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 adequacy of the support provided to the culture and arts sector during the covid-19 outbreak.

I know the cultural and arts sectors have been hugely impacted by Covid, with the effects felt across individual business and organisations, as well as staff, freelancers and supply chains. That is why last year the government announced the unprecedented £1.57 billion support package for the culture sector. To date, over £1.2 billion has been allocated from this fund, reaching over 5000 individual organisations and sites.

In the 2021 Budget, the Chancellor announced an additional £300 million to support theatres, museums and other cultural organisations in England through the Culture Recovery Fund. This extra funding, together with other cultural support such as funding for our national museums, means that our total support package for culture during the pandemic is now approaching £2 billion. These are unprecedented sums and this is the largest one-off investment in UK culture.

The arts and culture sector has also been eligible to access pan economic Government COVID-19 support throughout the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes various Government-backed loans, business grants, reduction in VAT and the extended furlough and self-employed support schemes. Organisations in this sector were also able to access the discretionary Local Restrictions Support Grant and Additional Restrictions Grant which provided Local Authorities with funds to support businesses who met the eligibility criteria. And, earlier this year the Chancellor also announced one-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property to help businesses through to the Spring and eviction protection has been extended for businesses most in need.