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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times (a) Ministers and (b) officials from her Department have met representatives from (i) secondary ticketing websites and (ii) the music industry to discuss the price of ticket resales on online platforms in the last 12 months.

His Majesty’s Government is committed to supporting fair and transparent ticket pricing and tackling unacceptable behaviour in this market.

We engage with a range of key organisations and individuals operating in the ticketing sector to ensure a fair and transparent system. This includes STAR (the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers, the self-regulatory body for the entertainment ticketing industry in the UK), the Competition and Markets Authority, Fanfair Alliance (the campaigning body against industrial scale online ticket touting), and, where appropriate, primary and secondary ticketing businesses.

We are in regular discussions with all parts of the music industry to understand the opportunities for growth and challenges facing the sector, including ticketing.

Ministers and officials have had no meetings with either Viagogo or Stubhub in the last twelve months. It should be noted that officials have met with Stubhub International, a separate company to Stubhub, in the last twelve months to discuss general ticketing issues.