Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate he has made of the financial contribution of the arts and culture to London’s wider economy; and what steps his Department is taking to mitigate the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on those sectors in London.

The most recent data available from the DCMS Provisional Sector Economic Estimates relating to 2018 shows that the Cultural Sector in London contributed £23,111m GVA, of which the London Arts Sub-Sector contributed £4,525m

The Government’s unprecedented £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund has now surpassed the £1 billion milestone. Over £500million in recovery grants have been made to over 3000 arts and heritage organisations in England helping to support 75,000 jobs with over £300m awarded to London through grants and repayable finance awards.