Corporate report

DCMS Outcome Delivery Plan: 2021 to 2022

Published 15 July 2021

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Foreword by the Secretary of State and Permanent Secretary

DCMS sectors are among the most dynamic and fast-growing in the UK. Supporting them through the pandemic has therefore not just been about protecting our nation’s cultural and social fabric, but making an investment in the industries that will power our recovery.

Now, as we aim to build back better from the pandemic, DCMS will play a leading role in ensuring that we create a stronger and more united country, levelling up opportunities right across the United Kingdom. By taking an unashamedly pro-growth approach, we believe we can deliver both the UK’s economic and cultural renewal.

In order to drive growth and create jobs, we have ambitious plans to invest in the digital infrastructure that makes us more productive and the cultural infrastructure that makes us proud of the places we live in. We are also taking forward reforms that will promote greater competition in the tech sector and unleash the power of data to help companies and public services innovate in new ways, whilst ensuring people are safe online.

As our cultural and creative industries recover from the pandemic and adapt to our departure from the EU, our investment will help them recover their audiences at home and attract new ones abroad. And as we look forward to a fantastic year of events in 2022, we will find new ways to inspire and unite the nation, whilst bringing in new visitors and reminding the world of the UK’s unique strengths.

The role of the Outcome Delivery Plan is to help us deliver those objectives, and deliver tangible change. Of course, not all of the department’s work is included in the plan. This plan does not encompass all of our COVID-19 recovery programmes, for example, despite the crucial role they have played in allowing our sectors to survive and thrive. But this plan is an illustration of our key areas of focus in the coming year and of our ambition to help the nation bounce back strongly.

Rt Hon. Oliver Dowden CBE MP
Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Sarah Healey
Principal Accounting Officer and Permanent Secretary

A. Executive summary

Vision and mission:

DCMS drives growth and enriches lives for people across the whole of the UK.

During the pandemic, the department has played a critical role in maintaining the cultural and social fabric of the country - particularly through interventions to protect our precious heritage and cultural institutions, safeguard and restart sport and physical activity and, support charities and volunteers on the front line. At the same time, we have helped industries such as news publishers and film and TV bounce back strongly, and our digital sector has kept the country connected through secure infrastructure.

As we emerge from COVID-19, DCMS will be at the forefront of efforts to build back better and level up economic opportunity across the UK. The high growth industries we represent will be key to generating the new jobs and that can help fuel the nation’s recovery.

We have ambitious plans to invest in infrastructure and unleash innovation in the tech and digital sectors. By the end of 2021, gigabit connectivity will be available to 60% of premises and we will have published technical consultations on mobile planning reforms and gigabit connectivity in new builds. We will also set out new plans for how we can use data to drive growth and improve public services, including through disruptive digital technologies like artificial intelligence. We will publish a Digital Strategy that lays out the government’s approach to the digital technology sector, underpinned by clear principles that promote competition and encourage innovation. In addition, we will also introduce legislation to establish a new online safety regulatory framework - balancing the safety of internet users, particularly children and the most vulnerable, with the need to protect freedom of expression; as well as legislation to improve the cyber security of consumer connected products.

As restrictions on social contact are lifted, DCMS will lead a programme to reopen live events across sports, the arts, creative industries and business. We will continue to deliver the Culture Recovery Fund, the biggest one off-investment in culture ever made and will build on this through the Cultural Investment Fund alongside Arts Council England and our other ALBs, which will drive regeneration and cultural renewal through culture, creativity and heritage. We will continue to deliver the £600m Sports Survival Package to protect the immediate futures of major spectator sports in England as we build towards the return of spectators.

We are working closely with the creative industries, from music to fashion, to support their recovery from the pandemic and help them adapt to our departure from the EU. In collaboration with UKRI, we are also supporting the best of British creativity and innovation across the nations and regions. The UK Global Screen Fund and the Film & TV Production Restart Scheme are enabling UK productions to compete on a level playing field and helping to project the UK’s soft power with both current and future trading partners. The extension of the UK Games Fund will continue to support early stage businesses and talent in our trailblazing video games development sector. This year, the Secretary of State will be setting the level of the licence fee, to fund the BBC and S4C for at least 5 years from April 2022. The BBC is a world-class broadcaster, trusted and recognised across the globe, and it played a vital role in keeping the nation unified, entertained and informed throughout the pandemic. However, to ensure that it can deliver the best value for money for everyone across the UK and its long-term sustainability in a rapidly changing digital world it must also continue to reform.

DCMS creates the moments that inspire and unite every corner of the UK, and allows our world class cultural and sporting talent to shine. The department will play a leading role in delivering a brilliant programme of events in 2022: the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, the Platinum Jubilee and the Festival UK* 2022. This year we have published the Commonwealth Games Legacy Plan and will launch ticket sales, the Queen’s Baton relay and the Business and Tourism Programme. We have also revealed 10 winning cutting-edge Festival UK* 2022 projects that will showcase our greatest institutions, world class talent across the STEAM sectors and emerging creatives throughout the year. Coventry UK City of Culture launched in May and will take us into 2022 with an exciting and innovative programme that celebrates the dynamism of the historic city. Together, these events represent a £1bn investment in major events and national moments that will bring people together, drive tourism, support jobs and businesses and provide a platform for recovery and the UK to shine on a global stage.

Charities, community groups and social enterprises have been instrumental in responding to the pandemic, clearly demonstrating their vital contribution to supporting people and communities in need, and building a strong social fabric. We will reshape our stewardship role to better support civil society in realising its potential. We will build a centre of expertise on the health and potential of civil society within DCMS and draw on this intelligence, as well as cross government networks, to inform policy that enables the sector to deliver efficiently and effectively. We will continue to maintain an effective regulatory framework for charities, and will aim to simplify charity law. We support social responsibility, helping people volunteer in their communities and increasing opportunities for young people to achieve. In 2021/22 we will invest £30m to create new and refurbished facilities for young people.

We are also in the process of modernising DCMS. Through investing in our people, improving their capabilities and becoming a more diverse and inclusive department, we will ensure we are truly reflective of the country we serve. Our modernisation also includes critical investment in our systems, ensuring they are fit for purpose and reduces the manual input required. As part of this we will improve our business data to enable effective decision making across the department. We will also formalise our processes and ways of working, ensuring rigour in our reporting; enhanced capabilities in managing risk; delivering our programmes; and professionalising the relationships with our public bodies.

DCMS works with 45 public bodies to deliver these goals and we aim to realise the cross-government ambition that by 2022, 50% of all public appointees are female and 14% of all public appointments made are from ethnic minorities.

Our priority outcomes

This delivery plan sets out in detail how we will deliver our priority outcomes, how we will measure our success, and how we will ensure we continuously improve.

Our priority outcomes are:

1. Increase economic growth and productivity through improved digital connectivity (Supporting departments: Department for Transport and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government).

2. Grow and evolve our sectors domestically and globally, in particular those sectors most affected by COVID-19, including culture, sport, civil society, and the creative industries.

