The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a ministerial department of the

Government of the United Kingdom His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

. It holds the responsibility for

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

, and some aspects of the media throughout the UK, such as

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

. Its main offices are at 100 Parliament Street, occupying part of the building known as

Government Offices Great George Street Government Offices Great George Street (GOGGS) is a large UK government office building in the Westminster district of London, England. It is situated between Horse Guards Road, King Charles Street, Whitehall, Parliament Street and Great George ...

. It also has responsibility for the

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

leisure Leisure (, ) has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, Employment, work, job hunting, Housekeeping, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as ...

and

creative industries The creative industries refers to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information. They may variously also be referred to as the cultural industries (especially in Europe) or the ...

(some jointly with the Department for Business and Trade). The department was also responsible for the delivery of the 2012 Olympic Games and

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

. From 2017 to 2023, the department had responsibility for the building of a digital economy and was known as the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The responsibilities for digital policy were transferred to the newly created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in the February 2023 cabinet reshuffle.

History and responsibilities

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 Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

election victory. The former ministers for the

Arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and for

Sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

had previously been located in other departments. DNH was renamed as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on 14 July 1997, under the premiership of Tony Blair. It was renamed to Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 3 July 2017, staying DCMS under the premiership of Theresa May to reflect the department's increased activity in the digital sector. The department was renamed back to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in February 2023, with responsibility for digital moving to the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

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 His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The position is currently held by Nick Thomas-Symonds of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. History The post was ...

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 The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

, but the staff of the Government Olympic Executive (GOE) remained based in DCMS.

2010–2022

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. After the 2015 general election, John Whittingdale was appointed as Secretary of State, tasked with initiating the BBC Charter review process. DCMS received full responsibility for the digital economy policy, formerly jointly held with BIS, and sponsorship of the Information Commissioner's Office from the Ministry of Justice. Whittingdale was replaced by Karen Bradley after the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU in July 2016. The Office for Civil Society moved from the

to DCMS as part of the same reshuffle. In January 2018, Matthew Hancock, previous Minister of State for Digital, was appointed Secretary of State as part of a Cabinet reshuffle. In the 9 July 2018 reshuffle, Jeremy Wright became the Secretary of State. Nicky Morgan became Secretary of State in July 2019; she stood down as an MP at the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,074,800 registered voters entitled to vote to elect 650 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Un ...

but was ennobled as Baroness Morgan of Cotes and retained her position from within the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. As part of the 13 February 2020 reshuffle, Oliver Dowden MP was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Nadine Dorries succeeded on 15 September 2021. In July 2022, Dorries personally granted Grade II-listed status to a plaque of

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes ( ; 5 July 185326 March 1902) was an English-South African mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded th ...

which she believed is of "special historic interest". This decision attracted controversy. On 5 September 2022, in anticipation of the appointment of Liz Truss as Prime Minister, Dorries tendered her resignation as culture secretary.

Policy areas

It is responsible for government policy in the following areas: * The

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

, including the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

Civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Charities *

Creative industries The creative industries refers to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information. They may variously also be referred to as the cultural industries (especially in Europe) or the ...

Advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

Design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

** Fashion **

Film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

Music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

Publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

* Historic environment *

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

* Arts market * Cultural property and heritage *

Entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

licensing A license (American English) or licence ( Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another par ...

Gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

and

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

Press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

and

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

* Libraries * Museums and galleries * The National Lottery *

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

* Olympic legacy

=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 The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in the UK and ...

(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 An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or No ...

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 The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

. DCMS works jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on

issues, including sponsorship of the Design Council, and on relations with the computer games and publishing industries. DCMS works wit
local community system providers
in broadcasting service via TV and Internet channels. In September 2022, it managed to hold a home office visit activity for media and data security knowledge sharing across different government departments. DCMS organises the annual Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Cenotaph and has responsibility for providing humanitarian assistance in the event of a

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

. 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. DCMS has also supported cyber initiatives such as Cyber Discovery and the UK Cyber Security Forum to support innovation in the cyber industry.

Ministers

The DCMS ministers are as follows, with cabinet ministers in bold: On 7 February 2023, it was announced that the Department's

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

role would be performed on an interim basis by Ruth Hannant and Polly Payne (job share).

Bodies sponsored by DCMS

The DCMS has policy responsibility for three

statutory corporation A statutory corporation is a corporation, government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government ...

s and two public broadcasting authorities. These bodies and their operation are largely independent of government policy influence.

Non-ministerial departments

DCM
works with
two non-ministerial departments: * Charity Commission * National Archives

Public corporations

The public corporations are: *

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

* Channel Four Television Corporation * Historic Royal Palaces * Sianel Pedwar Cymru – and the S4C Authority which regulates and manages S4C * The Royal Parks

Non-departmental public bodies

The DCMS sponsors the following executive non-departmental public bodies including a number of museums and galleries: * Arts Council England * British Film Institute *

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

* Gambling Commission * Museum of the Home (formerly the Geffrye Museum) *

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

(separated from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

in 2015, formally the Historic Buildings & Monuments Commission for England) * Horniman Museum * Horserace Betting Levy Board * Imperial War Museum * 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 The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

* VisitBritain (formally the British Tourist Authority) * VisitEngland * Wallace Collection The DCMS sponsors the following advisory non-departmental public bodies: * Advisory Council on National Records and Archives * 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 The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

as being within the central government sector: * Churches Conservation Trust * National Citizen Service 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 The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...

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 The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and the Northern Ireland Executive in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Media-related policy is generally

reserved Reserved is a Polish apparel retailer headquartered in Gdańsk, Poland. It was founded in 1999 and remains the flagship brand of the LPP (company), LPP group, which has more than 2,200 retail stores located in over 38 countries and also owns su ...

to Westminster i.e. not devolved. These areas include:

Scotland

Reserved matters: * Film classification *

* Public lending right *

* National Lottery * Digital economy *

Telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

and

broadband In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

and

Scotland's comparability factor (the proportion of spending in this area devolved to the Scottish Government) was 68% for 2021/22.

Northern Ireland

Reserved matters: *

* The National Lottery * Digital economy *

and

The department's main counterparts in Northern Ireland are as follows: * 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) Northern Ireland's comparability factor (the proportion of spending in this area devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive) was 69.9% for 2021/22.

Wales

Reserved matters: * Film classification *

* Public lending right * Digital economy *

* Betting, Gambling and Lotteries *

and

Wales' comparability factor (the proportion of spending in this area devolved to the Welsh Government) was 67.7% for 2021/22.

References

External links

Video clips

DCMS YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Department For Culture, Media And Sport Culture, Media and Sport Arts in England English art Culture of England Mass media in the United Kingdom Performing arts in England Sports organisations of the United Kingdom Sport in England

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Ministries established in 1992 Mass media in England 1992 establishments in the United Kingdom Culture ministries Tourism ministries