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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the UK Live Comedy Sector Survey Report 2024, published on 6 February 2025, if her Department will take steps to recognise live comedy as an art form, in the context of eligibility for funding from (a) Arts Council England, (b) the National Lottery and (c) other organisations.

Comedy is a vital performing art and contributes to the mental health and wellbeing of people, not just in the UK, but around the world. It forms part of our cultural landscape, enriching lives, shaping our collective identity.

Arts Council England funds numerous organisations and venues that support comedy. For the purposes of ACE funding, comedy is considered under the broad term of ‘theatre.’ This means that as long as a performer, club or promoter meets the eligibility criteria for specific programmes, then ACE welcomes funding applications. Between the financial years covering 2010/11 to 2024/25 ACE has awarded £12,296,254 in funding where an applicant name, project title or subclassifier contains the word “comedy”.

Venues such as theatres also benefit from tax relief. The government believes tax relief is essential to help incentivise investment in productions, and to contribute to innovation and economic growth, enabling arts organisations to continue to produce new content which is vital in keeping them competitive on an international stage.