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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to help local theatres over the next five years.

During the last Parliament the Government launched the Theatre Tax Relief, which supports the theatre sector right across the country, helping to promote economic growth and widening opportunities for people to participate in the arts. The relief also extends the reach of touring organisations so that the whole country can enjoy different productions.

Through the UK Government's public investment in the arts - which is distributed by Arts Council England - we support many regional and local theatres. Many theatres are Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations, which receive regular funding to support their work and productions. Other theatre organisations also receive National Lottery funding to support productions through the Grants for the Arts programme.

The Arts Council also operates capital programmes of varying size that seek to help organisations become resilient, more sustainable and innovative by improving their existing buildings and equipment and increasing their capacity to engage with digital audiences. One of the beneficiaries in 2014/15 was Watford Palace in the South East, which received £300,000 to enhance their rehearsal facilities, improve energy efficiency and replace specialist equipment.