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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps he has taken to support the heritage and tourism sector during the covid-19 outbreak.

We will continue to engage with stakeholders to assess how we can most effectively support the heritage and tourism sectors through this crisis.

Businesses and workers in these sectors can access the Government’s comprehensive economic support package, including the recently extended the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Bounce Back Loans scheme.

Through VisitEngland, we announced a £1.3 million scheme to provide financial support to Destination Management Organisations at risk of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) and Historic England (HE) have made emergency funding available for the heritage sector. The NLHF’s £50 million Heritage Emergency Fund and HE’s £2 million Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund extend a safety net to a wide variety of heritage organisations struggling with financial losses and cash flow issues.

My Department’s Cultural Renewal Taskforce - which contains specific Heritage and Visitor Economy Working Groups - is developing guidance to help these sectors to safely reopen.