The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Labour MP for Wigan
My Department has today written to Penultimate Investments Holdings Limited (PIHL) and the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), the current and proposed owners of the Telegraph Media Group Holdings (TMGH) in relation to the Proposed Acquisition of TMGH by DMGT. In my Written Statement to Parliament and by letters to the parties, all on 20 January 2026, I confirmed that I was minded to...
I am writing to update colleagues across the House on this Government’s commitment to funding arts and culture. Arts and culture are not a luxury. They are central to our national life, our identity, and our sense of belonging. They tell the story of who we are as a country. Yet for too long, the arts have been treated as an afterthought: undervalued, underfunded, and too often left to...
I wish to update the House on the sale of the Telegraph Media Group. As I set out in my Written Ministerial Statement on 17 December 2025, I received a formal request from the representatives of RB Investco Limited, the current owners of the call option to purchase Telegraph Media Group Holdings, to allow RB Investco Ltd to derogate from the Public Interest Merger Reference (Telegraph Media...
The last Government created a perfect storm for our charitable organisations, cutting their funding and attacking their right to speak, all while demand soared. This Government have reset that relationship through the civil society covenant, and we are currently working on ways to leverage more investment into local organisations.
I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and for being such a sterling champion of the amazing grassroots organisations in her constituency, some of which I had the privilege of meeting when I visited. We recognise the need to protect the smallest charities in particular; that is why we more than doubled the employment allowance, meaning that more than half of charities with national...
I thank the right hon. Gentleman very much for his question, and I will certainly make sure that I and the Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley South (Stephanie Peacock), take that matter up with colleagues in the Treasury to resolve it.
I am really proud that this Government have launched the UK’s first ever town of culture competition. I hope Members from across the whole House can get behind this incredible competition, which will bring back into focus parts of our country that have been ignored, disrespected and not celebrated for far too long.
I thank my hon. Friend for championing those incredible organisations in her constituency. Applications open this week for the town of culture competition. We have deliberately designed this contest so that it will benefit everybody who takes part, helping them to promote what happens in their local areas, with the least bureaucracy possible. We want local organisations to be heard loud and...
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, with reference to paragraph 4.27 of the report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact entitled ICAI follow-up review of 2022-23 reports, published on 16 May 2024, if he will take steps to issue guidance on police reform and restricting the use of official development assistance funding for civilian policing tasks.
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to improve the transparency of aid provided by arms-length bodies.
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to improve the transparency of aid.
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent discussions he has had with his Zimbabwean counterpart on the (a) economic and (b) humanitarian situation in that country.
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on ensuring safe passage of aid convoys through (a) Israel and (b) Israeli-controlled territory in Gaza.
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps he is taking with regional partners to facilitate aid access to all parts of Sudan.
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to support multi-lateral institutions in promoting good governance in the global south.
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department plans to provide additional humanitarian support to NGOs following the recent flooding in Afghanistan.
