their pathways. Home Country Sports Councils regularly review athlete data from funded sports to understand representation across regions and socio economic groups. Where disparities exist, they are usually linked to the location of specialist facilities or the cost and travel required to access them, rather than formal exclusion. To address this, UK Sport and the Sports Councils support regional hubs, outreach activity and targeted financial assistance. National talent recruitment programmes, such as Find Your Greatness have also helped engage a more diverse population and introduce them to sports they may not previously have accessed.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the resilience of local sports clubs in the context of energy prices.

The Government is committed to supporting local sports clubs and recognises their importance to communities up and down the country. The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport in England through its Arm’s Length Body Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery Funding. Ten percent of the funding allocated through their Movement Fund supports clubs to improve environmental sustainability and reduce energy costs. Sport England also provides detailed guidance to sporting clubs on managing energy costs and making facilities energy efficient.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Youth Investment Fund in improving community facilities.

The Youth Investment Fund is supporting the delivery of over 250 new and refurbished youth facilities across England, in less advantaged areas, so young people can regularly attend activities in welcoming, fit-for-purpose youth centres.The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has invested over £145 million to provide stability to the youth sector and ensure young people can continue to access opportunities, as we transition to the new National Youth Strategy. Part of this funding is in recognition of the urgent need for more youth facilities. The investment has enabled more flexibility with project delivery and continues to support the completion of Youth Investment Fund projects into 2026.An independent evaluation of the Youth Investment Fund is ongoing, with a final report due to be published in 2027.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support regional theatres with operational costs.

The Government recognises the vital role that the arts, including regional theatre, play for people and communities in all parts of this country, and delivers funding to theatres primarily through Arts Council England (ACE). ACE’s National Portfolio Organisations, including theatres, can use some of their annual funding to cover operational costs like staffing as long as those costs are justified in the budget and align with ACE’s funding agreement. In addition, ACE’s National Lottery Project Grants (NLPG) also allows some contribution to overheads, but has to be tied to the particular project that the funding has been awarded for. Nearly £14.5 million was awarded to theatres outside the capital through the NLPG programme in 2024/25.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase participation in creative apprenticeships in the North East.

The government is committed to empowering local leaders to take decisions related to their local skills needs. As part of this, DCMS is providing £25m to the North East Strategic Authority through the Creative Places Growth Fund. This will allow areas to distribute funding according to local barriers and opportunities and maximise the impact of national interventions, including supporting regional skills initiatives like apprenticeships.More broadly, this government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners. In the Creative Industries Sector Plan, we committed to working with industry to refine and develop this offer, to deliver apprenticeships and skills training that recognises the particular needs of the sector.This will build on flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and new flexibilities like shorter apprenticeships, which were introduced in August. From April 2026, we will also introduce short course ‘apprenticeship units’ in areas such as digital and AI, to support Industrial Strategy sectors like the Creative Industries.

Media and Sport, what estimate her Department has made of the potential contribution of independent museums to local economic growth.

Drawing on external analysis, the Department considers independent museums as key to local economic growth. Museums form an integral part of the Creative Industries, driving innovation across the economy. By animating high streets and communities through their public programmes, museums draw tourists and employers to regions across the country, with many ranking amongst the most visited attractions in the UK.Independent museums make up over half the sector, and the Association of Independent Museums estimates that independent museums across the UK made an overall economic contribution of £838.7 million in 2023, supporting 17,900 jobs. The Annual Museum Survey 2025 produced by the Arts Council England funded Museum Development Network, estimates the combined economic impact of Independent, Local Authority, and University museums in England at over £1.1 billion annually.

Media and Sport, what support is being provided to heritage sites affected by severe weather and coastal erosion.

Support is being provided to heritage sites affected by severe weather and coastal erosion through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Arms Length Bodies, Historic England (HE) and the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF). In recent years, HE has worked with local authorities and other partners to assess a range of heritage assets at risk from coastal erosion, including Sandsfoot Castle in Dorset, Sandwich Bay in Kent, and Seaford Head in Sussex. These investigations are intended to better understand the significance of and risk to heritage assets from coastal erosion to inform asset owners, local authority and managers when taking their decisions about conservation. They have recently begun projects, such as ‘A Matter of Time & Tide’ which will quantify the number of Scheduled Monuments that are currently or likely to become at risk from coastal erosion and on what timeframe. The NLHF has funded over 25 projects concerning heritage impacted by severe weather and coastal erosion. This includes a 2023 grant of £226,372 to the project ‘Facing the Cliff: The Race to Uncover and Share the Folkestone Villa at East Wear Bay’, which is an archeological project to excavate this significant site before it is lost due to coastal erosion. They also provided a 2021 grant of £295,904 to ‘The Compass Point Project’, which involved dismantling, moving, and reconstructing a 1835 Grade II Storm Tower in danger of falling into the sea.

Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on expanding access to youth cultural programmes in areas with historically low participation.

The Government has taken a number of steps to expand youth access to cultural programmes in under-served areas. Arts Council England (ACE) is targeting 54 areas in England where cultural engagement and investment have been historically low through its Priority Places programme. All 54 areas include Music Hub provision which provide engagement aimed at young people; and some of the national portfolio organisations operating in Priority Places are entirely focused on children and young people, such as the BookTrust, the UK's largest reading charity which reaches millions of children each year. In 2024/25 ACE invested almost £27 million through National Lottery Project Grants to Priority Places. The Arts Everywhere Fund, announced earlier this year, has also committed £3.2 million in funding for four cultural education programmes for the 2025/26 financial year to preserve increased access to arts for children and young people through the Museums and Schools Programme, Heritage Schools Programme, Art & Design National Saturday Clubs and BFI Film Academy. In November, we published the Government’s response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review, which will ensure that a high-quality arts education is an essential part of the broad and rich education every child deserves. We will revitalise arts education through a reformed curriculum and support for teachers. In September 2026 we will launch the new National Centre for Arts and Music Education, which will improve access and opportunity for children and young people, strengthening collaboration between schools and industry. In addition, £132.5 million of dormant assets funding will be allocated to support the provision of services, facilities or opportunities to meet the needs of young people. £117.5m of this has been allocated to increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities in the arts, culture, sports and wider youth services, aimed at improving wellbeing and employability.

Media and Sport, what recent discussions have taken place with broadcasters on improving access to live sports coverage for people without subscription services.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring access to live sporting events so that they can be enjoyed by a wide audience. However, this must also be balanced with the ability of sports National Governing Bodies and rightsholders to generate revenue to invest in their sports at all levels. All UK broadcasters are operationally and editorially independent of the Government. Decisions relating to coverage of particular sporting events are ultimately a commercial decision for them and/or the rights holder of the specific event.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase digital skills within the video-games sector.

The Government is making the UK the best place in the world to create video games, having identified the creative industries as one of eight priority sectors in the industrial strategy. We understand that digital skills are a key part of this.The government is working with the creative industries to build evidence, support sector training pathways and ensure the workforce is prepared for the future of work. We will introduce short courses, in England, funded by the Growth and Skills Levy, in areas such as digital, to support Industrial Strategy sectors like the Creative Industries from April 2026. We have also committed to a new £187 million “TechFirst” programme to bring digital skills and AI learning into classrooms and communities and train up people of all ages and backgrounds for the tech careers of the future.As set out in the Creative Industries Sector Plan published earlier this year, a Video Games Skills Strategy is also being developed by an industry-led UK Games Skills Network. This will build on findings from the Creative Industries Council Skills Audit, giving video games skills organisations and delivery partners a clear remit for tackling persistent skills gaps.