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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress the Government has made on its assessment of the merits of establishing a Town of Culture award.

Creativity, arts and heritage make our towns and cities unique and our communities better places to live, and we should celebrate the rich local heritage and culture of towns across the UK.

We are committing departmental resources to supporting and celebrating towns through delivering a range of effective and targeted policy interventions. These include the Cultural Development Fund, Heritage Action Zones, and the Discover England Fund, as well as continued support to our arms-length bodies, such as Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, many of which do great work to support culture in towns.

We also believe that culture, as well as other sectors supported by DCMS have an important role to play in the development of local regeneration plans for towns that will be supported through the new multi-billion pound Towns Fund. The fund is at the heart of the Government’s commitment to leveling up our left behind places, to improve connectivity, provide vital social and cultural infrastructure, and boost growth. As we work with MHCLG to roll out the Towns Fund, we will consider the best way to highlight the great cultural offers many of our towns have, including whether and how this could build towards a potential Town of Culture competition.