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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a capital investment programme to support the renovation of local arts centres.

We are working closely with the sector to understand the needs of arts centres, which are integral to communities up and down the country. Through sector engagement, as well as the recent Arup and Future Arts Centres report, Evaluating Capital Investment Needs for Arts Centres in the UK, we are aware that arts centres are facing significant challenges with their estates.

The £85 million Creative Foundations Fund (CFF), launched by this government earlier this year, is supporting arts and cultural organisations across England to resolve urgent issues with their estates, including essential renovations and repairs. An important part of this government’s growth mission, this fund aims to strengthen the long-term economic viability of the creative and cultural industries. Arts centres that met the criteria were eligible to apply for the fund, and Arts Council England have notified all those that submitted Expressions of Interest of who is being taken forward to the full application stage. The Arts Council will notify all applicants of the outcome of their full application and commit all funding by 31 March 2026.

Whilst we do not have any plans to launch a capital investment programme specifically for arts centres, we were able to secure significant investment at the Spending Review for Arts, Culture and Heritage infrastructure. The Spending Review sets out DCMS’s high-level funding settlement and we will share further details in due course.