On Thursday, 22nd March I once again answered questions from the Despatch Box in the House of Commons in my role as Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism. Every five weeks the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has a 45 minute question and answer session in the House and during this session I answered questions on matters relating to my ministerial brief.
I was asked questions ranging from my work on supporting the tourism industry to heritage lottery funding to the contribution of ballet to the economy.
In my answers to the House I congratulated Brecon Beacons National Park on winning a Welsh tourism award; pointed out that UK hotels had received some £5 billion of investment last year; and noted that the dance sector is very valuable to our economy and is currently growing at twice the rate of the economy.
I firmly believe that question and answer sessions like these are pivotal to a functioning and thriving democracy, they help keep ministers like me be accountable to Parliament.
You can view this parliamentary session by clicking on the following links: https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d40230cd-550b-4d4e-b356-2cf453106719?in=09:43:48&out=09:49:08 and https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d40230cd-550b-4d4e-b356-2cf453106719?in=10:03:35&out=10:05:18.