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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2020 to Question 128274, what support allocated to the cinema sector remains unallocated as at 25 January 2021; and how his Department plans to distribute the remaining funding.

The government recognises the significant cultural and economic value of cinemas, and has supported them through both sector-specific and economy-wide measures during the COVID-19 crisis.

In the first round of the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund, more than 200 independent cinemas have so far received funding. As of 25 January 2021, £16.6m has been awarded from the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas, managed by the British Film Institute on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. This is from the £30m pot allocated as part of the Fund’s first round.

We have agreed a thorough and robust assessment process for the Fund and are confident in the process established to support the sector. The BFI are continuing to process and assess a small number of outstanding applications, so we cannot confirm the final round one award total at this stage.

Further to this funding, we announced in December that cinemas will be able to apply to a pot of up to £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 operating model from April to June 2021.

In addition to the Culture Recovery Fund, cinemas have also 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.