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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what additional support he plans to provide to organisations that provide services to the live entertainment industry and unable to resume economic activity when the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme close; and if he will make a statement.

On Sunday 5 July 2020, the Secretary of State announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of cultural and creative sectors.

We are working closely with DCMS’ Arm’s Length Bodies to develop detailed guidance indicating who can apply for the different elements of this funding. We will publish this guidance as soon as possible in July.

We are committed to reopening creative businesses, including live entertainment and outdoor events, as soon as it is safe to do so. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recently set out a five stage roadmap that the government will work through to get the live entertainment and outdoor events sectors back up and running as soon as possible. The ministerially-chaired Events and Entertainment Working Group was established to support the Secretary of State’s Cultural Renewal Taskforce, and it focuses on developing covid-19 secure guidance to enable the safe reopening of the live entertainment and outdoor events sectors.