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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which towns will be eligible to bid for the UK Town of Culture; and what criteria will be used to define what a town is for the purposes of the competition.

The new UK Town of Culture competition aims to boost civic pride in our towns through recognising their cultural contributions to public life and actively supporting their continued development. Regarding eligibility criteria, we will advise small and medium size towns apply to this new competition, and refer larger towns to the UK City of Culture competition. This, however, will not be mandated and it will be for the places themselves to decide which competition they wish to apply for. We will provide further guidelines and support in due course to ensure all places can confidently engage with the competition.