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

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent representations his Department has received on establishing a UK town of culture competition.

The Department has received a number of representations, from across the country on the subject of establishing a UK Town of Culture.

These have reaffirmed the role that arts, culture and heritage can play in making towns attractive places to live, work and visit. The department is continuing to explore opportunities to support towns, and is engaging with towns in order to better understand their needs.

We already support towns in many ways including working closely with MHCLG to support the delivery of the Towns Fund and the delivery of the £95million High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme with Historic England. In addition, the £250m Cultural Investment Fund announced in October will benefit many towns through culture-led regeneration.