Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Welsh: Yr Adran Diwylliant, Cyfryngau a Chwaraeon

100 Parliament Street – partly occupied by DCMS
Department overview
Formed	1997
Preceding Department	Department for National Heritage
Jurisdiction	England (culture, sport) UK (media)
Headquarters	100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ, England
Employees	500 (approx)
Annual budget	£1.4 billion (current) & £1.3 billion (capital) for 2011–12[1]
Minister responsible	John Whittingdale MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Department executive	Sue Owen CB, Permanent Secretary
Child Department	Royal Parks Agency
Website	/dcms.uk.govwww

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet.

It also has responsibility for the tourism, leisure and creative industries (some joint with Department for Business, Innovation and Skills). The department was also responsible for the delivery of the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and the building of a Digital Economy.

History and responsibilities

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The DCMS originates from the Department of National Heritage (DNH), which itself was created on 11 April 1992 out of various other departments, soon after the Conservative election victory. The former Ministers for the Arts and for Sport had previously been located in other departments.

The DNH was renamed as the "Department for Culture, Media and Sport" on 14 July 1997, under the Premiership of Tony Blair.

2012 Olympics

DCMS was the co-ordinating department for the successful bid by London to host the 2012 Olympics and appointed and oversees the agencies delivering the Games' infrastructure and programme, principally the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and LOCOG.

The June 2007 Cabinet reshuffle led to Tessa Jowell MP taking on the role of Paymaster General and then Minister for the Cabinet Office while remaining Minister for the Olympics. Ministerial responsibility for the Olympics was shared with Ms Jowell in the Cabinet Office, but the staff of the Government Olympic Executive (GOE) remained based in DCMS.

2010–present

Following the 2010 general election, ministerial responsibility for the Olympics returned to the Secretary of State. Although Jeremy Hunt's full title was Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, the Department's name remained unchanged. On 4 September 2012, Hunt was appointed Health Secretary in a cabinet reshuffle and replaced by Maria Miller. Maria Miller later resigned due to controversy over her expenses. Her replacement was announced later that day as Sajid Javid.

Strategic priorities

Its five strategic priorities are:

• children and young people
• communities
• delivery
• economy
• the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and its legacy. via the Government Olympic Executive

Policy areas

It is responsible for government policy in the following areas:

• the Arts
• Broadcasting
• Internet and international ICT policy
• Telecommunications and broadband
• Creative industries
  • Advertising
  • Arts market
  • Design
  • Fashion
  • Film
  • Music industry
  • Publishing
• Historic environment
• Architecture and design
• Cultural property and heritage
• Alcohol and entertainment licensing
• Gambling and racing
• Press freedom and regulation
• Libraries
• Museums and galleries
• National Lottery
• Tourism
• Sport
• Olympics

Other responsibilities

Other responsibilities of DCMS include listing of historic buildings, scheduling of ancient monuments, export licensing of cultural goods, and management of the Government Art Collection (GAC).

The Secretary of State has responsibility for the maintenance of the land and buildings making up the historic Royal Estate under the Crown Lands Act 1851. These inherited functions, which were once centralised in the Office of Works, are now delivered as follows:

• The Royal Parks are maintained by an executive agency within DCMS, the Royal Parks Agency;
• The Unoccupied Royal Palaces in England are managed by a contract with Historic Royal Palaces;
• Maintenance of the Occupied Royal Palaces in England was funded by an annual Grant-in-Aid to the Royal Household until 31 March 2012. The Secretary of State for Culture retains legal responsibility for these palaces, but from 1 April 2012 this funding was amalgamated with the Civil List into a single Sovereign Grant administered by HM Treasury. DCMS continues to make a separate small grant to the Royal Household for the maintenance of Marlborough House

The Department also has responsibility for state ceremonial occasions and royal funerals. However, responsibility for the Civil List element of Head of State expenditure and income from the separate Crown Estate remains with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

DCMS works jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on design issues, including sponsorship of the Design Council, and on relations with the computer games and publishing industries.

DCMS organises the annual Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Cenotaph and has responsibility for providing humanitarian assistance in the event of a disaster. In the Government's response to the 7 July 2005 London bombings the department coordinated humanitarian support to the relatives of victims and arranged the memorial events.

Headquarters

The main offices are at 100 Government Offices Great George Street.

Ministers

The DCMS Ministers are as follows:^[2]

The Permanent Secretary is Sue Owen CB.

Bodies sponsored by DCMS

The DCMS has policy responsibility for three statutory corporations and two public broadcasting authorities. These bodies and their operation are largely independent of Government policy influence.