3. Increase growth through expanding the use of data and digital technology and increasing innovation, while minimising digital harms to the UK’s economy, security and society.

4. Enhance the cohesiveness of our communities and nations including through major events and ceremonial occasions, and reduce inequalities of participation in society, particularly among young people.

The department is also supporting the delivery of the following Priority Outcomes led by other departments:

Priority Outcome	Responsible department
Drive economic growth through improving the skills pipeline, levelling up productivity and supporting people to work.	Department for Education
Supporting the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people through high quality local services so that no one is left behind.	Department for Education
Reduce crime.	Home Office
Raise productivity and empower places so that everyone across the country can benefit from levelling up	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Provisional priority outcomes and associated metrics will be adjusted through the next Spending Review as necessary, including to deliver the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.

Strategic enablers

To deliver our priority outcomes — and reinforce the ambitions of the Declaration on Government Reform — we will focus on four key enablers:

1. Workforce, Skills and Location

2. Innovation, Technology and Data

3. Delivery, Evaluation and Collaboration

4. Sustainability

B. Introduction

Context

DCMS operates in a unique environment, facing a number of internal and external threats and challenges. Key elements of our operating environment include:

• The occasional need to react at short notice to implement new policies and programmes to support UK government commitments.
• The visibility and prominence of our responsibilities, which expose the department to an extraordinary level of inherent reputational risk.
• The reliance of many of our programmes on the co-operation and participation of external parties engaged under bespoke framework agreements.
• Although we hold responsibility for the delivery of projects and programmes, we often have a limited level of direct control with which to influence arm’s length bodies, local government and other stakeholders. This can present a challenge in gaining an adequate level of assurance.
• Like many other departments, we and our sectors have been preparing and reacting to impacts caused by the UK leaving the European Union and COVID-19. We have developed and implemented our contingency plans, to respond to concurrent risks and issues.

Our remit has grown significantly in the past few years with significant new areas of policy ownership. To support delivery of our strategic vision, we are committed to developing a workforce strategy to articulate the future shape and size of DCMS and embed a culture of strategic workforce planning. The workforce strategy will enable us to deliver our ambition to have the right people, in the right roles at the right time, while continuing to maintain a flexible, diverse and resilient department.

Alongside our growth in remit, we have seen significant growth in budget in recent years. The shift from being a smaller policy department, to an economic department delivering multi-billion pound capital programmes has also required investment in our corporate centre in order to ensure we are fully resourced to deliver on these priorities.

2. Governance and delivery agencies

The Departmental Board is the most senior board in the department, providing advice and challenge on strategic issues. It is chaired by the Secretary of State. Membership includes Ministers, Non-Executives, the Permanent Secretary, Directors General and Finance Director.

The Audit and Risk Committee provides constructive challenge on the department’s governance, risk management and financial controls. It also provides assurance of the financial report and accounts. It is chaired by Hemant Patel (Non-Executive Board Member). Membership comprises the Lead Non-Executive Board Member and two Independent members. It is also attended by the Permanent Secretary, Directors General, Finance Director, NAO and GIAA officials.

The Executive Board is the key operational board within DCMS, responsible for all operational policy, delivery areas and departmental budget. It is chaired by the Permanent Secretary. Membership includes the Directors General and Directors of Corporate Strategy, People and Workplace, and Finance and Commercial, and Legal.

The Executive Board is supported by a Shadow Board composed of staff from a range of grades. Shadow Board meetings mirror the agenda of the Executive Board to provide representative staff views on a range of issues including operational, policy and delivery areas, strategy, risk management and the overall departmental budget.

The Executive Board is also supported in its role by four committees:

The Finance Committee approves and monitors the department’s major financial commitments as well as arm’s length body projects of £15m and above. It is chaired by the Director for Finance and Commercial. Membership includes directors and deputy directors from all Director General areas.

The Major Programmes Committee provides strategic oversight and assurance on the department’s portfolio of major programmes/projects, closely aligned to the Performance, Assurance and Risk Committee. It is chaired by the Director General for Culture, Sport and Civil Society. Membership comprises directors from all Director General areas and independent members, who provide external advice and challenge.

The Performance, Assurance and Risk Committee ensures DCMS has the right environment to effectively manage performance and risk, with its work complemented by the Major Programmes Committee. It is chaired by the Director General for Digital and Media Group. Membership includes directors from all Director General areas and an external member, who provides additional challenge.

The People and Operations Committee ensures effective and appropriate business and people procedures are in place and the right culture and values are in place across the department. It is chaired by the Director General for Strategy and Operations. Membership includes directors from across Director General areas and DCMS network representatives.

DCMS works with 45 public bodies to deliver our objectives. The Public Bodies Performance and Risk Board is a sub-committee of the Performance, Assurance and Risk Committee. It provides assurance to PARCo, and through them to the Executive Board and Accounting Officer, that risks and performance are being effectively and appropriately managed across the Department’s public bodies. It is chaired by the Deputy Director for Public Bodies, Appointments, Honours and Awards. Membership comprises deputy directors from all Director General areas.

Find out more about DCMS on GOV.UK.

3. Overview of strategic risk

We monitor strategic risks to the Department through our executive risk register. This is owned and reviewed monthly by the Executive Board. The principal risks that have been identified are outlined below along with the department’s ongoing mitigating actions:

• Departmental Resourcing — ensuring we have sufficient agility, data and flexibility to respond both to short term demands (including COVID-19 response) as well as remaining on track to achieve our longer-term policy and delivery goals. We continue to prioritise and work flexibly to deliver this plan.
• Cumulative impact of challenging delivery ambitions, the economic environment, COVID-19 and EU Exit have put pressure on staff and resources. Prioritisation and business planning have been undertaken to ensure this plan is deliverable.
• Further economic shocks placing greater pressure on already distressed sectors as well as pressure on the department to change its operating model again, provide greater financial support packages, and re-prioritise work. This plan details how we continue to support our sectors.
• Financial Fraud Risks — funding packages developed to support our sectors through the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the department’s exposure to fraud risks due to the pace these have been developed and implemented. This higher level of risk is being mitigated through counter-fraud measures and the delivery of post event assurance plans.
• Commercial Risks — The urgent COVID-19 projects coupled with the increasing portfolio of large and more complex digital and sports programmes give rise to complex and impactful Commercial and delivery risks. We continue to enhance the capabilities of key teams to ensure there is appropriate management and mitigation of these risks.
• Diversity and Inclusion — meeting key targets including representation rates, inclusion gaps and pay gaps. Progress towards our ambition to be the most diverse and inclusive department by 2025 is closely monitored by the Executive Board and Talent Board, with a particular focus on LGBT inclusion, disability and ethnic minority representation, cultural change and staff training.

We are continuing to improve our approach to risk with a new risk management framework and risk appetite statement being rolled out across the department. This includes a more joined-up approach to our risk management engaging across the whole department, not just in the delivery and policy areas and the main governance boards and committees.

