Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending Theatre Tax Relief after 2025.
Answered by Victoria Atkins
The Government recognises the value of the UK’s world leading creative industries and arts sectors.
At Spring Budget 2023, the Government went further to support theatres through the creative industry tax reliefs.
To continue to offset ongoing pressures and boost investment in our cultural sectors, the Government announced a 2-year extension to the current 45 per cent (for non-touring productions) and 50 per cent (for touring productions) rates of theatre tax relief.
These rates will now taper to 30 per cent/35 per cent on 1April 2025 and return to 20 per cent/25 per cent on 1 April 2026.
The Government keeps the tax system under continuous review. Any changes to tax reliefs will be communicated through the normal fiscal event process.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to support touring theatre (a) companies and (b) productions.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Touring plays an important role in sharing diverse and high-quality productions with audiences across the UK, and the Government has invested in theatres across the country to enrich our cultural offering.
As announced at the most recent Budget, theatres will be able to benefit from the Government's extension of the higher rates of theatre and orchestra tax relief for a further two years. The rate of higher relief will be 45% for non-touring productions and 50% for touring productions until 31 March 2025. This extension will boost investment in our cultural sectors, as well as supporting many productions to tour.
Our arm’s-length body, Arts Council England, supports touring and encourages National Portfolio Organisations it funds to tour productions across the country. For 2023/24 the Arts Council has recently confirmed a flexible allocation of £12 million for touring within its overall National Lottery Project Grants programme. As an example of previous support, the National Theatre’s Theatre Nation Partnerships received a £1.2 million grant to support touring in a number of areas with low levels of cultural engagement, including Levelling Up for Culture Places. Between November 2021 and February 2023, there were 75 awards from this budget totalling over £8.5 million to support touring across the country.
Arts Council England works with organisations on plans for touring, and is due to launch refreshed guidance in October 2023 which will outline how it has improved its Touring Fund to support relevant organisations.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to increase the availability of capital investment to theatres.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Yes - there are a number of public funds which support investment in theatres and in the wider performing arts and cultural sectors. This includes £546 million which was awarded in January 2023 to 31 cultural and heritage projects as part of the second round of the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, £76 million of capital investment through the Government’s Cultural Development Fund, and the Capital Investment Programme run by Arts Council England. In addition, Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants programme is open to theatres where project costs are less than £100,000, and can be used to cover capital costs.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps he has taken to progress the review of the planning barriers that households face when installing energy efficiency measures, due at the end of 2022.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We will announce the outcome of the review in due course.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of extending Theatre Tax Relief on the Government's levelling up policies.
Answered by Victoria Atkins
The Government recognises the value of the UK’s world-leading creative industries. That is why at Spring Budget 2023, the Government went further to support theatres through the creative industry tax reliefs.
To continue to offset ongoing pressures and boost investment in our cultural sectors, the Government has announced a 2-year extension to the current 45 per cent (for non-touring productions) and 50 per cent (for touring productions) rates of theatre tax relief (TTR). These rates will now taper to 30 per cent/35 per cent on 1 April 2025 and return to 20 per cent/25 per cent on 1 April 2026. Theatre tax relief is available to qualifying productions in all regions and nations in the UK.
The Government published a tax information and impact note at Spring Budget 2023, which sets out details of the policy impacts of the extension of the 45 per cent/50 per cent rates of TTR.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including measures in the contracts for difference scheme that allow developers to prioritise projects within geographical areas that have high levels of fuel poverty.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In the UK's wholesale electricity market, power generated from Contracts for Difference (CfD) projects is delivered to the National Grid and so is not allocated to specific geographical areas.
The Government has recently published a Call for Evidence on introducing non-price factors into the CfD scheme. Non-price factors being considered include investments in assisted areas.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the Government Communications Service Propriety Guidance.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
No.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she made an assessment of the impact of the Government Communications Service Propriety Guidance on the list of organisations invited to accompany her on the visit to Rwanda in March 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Due consideration of the GCS guidelines is undertaken in Home Office communications.
All news organisations were kept informed of the progress of the visit regardless of whether they attended or not.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the Government has plans to provide funding to whiskey distilleries in the Highlands to assist the transition from fossil fuels to green energy, such as biogas and hydrogen.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Green Gas Support Scheme provides tariff-based support for biomethane produced via anaerobic digestion injected into the gas grid in Great Britain. The scheme requires that at least 50% of all biomethane (by energy content) produced must use waste or residue feedstocks, which may include residues from the whiskey distilling process.
Achieving the Government's legally binding net zero targets will require a range of technologies. Low carbon hydrogen will be critical to helping vital British industries transition away from expensive oil and gas, as well as providing greener energy for power, transport, and potentially home heating.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps the Government is taking to secure manufacturing investment in the renewable energy industry to help ensure that the UK remains a competitive market for clean energy investment.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Through the Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme, the Government has made funding available to support major port and manufacturing infrastructure. The Government has also announced a £160 million investment scheme to support floating offshore wind port and infrastructure development.