Caroline Dinenage elected Chair of Culture Select Committee

Conservative MP Dame Caroline Dinenage has been selected to succeed Julian Knight as chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

Dinenage, who was Minister of State responsible for Digital and Culture between February 2020 and September 2021, was elected from a shortlist of three candidates following a ballot of members of the House of Commons that took place yesterday (17 May).

She replaces independent MP Julian Knight who last month announced his intention to step down as Chair of the DCMS Select Committe and leave parliament at the next General Election.

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Dinenage, who takes up the role with immediate effect, said: "I’m delighted to be given the chance to lead the committee in standing up for the culture, media and sport sectors, which are hugely important both economically and for communities across the country. 

"I’m looking forward to getting down to scrutinising the government to ensure it delivers on everything from gambling regulation and football governance reform through to bolstering support for our world-renowned creative industries."

The select committee currently has eight ongoing inquiries including the appointment of Richard Sharp as Chair of the BBC, and the risks and benefits of non-fungible tokens.

During her time as a DCMS Minister, Dinenage was involved with work to improve conditions for touring companies in the EU following Brexit, stating that the department would "use every power in our arsenal" to forge good bilateral agreements.

More recently she spoke out in support of English National Opera during a parliamentary debate, labelling the decision of Arts Council England to remove it from the National Portfolio and suggest it move to Manchester as "crazy tokenism".

"[ENO] has done virtually more than anybody to bring opera, which is often regarded as a bit of an elitist art form, to the masses and to a newer, younger audience," she said during the debate in November last year.

"I have nothing against driving investment outside London, but we have to do that in a careful way and not as some form of crazy tokenism."

Not-for-profit consultancy firm Culture Commons tweeted that, as former Minister of State at DCMS, Dinenage "comes into this role with lots of sectoral knowledge".

"We are really looking forward to working with you!" it added.