4. Our resources

a. Our finances:

i. Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL): £3.0 billion
ii. Resource DEL (including depreciation): £2.0 billion
iii. Capital DEL: £1.0 billion
iv. Annually Managed Expenditure (AME): £4.6 billion

Control totals included in this document are in line with those presented in the Main Supply Estimates 2021/22. Any changes arising from the Parliamentary approval process will be reflected in due course.

Source: Main Supply Estimates 2021/22

5. Our people:

As at 31 December 2020, DCMS had 1615.9 full-time equivalent employees.

Source: ONS public sector employment data / Release schedule: quarterly

Breakdown of resource by work

In this environment, the importance of our work has never been greater. We need to have the resources to do our work effectively and respond to new priorities as they arise. The table below shows how our resources are allocated across the department. Due to the cross-cutting nature of our outcomes, with directorates often contributing to multiple outcomes, it is not possible to allocate resources by outcome.

Business Area	Budget - TDEL (£m)	Workforce (FTE)*
Building Digital UK	307.3	133.5
Digital Infrastructure	116.5	135.3
Centre for Data Ethics & Innovation	4.5	40.9
Security and Online Harms	12.2	73.5
Cyber Security and Digital Identity	14.9	78.8
Data Policy	28.4	129.5
Media and Creative Industries	72.0	65.3
Digital and Tech Policy	18.5	95.7
International	12.8	100.5
Civil Society and Youth	139.3	123.0
Arts, Heritage and Tourism	1,519.2	122.7
Sport, Gambling & Ceremonials	456.2	53.1
Commonwealth Games	128.9	41.2
Corporate (Including Finance, HR and other support functions)	199.0	423.0

*Figures exclude temporary workers and contractors

C. Priority outcomes

Priority Outcome 1: Increase economic growth and productivity through improved digital connectivity

Lead minister Matt Warman, Minister for Digital Infrastructure

Senior Sponsor Susannah Storey, Director General, Digital & Media Group

Outcome strategy:

We have an ambitious digital infrastructure agenda, including objectives to improve 4G mobile coverage, be world leaders in the development and deployment of 5G, and to build nationwide gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible.

Digital infrastructure also plays a vital role in the UK economy by increasing productivity, creating new business and reducing unemployment. In addition, there has been an increase in the dependence on digital infrastructure since March 2020 due to COVID-19 and the increase in working and socialising from home.

DCMS’ Barrier Busting and teams in other government departments are pursuing a number of cross-government measures to make it easier and cheaper to deploy digital infrastructure, supported by other departments as below:

Department for Transport (DfT): We are working with the DfT on reforming current street work regulations to create a more permissive approach in England (as street works is a devolved issue) to aid the deployment of new networks. We are also working with DfT stakeholders (including Network Rail) on the wider strategic fibre/gigabit rollout.

Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG): We are working with MHCLG on two barrier-busting measures. The first aims to simplify planning rules to support 5G rollout and extend mobile coverage, particularly in rural areas. The second aims to ensure gigabit-capable broadband in new homes. We are also advising on digital infrastructure grant requests in the shared MHCLG/BEIS Town Fund.

Departments supporting the outcome delivery:

• Department for Transport
• Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

Our performance metrics

• Percentage of premises passed with gigabit-capable broadband (including premises with access to FTTP and/or DOCSIS3.1)
• Percentage of UK and nation/region geography with 4G coverage provided by at least one mobile network operator

Percentage of premises passed with gigabit-capable broadband by nation

Date	UK	England	Northern Ireland	Scotland	Wales
Jan-21	37.4%	36.3%	68.7%	44.6%	26.3%
Feb-21	38.2%	37.0%	68.9%	45.9%	26.9%
Mar-21	38.8%	37.6%	70.3%	46.4%	27.0%

• Source: ThinkBroadband (Further historical data is available)
• Release schedule: Monthly

Geographic area covered by at least one mobile network operator (4G coverage, outdoor)

Year	UK	England	Northern Ireland	Scotland	Wales
2018 (Sept)	91%	98%	98%	78%	90%
2019 (Sept)	91%	97%	97%	80%	89%
2020 (Sept)	91%	97%	97%	81%	90%

Coverage figures are rounded to the nearest 1%.

• Source: Ofcom Connected Nations reports (further historical data is available)
• It is possible that small changes in the data from one year to the next may be due to continual improvements to the modelling methodology used and therefore should be treated with caution.
• Release schedule: annually (main report, with interim updates twice a year)

How our work contributes to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

Priority Outcome	Link to SDGs
Priority Outcome 1	SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth (Target 8.2)
	SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (Target 9.1, 9.C)

Projects and programmes

UK Gigabit Programme: Deliver gigabit-capable broadband for the hardest to reach parts of the UK through a combination of supply side and demand side products. (Contributes to SDG 8, targets 8.2, 8.3 and SDG 9, targets 9.1, 9.b, 9.c)

Barrier-busting: Package of measures including legislative change aimed to make the deployment of telecoms infrastructure quicker and easier. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2 and SDG 9, target 9.1, 9.c)

Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN): To complete delivery of gigabit hubs and vouchers under the LFFN scheme. (Contributes to SDG 9, target 9.1, 9.c)

Superfast: Extending existing Superfast contracts to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to premises without 30Mbps speeds between 2022-26. (Contributes to SDG 8, targets 8.2, 8.3 and SDG 9, targets 9.1, 9.b)

Telecoms Diversification delivery: Building a resilient, diverse, and open telecoms supply chain, establishing UK telecoms capability as we deliver the diversification strategy. (Contributes to SDG 8, targets 8.2, 8.3 and SDG 9, targets 9.1, 9.b)

5G Testbeds and Trials Programme: Programme to accelerate the deployment of 5G networks and ensure the UK can take early advantage of the applications those networks can enable. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2 and SDG 9, target 9.1)

Shared Rural Network : Funding the deployment and upgrade of 4G mobile infrastructure in the most remote geographies to 2024/25. (Contributes to SDG 9, target 9.1, 9.c)

700MHz: Infrastructure work to free up 700MHz - completed. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2 and SDG 9, target 9.1)

Outcome evaluation plan

We are assessing the additionality of coverage and take-up of services alongside a common Building Digital UK benefits framework to evaluate the impact of increased connectivity. We will be focusing on the following areas: economic, environmental, public sector, market, subjective and societal wellbeing, reduced digital divide.

UK Gigabit Programme

Evaluations of interventions as part of the UK Gigabit Programme are currently in the planning stage. These follow the BDUK benefits framework and are in line with the Magenta Book. We will align data requirements against evaluation questions to ensure we establish a robust baseline to assess impact and additionality credibly.

Local Full Fibre Network (LFFN):

The LFFN has three research strands covering learning from early deliverables, local level evaluations, and full programme evaluation. They will provide evidence on the efficacy of hub, anchor tenancy and public asset reuse products that aggregate demand, reduce cost and whether they consequently stimulate the market to build more fibre connectivity. We are also exploring qualitative emergent benefit evidence from public sector connectivity to inform future evaluations and benefit realisation improvements for BDUK delivery.

