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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 28 May 2026 to question 2879, what steps she is taking to ensure that organisations in constituencies such as Fylde are not disadvantaged by competition with larger metropolitan cultural institutions.

The first round of the Creative Foundations Fund awarded £96 million to 74 arts and cultural organisations in England. Arts Council England received 117 eligible applications from organisations based in all English regions, and 78 local authorities. The geographic distribution of applications was: East Midlands (9), East of England (9), London (28), North East (9), North West (11), South East (15), South West (15), West Midlands (11) and the Yorkshire and the Humber (10).

Arts Council England received one Expression of Interest, prior to the application stage, from an organisation based in Fylde, with no organisations from Fylde submitting a full application.

Arts Council England is expanding its Customer Services team to introduce a new Capital Advice Service. This will provide support for organisations applying to the Creative Foundations Fund, particularly for DCMS Culture Priority Places and organisations underrepresented in the first funding round. The service will provide bespoke capital advice, helping upskill the sector and enhance the quality of capital bids and projects.