Caroline Dinenage re-elected as chair of UK’s culture, media and sport committee

Conservative MP Caroline Dinenage has been officially re-elected as chair of the UK parliament’s culture, media and sport (CMS) committee, as the sole nomination.

“I’m delighted to be re-elected to chair the culture, media and sport committee and entrusted to build on our achievements in the last parliament. These sectors are our global economic super-power, they have remarkable abilities to drive regeneration and bring communities together. I will continue to work cross-party to ensure the government doesn’t take them for granted and they continue to fire on all cylinders.”

Dinenage takes up her position as chair of the committee when the remaining members of the committee have been appointed by the House of Commons. The timetable for this is determined by the parties, but is understood to likely be towards the end of October. 

Although a Labour government under Keir Starmer came into power in July after 14 years of Conservative rule, the allocation of UK parliamentary committee chairs reflects the party balance in the House of Commons as a whole. On July 30, the CMS committee chair was assigned once again to the Conservative party.

The cross-party CMS committee is responsible for scrutinising the work of the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and its associated public bodies, such as the BBC.

The most recent iteration of the CMS committee, under Dinenage’s watch, oversaw a significant and far-reaching inquiry into the UK’s film and high-end TV (HETV) sector. The inquiry was launched to look at what can be done to maintain the UK’s status as a global hub for international production and how independent producers and the struggling exhibition sector can best be supported.

A final letter from the committee’s chair, Conservative MP Caroline Dinenage, was issued on May 24, two days after the general election was called. It was addressed to the then-secretary of state for the DCMS Lucy Frazer, urging the inquiry’s work to-date to be revisited.

The committee did not reach the stage of publishing a report with its findings from the inquiry, with Dinenage’s re-election a positive sign that the inquiry could be revived. 

Dinenage became chair of the committee in May 2023, having previously been minister of state for digital and culture (2020-21). 

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