Superfast Broadband:

The final round of assessment will capture the programme’s impact beyond 2020, including the effect of COVID-19. We are focussing our next evaluation activity, starting this year, on wellbeing benefits.

Other evaluations are planned for:

1. BDUK Voucher Schemes, including National Gigabit Voucher Scheme (now closed), Rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme (now closed), Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and Voucher Scheme Top Ups provided at local authority level.

2. Place Based Demand Aggregation Approach: Evaluating BDUK’s Hub delivery to date mainly through Rural Gigabit Communities (RGC), but also LFFN Hubs, and setting up counterfactual based impact evaluation approaches for UK Gigabit Programme (demand aggregating products).

3. UK Gigabit Programme (Outside In product of new procurements) evaluation: plan for the programme impacts of expanding gigabit coverage to the 20%. It will follow a quasi-experimental approach.

4. Shared Rural Network: plan for a baseline study in late 2021.

Priority Outcome 2: Grow and evolve our sectors domestically and globally, in particular those sectors most affected by COVID-19, including culture, sport, civil society, and the creative industries

Lead ministers Caroline Dinenage, Minister of State for Digital and Culture
John Whittingdale, Minister of State for Media and Data
Nigel Huddleston, Minister for Sport and Tourism
Baroness Barran, Minister for Civil Society

Senior Sponsor Polly Payne / Ruth Hannant, Director General for Culture, Sport and Civil Society

Outcome strategy:

DCMS sectors have been disproportionately affected by government-imposed restrictions and behavioural change due to COVID-19. For example, businesses in DCMS sectors have made far greater use of the furlough scheme, reported a higher risk of insolvency, and that their cash reserves will run out sooner than other businesses across the economy. EU Exit will introduce further changes to the business environment.

We are committed to supporting our sectors to adapt and recover and to creating the conditions for our most innovative sectors to grow, attract inward investment, and take advantage of international opportunities. For example, we are working with other departments to develop an ambitious roadmap for tourism recovery to support jobs and the sector, and to negotiate pioneering trade deals with international partners.

We are also investing to maximise opportunities created by major events in 2022, for example through the Commonwealth Games Business and Tourism Programme with the Department for International Trade, and we continue to drive growth and the UK economy by investing in creative, culture and sports sectors. We are also driving local, economic, social and cultural regeneration and the levelling-up agenda by supporting a number of high profile, large scale policies referenced below.

Our performance metrics

Gross Value Added of DCMS sectors, excluding Digital (£)

GVA of Creative Industries, Cultural Sector, Gambling, Sport and Tourism (adjusted for inflation) in £ bn, 2017 to 2019 (£)

p = provisional r = revised. These are planned revisions and part of the annual adjustment and balancing process of national accounts.

Sector	2017(r)	2018(r)	2019(p)
Creative Industries	104.5	107.6	113.6
Cultural Sector	31.1	31.3	34.2
Gambling	8.4	8.3	8.1
Sport	16.0	16.1	16.6
Tourism	65.9	71.7	72.5

Source: DCMS Economic Estimates 2019: Gross Value Added (further historical data is available)

Notes:

• With reference to the GVA of the Gambling sector the government has been clear that it recognises the value of a responsible industry which protects players, provides jobs and pays taxes. The Department’s interest is in ensuring we have the right regulatory framework which balances this with the need to protect children, vulnerable people and wider communities from harm.
• As the Telecommunications sector sits wholly within the Digital Sector, it is reported under Priority Outcome 3.
• These GVA figures are in chained volume measures (i.e. are adjusted for inflation). We also publish GVA estimates in current prices (not adjusted for inflation).
• These figures will be revised on an annual basis, due to planned revisions to the national accounts and updating of the base year used to produce chained volume measure estimates.
• GVA figures for the latest year (currently 2019) are provisional and will be revised in the next release of DCMS Economic Estimates: Gross Value Added.
• Chained volume measures data are not available for Civil Society at present (please see metric for Civil Society in the table below).
• Due to overlap between sectors, GVA cannot be summed together for individual sectors as this will result in double counting.
• Due to substantial revisions to the base data and methodology used to construct the tourism satellite account, estimates for the tourism sector are only available for 2016 to 2019.

Release schedule: annually

GVA for Civil Society as a proportion of the UK economy (in current prices), 2017 to 2019

p = provisional r = revised. These are planned revisions and part of the annual adjustment and balancing process of national accounts.

Sector	2017(r)	2018(r)	2019(p)
Civil Society (Non-market charities)	0.8%	0.8%	0.8%

Source: DCMS Economic Estimates 2019: Gross Value Added (further historical data is available)

Notes:

• These figures will be revised on an annual basis, due to planned revisions to the national accounts and updating of the base year used to produce chained volume measure estimates.
• GVA figures for the latest year (currently 2019) are provisional and will be revised in the next release of DCMS Economic Estimates: Gross Value Added.
• An estimate for the Civil Society sector expressed in chained volume measures is not currently available.
• Civil Society in this table represents non-market charities sitting in the Non-profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) sector. This is an underestimate for the sector and does not include market provider charities who have passed the market test and therefore sit in the corporate sector, social enterprises and mutuals.

Release schedule: annually

Regional GVA for DCMS sectors excluding Civil Society and Tourism (adjusted for inflation) in £ m,

Regional GVA estimates are also published for DCMS sectors (excluding Civil Society and Tourism).

Source: DCMS Economic Estimates: Regional GVA sectors Tables - Chained Volume Measures.

Notes:

• These GVA figures are in chained volume measures (i.e. are adjusted for inflation). We also publish GVA estimates in current prices (not adjusted for inflation).
• These figures will be revised on an annual basis, due to planned revisions to the national accounts and updating of the base year used to produce chained volume measure estimates.
• Due to overlap between sectors, GVA cannot be summed together for individual sectors as this will result in double counting.

Release schedule: annually

Domestic tourism visitor numbers

Domestic overnight tourism (England):

	2017	2018	2019
Spend (£m)	19,049	19,347	19,448
Visitor volume (m)	100.622	97.397	99.071

• Source: Great Britain Tourism Survey (further historical data is available)
• Release schedule: Monthly (2020 data delayed until Q3 2021)

Domestic day tourism (England):

	2017	2018	2019
Spend (£m)	50,899	53,036	56,500
Visitor volume (m)	1,505	1,431	1,390

• Source: Great Britain Day Visits Survey(further historical data is available)
• Release schedule: Monthly (2020 data delayed until Q3 2021)

How our work contributes to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

Priority Outcome	Link to SDGs
Priority Outcome 2	SDG 8 - Decent work and economic growth (Targets 8.2, 8.3, 8.6, 8.8)
	SDG 9 - Industry, innovation and infrastructure (Target 9B)
	SDG 11 - Sustainable cities and communities (Target 11.4)

