Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 2
Third Report - Impact of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors: First Report
Published 23 Jul 2020
Paragraph 11
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Impact of Covid-19 on DCMS sectors All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We are concerned that a lack of confidence, and a fear of being in close proximity with people from outside their own household, will affect people’s return to group sports, particularly those that take place indoors (such as indoor exercise classes), those that require physical contact (such as rugby), and those that require participants to be in close proximity for extended periods of time (such as rowing). We support requests from the sport sector for clear and effective public messaging from the Government to ensure people feel safe returning to group physical activity. To help to get the UK moving again, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport should fund advertisements, based on the ‘This Girl Can’ model, using realistic content about how to get back to exercise without fear. In the medium-to-long term, we recommend that DCMS establishes a fund to invest specifically in helping those people whose activity levels have been adversely affected by the lockdown restrictions—including older people, BAME people, disabled people, women, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and those unable to access physical activity content online—to ensure that the progress that was being made in physical activity levels within these groups is not set back by Covid-19.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Third Report - Impact of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors: First Report (HC 291), paragraph 11, 23 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 October 2020 (deadline 23 September 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out support already provided across DCMS sectors, agrees with the recommendation for a national domestic tourism campaign, and on several other recommendations says it is considering options, working with the sector, or would need further evidence.
- On tax reliefs for theatre and music, the government says it "keeps all tax reliefs under review" and that HM Treasury "would need to assess" any new relief for effectiveness, cost to the Exchequer, wider economic impacts and ability to stand up to abuse.
- On extending the furlough scheme for the creative industries, it states that "there will be no further extensions or changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme", which closes at the end of October, and points to a new Job Support Scheme from 1 November.
- On museum insolvency, the government says it is "looking at legislative, and non-legislative, options" to prevent the dispersal of collections.
- On a 'Creators Council', it says it "would need a clear steer from the sector" and "robust evidence" of a gap in what the existing Creative Industries Council delivers, if the sector wishes it to consider the proposal.