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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she is taking steps to support independent cinemas.

We are supporting cinemas through permanently lower business rates multipliers for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure premises with rateable values under £500,000 from 2026/27.

Our Plan for Neighbourhoods will provide £1.5 billion to 75 towns across the UK over ten years. Places will be able to use their £20 million to enrich their cultural and media offering and could, amongst other opportunities, refurbish, restore, or develop cultural and heritage assets, including local cinemas.

The British Film Institute (BFI), a DCMS Arms Length Body, also provides support to the cinema sector. The BFI’s Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) is a collaboration of eight film hubs, managed by leading film organisations and venues around the UK. Film hubs are centres of expertise and support that connect cinemas, festivals and creative practitioners including using lottery funding to support the independent cinema exhibition sector by enhancing skills and sharing best practice.

Further information about film hubs is available at: https://www.bfi.org.uk/get-funding-support/bring-film-wider-audience/bfi-film-audience-network

Furthermore, we are actively considering the Culture, Media and Sport Committee's recommendation to deliver capital infrastructure funding for independent cinemas and what we can do to further recognise the importance of cinemas within their local area.