Nigel Huddleston: The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will deliver a fantastic legacy for the people and communities of Birmingham. A range of programmes are helping to boost jobs and skills; encourage more people to try sport; and engage young people in the Commonwealth through a National Learning Programme. We have invested £21m in a Business and Tourism Programme to encourage investment and visitors to...
Nigel Huddleston: The Government was extremely concerned by the reports of racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club. We are absolutely clear that racism has no place in cricket, sport, or wider society, and we expect all sports to take this seriously. We welcome the steps taken so far by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and YCCC but expect to see clear and sustained evidence of cultural change across...
Nigel Huddleston: The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. There will always be risks associated with participating in contact sport, but it is important that robust measures are in place to reduce the risk of major injuries and health issues. It is the responsibility of individual boxing event organisers to ensure that they protect the safety and wellbeing of...
Nigel Huddleston: DCMS provides funding to community arts projects in England through a number of our arm’s-length bodies. Arts Council England is committed to supporting community arts projects, and has identified "Cultural Communities" as a key focus of its 10 year strategy “Let’s Create”. One example of Arts Council's investment in communities is through their Lottery-funded Creative People and...
Nigel Huddleston: Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) have the power to drive investment for new visitor attractions, bring in more visitors from around the world, and boost the local visitor economy. For DMOs to reach their full potential, however, we need to address long-running concerns about the structure, funding and fragmentation of England’s DMO landscape. This is why I asked Nick de Bois...
Nigel Huddleston: We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities, including swimming pools, which are great spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities. The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at Local Authority level, and the government continues to encourage Local Authorities...
Nigel Huddleston: DCMS has regular contact with Equity, and with other trade unions representing the arts and culture sector. Equity also sat on the Department’s Events and Entertainment Working Group. In May this year the Minister for Arts met representatives from Equity to discuss aspects of the Universal Credit system and their impact on Equity members. Lord Parkinson also attended a freelancers...
Nigel Huddleston: Twelve projects supporting young people in County Durham and Darlington were awarded funding from Phase One of the Youth Investment Fund. The funding has enabled local youth providers to invest in small-scale capital projects including outdoor/activity equipment, IT/Tech, a minibus, and small redevelopments that expand the reach, number and range of services they currently offer. Phase One of...
Nigel Huddleston: The Government committed, in the Tourism Recovery Plan published in June last year, to consult on a possible Short Term Accommodation Registration Scheme in England. A call for evidence, as the first stage of that consultation process, was published on 29 June and runs until 21 September. We want to hear from a wide range of stakeholders in order to build a much-needed evidence base on these...
Nigel Huddleston: The Government is clear there is no room for racism or any type of discrimination in sport or wider society. National Governing Bodies (NGBs) are responsible for the governance of their sports. We are working closely with our arm’s length bodies, UK Sport and Sport England, and NGBs themselves to ensure discrimination is tackled effectively. UK Sport and Sport England’s Code for Sport...
Nigel Huddleston: The Youth Hostel Association (YHA) helped to fund the Green Recovery Challenge Fund (GRCF), which was a multi-partner consortium project aiming to connect young people to nature. Generation Green, was a project funded by the GRCF, capitalised on the combined reach of the coalition partners of more than two million young people. It has provided more than 100,000 progressive opportunities...
Nigel Huddleston: The Government does not generally intervene in how businesses choose to conduct their activities or offer their products and services, which is essentially a commercial matter. Business should be free to compete on matters such as quality, service and product pricing. Provided consumers are not misled and able to make informed decisions, companies offering goods and services are free to offer...
Nigel Huddleston: I am pleased that the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) received support from the Culture Recovery Fund and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs’ Green Recovery Fund to continue the organisation's work within communities. The Tourism Recovery Plan (TRP), published in June 2021, sets out how we will assist and accelerate the tourism sector’s recovery from COVID-19. The TRP...
Nigel Huddleston: The Tourism Recovery Plan sets out a comprehensive framework for rebuilding the sector. In the long term, the plan aims to build back better, with a more sustainable, inclusive, innovative, data-driven, productive and resilient industry, where the benefits of tourism are shared across every nation and region. The Government has committed to develop a Sustainable Tourism Plan to put the UK at...
Nigel Huddleston: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship again, Mr Hollobone, particularly in these rather pleasant surroundings, it being rather cooler in the Chamber than outside. I congratulate the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) on securing the debate and on her compelling, passionate contribution. I learned quite a lot from it. She is sincerely passionate about golf, and it...
Nigel Huddleston: I was wondering when Rory McIlroy would be mentioned. We missed the hon. Gentleman earlier; if he reads Hansard, he will see that he was mentioned. He is absolutely right about golf’s contribution, which is what I will come on to now. Golf has huge economic impact and importance across the UK, which is disproportionately large in the devolved areas because of the additional contribution of...
Nigel Huddleston: I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, which again makes the point about the creativity and effort being made to ensure that golf is truly inclusive, which I applaud. I will spend a little more time highlighting the valuable contribution that golf makes to the UK tourism sector, alongside sport overall. The sporting calendar is one of this country’s many tourism assets. Our...
Nigel Huddleston: The hon. Gentleman, as always, makes an important point that I dare not disagree with. He is absolutely right. It is important that we showcase, support and encourage our women golfers and disability sports. We need them on television, too, because that inspires people to take part, and for those participating at elite level it is important for getting sponsorship and other support. I...
Nigel Huddleston: The total spend including VAT, via the Crown Commercial Service’s media buying framework reference RM6003, between May 2018 and May 2022 (inclusive) was £35,837,403 for the British Tourist Authority (BTA). For VisitBritain it was £23,819,556 and for VisitEngland it was £12,017,847.
Nigel Huddleston: NCS Trust works closely with partners to offer valuable outdoor experiences to young people as well as emphasise the importance of interacting with the rural environment and using natural resources in a responsible and sustainable manner. Out of the 79 venues booked for this year’s National Citizen Service (NCS) summer residential programmes, only 8 are in urban locations - meaning that...