Statutory corporations

The statutory corporations are:

• Channel Four Television Corporation
• Historic Royal Palaces
• Office of Communications (Ofcom) – shared with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)

The Department was responsible for the Horserace Totalisator Board (The Tote) until the sale of the Tote's business to Betfred in July 2011.

Public broadcasting authorities

The public broadcasting authorities are:

• British Broadcasting Corporation
• Sianel Pedwar Cymru – and the S4C Authority which regulates and manages S4C

Non-departmental public bodies

The DCMS sponsors the following executive non-departmental public bodies:

• Arts Council England
• British Film Institute
• British Library
• British Museum
• Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Gambling Commission
• Geffrye Museum
• Historic England (separated from English Heritage in 2015, formally the Historic Buildings & Monuments Commission for England)
• Horniman Museum
• Horserace Betting Levy Board
• Imperial War Museum
• Information Commissioner's Office
• National Gallery
• National Heritage Memorial Fund (the Trustees of the NHMF also administer the Heritage Lottery Fund)
• National Maritime Museum
• National Museums Liverpool
• National Portrait Gallery
• Natural History Museum
• Royal Armouries
• Science Museum Group
• Sir John Soane's Museum
• Sport England (formally the English Sports Council)
• Sports Grounds Safety Authority
• Tate
• UK Anti-Doping
• UK Sport (formally the UK Sports Council)
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• VisitBritain (formally the British Tourist Authority)
• VisitEngland
• Wallace Collection

The DCMS sponsors the following advisory non departmental public bodies:

• Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest
• Theatres Trust
• Treasure Valuation Committee

DCMS also has responsibility for two other bodies classified by the Office for National Statistics^[3] as being within the central government sector:

• The company limited by guarantee, established by a joint venture agreement between the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Mayor of London and the British Olympic Association.
• Churches Conservation Trust

DCMS is also the major financial sponsor of the following bodies, which are not classed as part of the UK central government

• Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust
• Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College for the Old Royal Naval College
• Tyne and Wear Museums

Sponsorship of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) transferred to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in June 2007. The Museum of London transferred to the Greater London Authority from 1 April 2008.

DCMS formerly sponsored eight Regional Cultural Consortiums with NDPB status. In July 2008, DCMS announced that the consortiums would be phased out over a twelve-month period and replaced by a new alliance of the regional teams of Arts Council England, Sport England, English Heritage and the MLA.

Devolution

Culture, sport and tourism are devolved matters, with responsibility resting with corresponding departments in the Scottish Government in Scotland, the Welsh Government in Wales and the Northern Ireland Executive in Northern Ireland.

Media-related policy is generally reserved to Westminster i.e. not devolved. These areas include:

Scotland

Reserved matters:^[4]

• film classification
• broadcasting
• public lending right

Northern Ireland

Reserved matters:^[5]

• broadcasting
• the National Lottery

The British Board of Film Classification also classifies films for viewing in Northern Ireland.

The department's main counterparts in Northern Ireland are as follows:^[6]

• Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (architecture, arts, culture, galleries, libraries, museums, sport)
• Department of the Environment (historic built environment)
• Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (tourism)
• Department for Social Development (gambling, liquor licensing)

Wales

Under the Welsh devolution settlement, specific policy areas are transferred to the Welsh Government rather than reserved to Westminster.

See also

• United Kingdom budget
• Digital Economy Act 2010
• Culture, Media and Sport Committee

References

External links

• Official website

Video clips

• DCMS YouTube channel

Departments of Her Majesty's Government Ministerial Attorney General's Office Cabinet Office Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Department for Communities and Local Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport Department for Education Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department for International Development Department for Transport Department for Work and Pensions Department of Energy and Climate Change Department of Health Foreign and Commonwealth Office Her Majesty's Treasury Home Office Ministry of Defence Ministry of Justice Northern Ireland Office Office of the Advocate General for Scotland Office of the Leader of the House of Commons Office of the Leader of the House of Lords Scotland Office UK Export Finance Wales Office Non-ministerial Charity Commission for England and Wales Competition and Markets Authority Crown Prosecution Service Food Standards Agency Forestry Commission Government Actuary's Department Government Legal Department Her Majesty's Land Registry Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs National Crime Agency National Savings and Investments Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills Office of Gas and Electricity Markets Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation Office of Rail and Road Ordnance Survey Serious Fraud Office Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The National Archives UK Statistics Authority UK Trade & Investment Water Services Regulation Authority Category