Projects and programmes

Culture Recovery Fund : Through grants and repayable finance, the £1.87bn allocated to the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) for 2020-21 and 2021-22 ensures that the culture sector can survive the impact of COVID-19. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 11.4)

Cultural Investment Fund: Includes three competitive funds to bolster regional cultural investment: Museum Estates and Development Fund (MEND), Libraries Improvement Fund (LIF), and the next round of the Cultural Development fund (CDF2), which uses investment in heritage, culture and creativity to drive regeneration and growth, (through quality infrastructure and protecting assets) (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 11.4)

British Library Business and IP Centres: Expansion of the BIPC network to 21 regional and 90 local centres through the public library network across England, providing entrepreneurs with business support, free access to market intelligence, IP workshops and one-to-one coaching. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.3)

High-Streets Heritage Action Zones : This scheme will help to support the regeneration of our towns and cities, helping to transform disused historic buildings into shops, houses and community centres through redeveloping infrastructure and protecting assets.(Contributes to SDG targets 8.9, 11.4, 11.7)

Tourism Recovery Plan : The Tourism Recovery Plan, published in June, will support with the industry’s recovery and growth in the short, medium and long term. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.9)

Commonwealth Games (incl. Business and Tourism Programme): The Commonwealth Games Business and Tourism Programme will invest to take full advantage of the economic legacy for the West Midlands and the whole UK from this exciting sporting event. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.9,11.3)

Sport Recovery Package: A £600m survival scheme (funding allocated for 2020-21 and 2021-22) to provide targeted support to major spectator sports that the COVID-19 restrictions have most severely impacted. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3)

Grassroots football investment and major tournaments: Wembley is hosting both the semi-finals and the final of UEFA Euro 2020 and England is hosting the 2021 Rugby League World Cup and UEFA Women’s Euro 2022. These events should help meet a range of DCMS and wider government policy and strategic objectives, given major events’ soft power, trade and international relation benefits. These also represent excellent opportunities to drive the equality agenda through our focus on women’s sport. The 2021 Budget builds on this, with £2.8m committed to support a UK & Ireland bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, as well as an investment of £25m in UK grassroots community sports facilities, supporting the future of grassroots football. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.9, 10.2)

Contestable Fund : A 3-year pilot contestable fund for content creators which addresses market failures by directly targeting the declining investment in the UK originated children’s television and the limited range and provision of commercial public service radio content. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 11.4)

UK Global Screen Fund: A new £7m pilot fund to develop, distribute and promote British screen content in international markets, in particular independent film. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 11.4)

British Film Commission - Stage Spaces: British Film Commission to expand its work promoting the UK as a destination of choice for stage space investment. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3)

Film & TV Production Restart Scheme: A £500m scheme to support film & TV productions in the UK to restart filming and to mitigate barriers from lack of available insurance for COVID-19-related losses. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3)

Charities Package: An unprecedented £750m package of support, specifically for charities, social enterprises and the voluntary sector. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 8.2, 8.3)

Arm’s-Length Bodies activities: Providing broad-based sectoral support and improving delivery through building on its management and governance of its ALBs through funding for output. (Contributes to SDG targets 8.1, 11.4)

Outcome evaluation plan

A number of the evaluations planned are high-profile, including the Business and Tourism programme as part of the Commonwealth Games and the Cultural Investment Fund/Culture Recovery Fund.

1. Commonwealth Games Business and Tourism Programme: The evaluation, will seek to measure impacts on tourism, trade and investment in the run-up to, during, and after the Games to assess legacy and sustainability of impact. The Commonwealth Games Business and Tourism Programme, which is being delivered by the West Midlands Combined Authority, will support the levelling up agenda. The programme evaluation could provide useful insights into how levelling up can contribute to wider economic growth in the UK.

2. Cultural Investment Fund: The evaluation framework has multiple strands; we intend to work collaboratively with our Arm’s Length Bodies to develop robust methodologies to evaluate impact. We expect to develop detailed evaluation plans throughout 21/22. Included are:
   
   • The Cultural Development Fund 1 (CDF1) evaluation seeks to establish a causal link between culture and growth. It is due to report in 2023, with interim progress reports and findings produced sooner to inform future policy development.
   
   • The Culture Recovery Fund evaluation is underway and expected to complete by March 2022. The evaluation, which will cover rounds 1 and 2 of CRF, will include rigorous theory-based case studies, process evaluation, and an assessment of value for money. We are in very early stages of thinking about evaluation of round 3.

Other evaluations are planned in relation to the Contestable Fund, British Libraries Business and Intellectual Property Centres, the Tourism Recovery Plan, High Street Heritage Action Zones, and the Global Screen Fund pilot.

Priority Outcome 3: Increase growth through expanding the use of data and digital technology and increasing innovation, while minimising digital harms to the UK’s economy, security and society

Lead ministers Caroline Dinenage, Minister of State for Digital and Culture
John Whittingdale, Minister of State for Media and Data
Matt Warman, Minister for Digital Infrastructure

Senior Sponsor Susannah Storey, Director General, Digital & Media Group

Outcome strategy:

The UK is one of the most technologically and digitally advanced nations in the world, globally respected for its thriving technology sector and service-based economy. Since 2010, the UK’s digital sector has experienced growth at twice the rate of the national economy, creating jobs and economic activity at a time of relative economic stagnation. By 2019, the importance and value of data and technological innovation was emerging, accounting for 7.6% of UK GVA. More recently, COVID-19 has highlighted the critical importance of digital technology and data to national recovery, enabling businesses to work remotely and people to adapt to sudden and significant changes to daily life patterns.

DCMS’s Ten Tech Priorities showcase how we intend to deploy digital tech to build back better, safer and stronger from COVID, and shape a new golden age for tech in the UK. The forthcoming Digital Strategy will provide the strategic framework for acting on this, emphasising how with responsible data and technology use, we can inspire growth and improve life for people across the UK. This will build on the National Data Strategy (published September 2020), which acknowledged data as the driving force of modern economies and set out the UK’s ambition to become the world’s number one data destination: an open, welcoming and secure environment where companies from all over the world can innovate and grow, and where data improves life for people across the UK.

The creation of a new, pro-competition regime for digital markets will drive innovation and growth across the digital economy and a regulatory environment in which the UK digital and technology sector will continue to thrive and maintain its dynamism. The new regime will include a mandatory code of conduct to govern the relationships between dominant firms and different groups of users which rely on their services. It will allow for more proactive oversight and swift action on competition concerns in fast-moving digital markets.

Rapid technological change and our increasing dependence on digital services has also created new security risks that must be actively managed at home and through international systems. Government must be capable of assessing this changing risk environment and ensure it has the tools needed to respond to unacceptable levels of economic and national security risk at all stages within the supply chain. As organisations become more dependent on digital technologies, they must become more resilient to cyber-attacks. Government must ensure that businesses are incentivised to manage the cyber security risks of organisations to protect economic activity and consumers.

Our performance metrics

GVA of the Digital sector in the UK (adjusted for inflation) in £ bn, 2017 to 2019

p = provisional r = revised. These are planned revisions and part of the annual adjustment and balancing process of national accounts.

