Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to support the live music industry to enable it to have a viable future when festivals and venues reopen.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We are making an unprecedented investment of £1.57 billion in the UK’s cultural sector through the Culture Recovery Fund. To date over £500 million of the Fund has been announced to organisations across England, a fifth of which has gone to the music sector. These funds will provide valuable support for live music venues and festivals to continue operating and stage activity.
We have held back £258 million from the Culture Recovery Fund to enable us to respond to the emerging public health picture, and provide additional support to the sector when needed throughout the rest of the financial year.
From 2 December, in Tier 1 and 2 areas, socially distanced indoor audiences are permitted provided capacity in a venue is maintained at maximum 50% capacity or 1000 people, whichever is lower. Outdoor events can take place in line with Covid secure guidance with a capacity limit of the lower of 50% or 4000 in Tier 1 and 50% or 2000 in Tier 2.
DCMS has established a Venues Steering Group and a sector-led sub-group on Outdoor Events and Festivals looking at how music venues and festivals can reopen safely. We are committed to continue working with music venues and festivals to understand the challenges they face and to enable events to take place in line with the latest regulations and guidance.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential economic benefits of increasing the number of people permitted to attend (a) wedding and (b) exhibition venues for those venues that have more space to accommodate those attendees safely during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
We continue to engage with stakeholders, including through the Tourism Industry Council and the Events Industry Senior Leaders Advisory Panel, to assess how we can best support the sector’s safe reopening. The business events pilots we carried out in September will ensure that the correct advice and guidance is put in place to help larger events reopen when it is safe to do so.
Officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are continuing to engage with the wedding industry to understand the challenges being faced by wedding venues. These businesses are able to take advantage of a number of business support measures, such as government-backed loans and access to the extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support is available for (a) wedding fayre and (b) other event organisers to diversify their businesses as a result of the covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
We are aware that the events industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by Covid-19 and ongoing restrictions.
Wedding fayre organisers and other events businesses can continue to make use of the broader support package available to them. This includes the Bounce Back Loans scheme, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
From November, the Jobs Support Scheme will provide further support to returning workers, while the extended Self-Employed Income Support Scheme will aid the self-employed who are currently actively trading but are facing reduced demand.
We are also offering affected businesses generous terms for the repayment of deferred taxes and government-backed loans, as well as extending the application window of the government-backed loan schemes.
Meetings of up to 30 can still take place in permitted venues, as per the Covid-19 Secure guidance for the visitor economy. Since 11 July, a range of outdoor events have been able to take place. As with all aspects of the Government’s response to Covid-19, our decisions have been and will continue to be based on scientific evidence and public health assessments.
Asked by: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to (a) ensure that all households in South Northamptonshire constituency have access to super-fast broadband at speeds greater than 24 Mbps and (b) accelerate the roll-out of ultrafast broadband at speeds greater than 100 Mbps in that constituency.
Answered by Margot James
The Superfast programme met its original objective of delivering at least 24Mbps broadband to 95% of the population in December 2017, and is now pushing beyond 96% with an ambition to reach at least 97% coverage by March 2020.
According to ThinkBroadband, Superfast Coverage (>24mbps) in South Northamptonshire in December 2017 was 91.8%, it is now 95.69%. Superfast programme take-up in Northamptonshire (County Council area) was 46.11% in December 2017, and 58.96% in Mar 2019.
The government has invested heavily in Northamptonshire, with over £9million of central government funding allocated and local bodies’ have also contributed over £11million to the project. Delivery is managed by Superfast Northamptonshire, our local delivery partner.
Last July, the Government published its Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, which set out the Government’s strategy for ensuring that 15 million premises are connected to faster than ultrafast, gigabit capable broadband networks by 2025 with nationwide coverage by 2033. This includes an ‘outside-in’ approach through which the Government will support the deployment of gigabit capable broadband to the least commercial 10% of UK premises, at the same time that the market is deploying to more commercial areas. The first step in this approach is the £200 million Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme, which launched in May 2019, and will connect local hubs in rural areas to gigabit capable broadband, as well as providing gigabit vouchers to small businesses and residents.