Chapter 17: Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to working with Britain's culture, media and sport sectors to improve opportunity, access and quality for all. The 2002 Spending Review will:
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Opportunity, access and quality
17.1 The Government's goals for the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) are opportunity, access and quality: offering everyone the opportunity to improve the quality of their lives by being able to access high-quality cultural and leisure activities.
17.2 The department's key themes for this review are:
- children and young people;
- building communities;
- maximising the contribution that tourism, creative and leisure industries make to the economy; and
- modernising delivery.
17.3 To ensure delivery of these goals, tough new PSA targets have been agreed with the DCMS. These include new objectives on increasing participation by pupils in sport both in and after school, jointly with the Department for Education and Skills(DfES) and increasing participation of adults in cultural and sporting opportunities.
17.4 A key part of the review is for the DCMS to take forward plans to reform the role it plays in relation to the bodies it sponsors. It will work with its bodies to devise a more effective partnership where roles and responsibilities are clearer and the department is the strategic commissioner of the service.
What has been achieved so far
17.5 The 2000 Spending Review improved access to the arts and provided additional funding to help schools provide more opportunities for sporting activities. Links were encouraged between the arts and schools by introducing a pilot scheme of Creative Partnerships in areas across the country to allow children the experience of a range of cultural and creative opportunities. Another significant measure was to ensure funding to allow the national institutions sponsored by the DCMS to introduce free entry. Budget 2001 removed the last remaining barrier to free entry by introducing a new VAT refund scheme effective from 1 September 2001 for those national museums and galleries willing to offer free admission. Eligible bodies are allowed to recover the VAT they incur.
17.6 The national museums and galleries sponsored by the DCMS have been free to the public since December 2001 and attendance has increased by around 75 per cent. The numbers of children visiting has also been rising steadily and the DCMS is on course to meet its PSA target to increase children's visits by one third by 2004.
17.7 Sixteen Creative Partnership pilots have been set up, targeted on deprived areas and will start working with children from September 2002. There are now more than 500 school sports coordinators in place and the percentage of children participating in the school sports coordinator areas has increased from 25 to 65.
What is now to be done
17.8 For this review, the DCMS has plans to strengthen the core in the arts, museums and galleries and improve the delivery of sports and the arts for children and young people. By 2005-06 spending on the arts will rise by £75 million above existing plans for 2003-04. The department will build on joint working with the DfES, which has already brought many benefits to children in primary schools through the Space for Sports and Arts programme (jointly funded by the Capital Modernisation Fund and the National Lottery) to bring together the two departments' priorities in the education, sporting and cultural sectors. This shared vision will offer a broader range of opportunities to young people, particularly the most deprived.
17.9 In schools, the DCMS and the DfES will continue to work together to enable more children to benefit from the coaching and school sports programme. This review also builds on the announcement made in Budget 2002 which gave 20 million euros in support to community sports facilities in 2002-03, by continuing this funding across all years of the review. Funding has also been provided to allow the Creative Partnerships pilot to be extended to broaden coverage.
17.10 As a result of increased core funding for the national museums and galleries, these institutions will be able to maintain the policy of free access by all members of the public to the main collections. This review has also allowed funding to improve access to a regional museums network that will provide a much-needed additional educational resource for children including those in the most deprived communities.
Reform and delivery
17.11 The DCMS has plans for reform of support for the tourism industry and regulation of the leisure and creative industries to maximise their contribution to the productivity of the economy. Tourism reform plans are now underway and these will include strengthening the role of the regions and ensuring that they work more closely with a streamlined national body. The department has proposals for legislation to cover alcohol and licensing, gambling and communications all of which aim to reform and modernise these sectors. The department is also undertaking a review of the National Lottery.
17.12 As outlined in Chapter 23, the DCMS has a major role to play in regional policy. This review has specifically focused on how government can work in closer partnership with the Regional Development Agencies to deliver better services. This is particularly relevant for tourism but also for sporting and cultural activities.
17.13 The DCMS already plays an influential role in delivering the Government's wider sustainable development objectives. By using a solid base of evidence to inform decisions, and by working across government and with other stakeholders during its development, a cross-departmental Sustainable Development Strategy will demonstrate the important and diverse contribution the DCMS will continue to make to delivering a better quality of life, from reducing the environmental impact of tourism to improving levels of educational attainment through the Government's culture policies.
Spending plans
17.14 New spending plans provide an annual average real terms increase of 3.5 per cent over three years to 2005-06. This will ensure that the DCMS sectors are able to create and maintain a sustainable infrastructure.
Table 17.1: Key figures | ||||||
| £ million | ||||||
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |||
| Department for Culture, Media and Sport | ||||||
| Resource budget | 1,350 | 1,455 | 1,512 | 1,585 | ||
| Capital budget | 46 | 56 | 81 | 96 | ||
| Total Departmental Expenditure Limit1 | 1,328 | 1.423 | 1,500 | 1,585 | ||
| Near-cash spending in DCMS DEL2 | 1,218 | 1,283 | 1,358 | 1,442 | ||
1 Full resource budgeting basis, net of depreciation. | ||||||
2 Consistent with previous control basis. | ||||||