Sector	2017(r)	2018(r)	2019(p)
Digital Sector	136.6	139.1	147.5
…. of which Telecoms	34.1	34.3	34.3

Source: DCMS Economic Estimates 2019: Gross Value Added (further historical data is available)

Notes:

• These GVA figures are in chained volume measures (i.e. are adjusted for inflation). We also publish GVA in current prices (not adjusted for inflation).
• These figures will be revised on an annual basis, due to planned revisions to the national accounts and updating of the base year used to produce chained volume measure estimates.
• Telecoms is a subsector of the Digital Sector and as such its GVA falls wholly within the Digital Sector GVA.
• Due to overlap between sectors, Digital Sector GVA cannot be summed with those of other DCMS Sectors as this will result in double counting
• GVA figures for the latest year (currently 2019) are provisional and will be revised in the next release of DCMS Economic Estimates: Gross Value Added.

Release schedule: annually

Regional GVA for Digital sector in the UK (adjusted for inflation) in £ m, 2010 to 2018

Source: DCMS Economic Estimates: Regional GVA sectors Tables - Chained Volume Measures.

Notes:

• These GVA figures are in chained volume measures (i.e. are adjusted for inflation). We also publish GVA estimates in current prices (not adjusted for inflation).
• These figures will be revised on an annual basis, due to planned revisions to the national accounts and updating of the base year used to produce chained volume measure estimates.
• Due to overlap between sectors, GVA cannot be summed together for individual sectors as this will result in double counting.

Release schedule: annually

Percentage of UK firms and charities that have undertaken action on five or more of the ten steps outlined in the government’s 10 steps to Cyber Security guidance

Organisation type	2019	2020	2021
Businesses	58%	69%	50%
Charities	53%	63%	45%

• Source: Cyber Security Breaches Survey/CSBS is an official statistic which is based on a survey of UK businesses and charities as part of the national cyber security strategy. (Further historical data is available)
• The 10 steps refers to the government’s 10 Steps to Cyber Security guidance. These 10 steps break down what is considered good organisational cyber security into ten component parts.
• Release schedule: annually

How our work contributes to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

Priority Outcome	Link to SDGs
Priority Outcome 3	SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth (Target 8.3)
	SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (Target 9.5)

Projects and programmes

Online Safety Bill: We are delivering legislation that establishes a new online safety regulatory framework, which will be overseen and enforced by Ofcom. This will place a duty of care on online platforms to increase the safety of internet users, particularly children and the most vulnerable. (Contributes to SDG 9, target 9.1)

Countering Disinformation : DCMS will lead the cross-Whitehall Counter Disinformation Unit, bringing together monitoring and analysis capabilities (teams in Home Office, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Cabinet Office and the intelligence agencies) to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent, scope and the reach of disinformation and misinformation, and working with external partners to remove this content from social media platforms. (Contributes to SDG 9, target 9.1)

AI Strategy: The National AI Strategy, informed by the ecosystem to put AI at the centre of driving economic growth, contributing to the wider objective to position the UK as a global science superpower. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2 and SDG 9, target 9.1)

Shaping global tech standards: The DCMS Digital Standards Team aim to ensure that UK citizens and businesses benefit from the application of global digital standards that drive innovation and economic growth, protect UK values and norms, and foster safety and security. Our approach to global digital technical standards will continue to uphold an industry-led, multi-stakeholder model to standards development that boosts our businesses’ competitiveness in the global technologies market. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2, 8.3 and SDG 9, target 9.1)

Tech Nation: Funding agreed to support new tech businesses to reach their potential by enhancing Tech Nation’s role and its growth programmes focused on scale-ups. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2)

Digital Strategy and the Ten Tech Priorities: The Digital Strategy will set out the government’s approach to supporting digitally-enabled growth, a world-class digital technology sector, and the adoption of technologies across the economy to drive productivity and growth. Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2, 8.3 and SDG 9, target 9.1, 9.3, 9.b. 9.c)

Cyber Security - Resilience, Secure Tech, Skills and Sector : Cyber Security policy initiatives are focused on securing businesses, citizens and products and building the UK’s resilience across the economy and wider society. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2 and SDG 9, target 9.1, 9.b)

Digital Identity : Digital Identity policies seek to drive growth across the economy by providing an enabling framework for widespread digital identity usage. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2)

Pro-competition digital markets regime : The creation of a new, pro-competition regime for digital markets will drive innovation and growth across the digital economy and a regulatory environment in which the UK digital and technology sector will continue to thrive and maintain its dynamism. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2 and SDG 9, target 9.1)

National Data Strategy (NDS) Implementation: Delivery of DCMS data policy outcomes through continued implementation of the NDS, published for consultation in September 2020. (Contributes to SDG 8, target 8.2 and SDG 9, target 9.1)

Outcome evaluation plan

In many cases, the projects and programmes we are delivering to achieve this outcome are novel. The evaluations planned are an essential part of addressing gaps in the existing evidence base.

1. For the Online Safety regulations, we are developing a robust monitoring and evaluation framework which will evaluate the whole policy, including developing process and impact evaluations for the specific business and user support measures — a set of measures to help businesses prepare for the legislative requirements. The evaluation will be overseen by a cross-Whitehall steering group, with additional expert involvement where necessary. The findings will help address key evidence gaps and ensure the regulations are effective and proportionate.

2. For the National Data Strategy , we will monitor progress on the implementation of the vital individual actions and broader prioritised areas of activity, or ‘missions’ and develop an evaluation plan through 21/22.

3. For the Digital Strategy , we will monitor the Digital Strategy against our objectives and expected outcomes and further develop our evaluation plans — including identifying suitable KPIs — through 21/22.

4. We expect to evaluate the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) impact on digital market competition and consumer outcomes. We will be developing an evaluation plan through 21/22, in line with the broader development of the DMU.

5. For Cyber Security we will evaluate the programmes alongside established surveys such as the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 and the Cyber Security Labour Market Research 2022.

Other evaluations planned include AI skills and Tech Nation.

Priority Outcome 4: Enhance the cohesiveness of our communities and nations including through major events and ceremonial occasions, and reduce inequalities of participation in society, particularly among young people

Lead ministers
Caroline Dinenage, Minister of State for Digital and Culture
Nigel Huddleston, Minister for Sport and Tourism
Baroness Barran, Minister for Civil Society

Senior Sponsor
Polly Payne and Ruth Hannant, Director General for Culture, Sport and Civil Society

Outcome strategy:

DCMS is uniquely placed to contribute to this outcome as the lead department for the cultural, sports, and civil society sectors. At the heart of DCMS is our commitment to; support people across the country to lead healthier and active lives, support young people outside of the school setting, help strengthen communities and level-up access to opportunity. In addition to our work to support our sectors and people across the UK disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, we will deliver these outcomes through targeted place-based investments and our ongoing work with our ALBs. For example, over 50% of the Arts Council’s National Portfolio funding goes to organisations outside London and the South East.

