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.

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.