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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding from the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas has been allocated to cinemas in (a) Sussex and (b) Arundel and South Downs constituency.

The government recognises the significant cultural and economic value of cinemas, and has supported them through both sector-specific and economy-wide measures. In the first round of the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund, more than 200 independent cinemas have so far received funding from a £30m pot. This funding was administered by the BFI on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, as part of the biggest ever single investment in this country’s cultural sectors.

£1,037,554 from the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas has so far been allocated to cinemas across Sussex, with £643,083 in West Sussex and £394,471 in East Sussex. There have been no applications received from cinemas in the Arundel and South Downs constituency, West Sussex. Further to this funding, we announced in December that cinemas will be able to apply for another £14 million in grants as part of the second round of the Culture Recovery Fund in 2021. This will support cinemas as they transition back to a viable and sustainable way of operating in the months ahead.

In addition to the Culture Recovery Fund, most cinemas will have benefited from economy-wide measures including the VAT cut on tickets and concessions, a business rates holiday, access to Bounce Back Loans, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Local Restrictions Support Grants.