Our grant-giving ALBs directly address inequalities of participation as a key objective through programmes such as Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilots and investments in Coventry UK City of Culture. As a department, we continue to strive for a thorough and evidence-based understanding of local and regional challenges and opportunities, enabling us to more effectively deploy the potential of all our sectors in supporting left-behind areas of the UK to level-up. We are also already contributing significantly to the lives and cohesiveness of communities and young people through programmes such as the renewed focus on stewardship and work to build a volunteering pipeline of young people to create a lifelong habit of volunteering.

DCMS is also responsible for many of the policy areas at the heart of major events and will be delivering a future pipeline of major and mega events in 2021 and 2022 (see below). We have proposed to take a leading role across government as a deliverer of events and centre of expertise to develop and maintain a continuity of project delivery expertise and strategic leadership and contribute to strategic objectives such as levelling-up and strengthening our union.

Our performance metrics

Percentage of adults (16+) in England who have engaged in civic participation in the last 12 months

Year	Civic Participation Rates
2017/18	38%
2018/19	34%
2019/20	41%

• Source: Community Life Survey (Adults 16+ in England) (Further historical data is available)
• Release schedule: Yearly

Percentage of adults (16+) who are active or fairly active in England

May 18-19		Nov 18-19		May 19-20
Active	Fairly Active	Active	Fairly Active	Active	Fairly Active
63.2	12.0	63.3	12.2	62.8	11.7

• Source: Active Lives Survey (by region), Active Lives Survey (England), Sport England
• Active: At least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week
• Fairly active: Between 30-149 minutes of moderate activity each week
• Updated every 6 months

UK Sport major events programme attendance, by event

UK sport publish attendance data for major events.

• Source: UK Sport
• Metric is published in UK Sport annual reports.

How our work contributes to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):

Priority Outcome	Link to SDGs
Priority Outcome 4	SDG 4 - Quality Education (Target 4.7)
	SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities (Target 10.2)
	SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities (Target 11.4)

Projects and programmes

Commonwealth Games: Backed by £778m of public funding, the Games will be at the heart of Birmingham and the West Midlands’ economic recovery and deliver significant benefits for the region and UK. (Contributes towards SDG 10, Target 10.2 and SDG 11, target 11.2, 11.3)

Platinum Jubilee: DCMS is the lead department coordinating activity on behalf of HMG and supporting the Palace with planning and delivering a diverse programme of national and Commonwealth events and projects, culminating in national celebratory events across the extended Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend of 2nd – 5th June 2022. (Contributes towards SDG 10, Target 10.2)

Festival UK* 2022: The Festival UK is a celebration of creativity and innovation across the UK. Its key objectives are to: inspire and bring people and communities together and celebrate our strengths to the world. (Contributes towards SDG 10, target 10.2)

UK City of Culture: The UK City of Culture competition is a flagship DCMS programme and a proven model for using culture and creativity to regenerate and transform places. We want to continue to harness this power, especially as places across the UK plan for their recovery from COVID-19. (Contributes towards SDG 10, target 10.2 and SDG 11, targets 11.2, 11.3,11.4,11.7,11.a,11.b)

High Street Heritage Action Zones: The High Street Heritage Action Zones scheme will help to support the regeneration of our towns and cities. This programme will help transform disused historic buildings into shops, houses and community centres through redeveloping infrastructure and protecting assets. (Contributes towards SDG 11, targets 11.3, 11.4)

Civil Society and Youth core work including volunteering, loneliness, and the Life Chances Fund: Our work will maximise the value of volunteers and help address geographical, socio-economic and organisational barriers, including via the Voluntary and Communities Sector Emergencies Partnership. (Contributes towards SDG 4, target 4.5, 4.7; SDG 10, target 10.2, 10.3; SDG 11, target 11.5)

Youth, including Youth Investment Fund (Capital), National Citizen Service, Youth Review and Youth Volunteering: The £30m of the Youth Investment Fund committed as capital investment for 2021-22 will create new and refurbished safe spaces for young people. Delivery of the NCS Programme 2021, through the NCS Trust (via grant-in-aid funding), is also ongoing, and the trust is working with the Department of Work and Pensions as an approved Kickstart Gateway Provider. DCMS is currently leading a review of its programmes to support youth services. (Contributes towards SDG 4, target 4.5, 4.7; SDG 10, target 10.2, 10.3; SDG 11, target 11.5)

Existing ALB grant-in-aid funding : Our ALBs already contribute significantly to the lives and cohesiveness of communities and to young people. While well-managed core funding for a portfolio of organisations is at the heart of our investment approach in culture and creativity in communities, we are now supplementing this with targeted place-based funding streams. (SDG 10, target 10.2, 10.3 and SDG, target 11.4)

Elite sporting events: Hosting events like UEFA Euro 2020, the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, the 2021 Rugby League World Cup and the potential joint UK & Ireland FIFA World Cup in 2030 can increase engagement in sport and help meet many wider objectives such as greater participation for all groups across the country to be physically active, volunteering, mental wellbeing, individual development and social and community development. (SDG 10, target 10.2)

Outcome evaluation plan

We will establish the impact of our activities on community cohesion at the local, regional and national level and assess the difference in participation levels across different groups in society. We will focus specifically on volunteering, physical activity, and participation at national events, including ceremonials.

Evaluations for Heritage Action Zones, the Commonwealth Games, Festival UK* 2022 and the Youth COVID-19 Support Fund all seek to understand if the programmes achieved their intended objectives and outcomes.

Commonwealth Games: The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games evaluation will capture the impact and legacy of hosting the Commonwealth Games and the social and economic benefits it will deliver. A supplier has been appointed to deliver the evaluation and the first report which will capture a refreshed evaluation framework and evaluation methodology is due to be published later in the year (2021). A second report in 2022 will capture the immediate legacy impacts of the Games and the early economic Impact Assessment. The final report in 2023, one-year post Games, will capture the short-term legacy impacts and will include the interim economic Impact Assessment.

UK City of Culture 2025 programmeThe UK City of Culture 2025 title winner will be required to build robust evaluation into their plans. There is no guaranteed funding committed to the winning place. We will oversee the evaluation’s quality and ensure it adheres to Magenta Book and Green Book guidance.

Festival UK* 2022: The evaluation will be procured and managed by the Festival Company Ltd 2022 with DCMS support, with a supplier due to start in July/August 2021. The evaluation will measure the impact, process and value for money of the Festival. It is anticipated the suppliers will deliver a monitoring and data evaluation plan, baseline report, an interim report shortly following the Festival in March 2023 and a final impact cost-benefit analysis report in the summer of 2024 (subject to funding).

High Street Heritage Action Zones: Monitoring and evaluation will be centrally managed by Historic England’s experienced Evaluation and Analytics team.

Youth COVID-19 Support Fund, from the Charities Package: An independent evaluator will take a mixed-method design to provide independent monitoring and evaluation.

