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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage local magazine publishing in Southampton Test constituency.

The Government’s Industrial Strategy will support the growth of the creative industries, including publishing which contributes £11.6 billion to the economy and supports 127,000 jobs.

In Southampton, Arts Council England (ACE) supports local writers through Artful Scribe, a not-for-profit development agency. ACE has committed over £184,000 to Artful Scribe through to 2027, including those interested in magazine publishing.

Nationally, ACE invests in poetry magazines such as Poetry London (£50,000 annually) and Wasafiri (£60,506 annually), both National Portfolio Organisations. ACE support also extends to writing development agencies like New Writing South (Brighton, £126,477 annually) and Literature Works (Plymouth, £98,333 annually), which offer guidance to writers seeking opportunities in local magazine publishing.