Platinum Jubilee: DCMS is working with the Royal Household to plan the scope of the Platinum Jubilee evaluation to build a strong evidence base for the impact of the nation-wide Jubilee programme.

The Youth Investment Fund is still at the planning stage and evaluations will be developed in due course.

D. Strategic enablers

We are transforming DCMS to meet the demands of an agile, delivery-focused department leading on some of the highest priority work for the government’s agenda to drive growth, enrich lives and level-up society. We will continue to invest in our people, ensuring we are creating a skilled, diverse workforce; drawing on talent from all over the country and enabling them to work together productively, wherever they are located.

We will continue to innovate to ensure our department is fit for working in the future. We will use new systems and use data and analysis to provide evidence to make the best decisions and achieve better outcomes for our sectors and the public we serve. This will include transforming our corporate services and providing a great experience for our staff.

Through a combination of rigorous governance, strong accountability, a proactive approach to risk management and excellence in policy, project and programme delivery we will ensure our department and our public bodies are driving forward the government’s priorities.

Workforce, skills and location:

Our Department is developing the skills and capabilities of our workforce, ensuring we can achieve outcomes in this plan for citizens throughout the UK. We will further professionalise our workforce. We will introduce a centre of service delivery for the organisation. From HR to finance, analysis to comms, developing our partnership approach, we will provide quality professional services and improved systems and processes that give all our employees a positive experience of working at DCMS and provide accurate management information and insights to inform our decision-making.

In order to achieve our goals, we will:

• deliver a new performance management process that will cultivate monthly development conversations and a coaching management style to ensure employees receive regular feedback, stretch, and support
• develop our leaders so they have the skills and confidence to deliver our departmental agenda
• ensure we are managing our talent to meet departmental need, and reward excellent performance fairly
• ensure our organisation reflects the country we serve by relocating staff and roles, including senior civil servants, from London
• continue to remove barriers to recruitment, development and promotion of a diverse, talented workforce
• increase ethnicity, disability and sex representation and improve our ranking on social mobility in comparison to other government departments to better represent the public we serve, focusing on closing the ‘inclusion gap’

People survey engagement score

Year	Engagement score
2020	70%
2019	69%
2018	70%

Source: Civil Service People Survey / Release schedule: annually

Representation of female staff, ethnic minority staff and disabled staff

Year	Female	Ethnic minority	Disabled
2020	53.2%	19.1%	8.9%
2019	54.2%	18.3%	8.0%
2018	52.8%	17.8%	9.1%

Source: Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard / Release schedule: quarterly

Innovation, technology and data:

We are modernising and improving our systems so that we have the best data and management information to deliver our priorities. This work will create the conditions for greater collaboration, automation and the removal of inefficient, manual processes - opening up new avenues and approaches to our work, from the deployment of data to how we coordinate the assurance of our public bodies.

In order to achieve our goals, we will:

• invest in the tools, processes, standards and frameworks needed to enable safe, secure data sharing across departments to support decision making and improve services
• renew IT systems to automate and fully digitise repetitive manual processes and update outdated legacy IT systems, refocusing civil servants’ time to higher valued added activities where it can deliver the most impact
• invest in a system to streamline the management of our staff, allowing for great autonomy, self-service and the removal of excess process

Delivery, evaluation and collaboration:

We want to be excellent across our key professions and functions. Through our centres of excellence; additional specialist skills in our functions; more aligned working within our public bodies; and a focus on evidence-based policy and delivery, we will provide a better experience for the public.

In order to achieve our goals, we will:

• strengthen functional expertise and delivery, ensuring adherence to functional standards and effective monitoring of performance
• ensure our governance structure is fit for purpose and enables effective decision making at the right times
• enhance our risk management capabilities to ensure better accountability and delivery confidence for our project and programme delivery
• manage the planning cycle in such a way that it engages all staff in delivering priorities, through a well understood, efficient and transparent process
• provide transparent accountability through regular reporting, both within the department, to the centre and parliament

Sustainability:

We want to embed sustainability across everything we do. We are working hard to improve our own sustainability through the Greening Government Commitments and to understand how we can promote better sustainability practices and support the net zero transition for all of our sectors.

Our 2021-25 Greening Government Commitments will be published later this year with ambitious targets across a number of areas including reducing our greenhouse emissions in line with the government 2050 net zero target. Our progress against these targets will be publicly reported annually.

In 2021 we are undertaking work to understand the environmental impact of our sectors and the levers available to us to reduce negative impact and promote positive sustainability practices.

In order to achieve our goals, we will:

• ensure we are able to meet our greening government commitments and continue to monitor and track their delivery annually
• continue to ensure that our estate, activities and policies are sustainable and support climate change mitigation, resilience and adaptation
• work with our ALBs to significantly reduce fossil fuel emissions across the board
• undertake work to understand the environmental impact of our sectors and identify the levers available to promote better sustainability practices and support the net zero transition

Greenhouse gas emissions

Year	Total emissions reduction against baseline*
2020/21	Not yet available
2019/20	38% (Total: 836 tonnes CO2e)
2018/19	34% (Total: 894 tonnes CO2e)
2017/18	60% (Total: 540 tonnes CO2e)

*against 2009/10 GHG baseline of 1,352 tonnes CO2e

Source: Greening Government Commitments annual reports / Release schedule: annually

E. Our equality objectives

We have set objectives to help us advance equality.

We are committed to improving the diversity of our people and creating an inclusive workplace. We will:

• Continue to remove barriers to recruitment, development and promotion of a diverse workforce, including delivering on our commitment to support the government’s levelling-up agenda by decentralising from London
• Increase ethnicity, disability and sex representation and improve our ranking on social mobility to better represent the public we serve with particular focus on Senior Civil Service grades. We will also focus on closing the ‘inclusion gap’ to ensure a positive experience for all in the department.

We have a role in promoting equality across the UK through delivering our priority outcomes:

Outcome One: We will support greater social inclusion through improved connectivity by enabling individuals and communities to access, use and share information and knowledge, increasing social engagement and therefore improving quality of life. The Shared Rural Network and the UK Gigabit Programme support the levelling-up agenda, reducing regional inequalities.

Outcome Two: Growth and recovery in sectors most affected by COVID-19 have a critical impact on social inclusion and wellbeing. Reviving these sectors will both generate and restore employment opportunities, deliver mental health and social benefits as well as support tourism and drive investment, all of which contribute to reducing inequality gaps, fostering social cohesion and building resilience.

Outcome Three: We will address the disparities that limit the extent to which industry can exploit new technologies to deliver growth across the UK. Socially, differences in skills and access to digital technologies continue to prevent everyone from benefiting from technology and growth - we have a role in ensuring all communities, regions and businesses feel these benefits.

Outcome Four: We will ensure opportunities are available and accessible to all social groups, particularly those most disadvantaged, to bolster social cohesion and reduce equality gaps. Participation in culture, sport and civic society has been evidenced to reduce loneliness, support physical and mental health and wellbeing, and build and strengthen social ties.