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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding her Department has provided to help support deaf-led (a) arts and (b) cultural projects in the last 12 months.

The government primarily supports the arts and cultural projects through Arts Council England (ACE). While ACE does not collect data specifically on deaf-led organisations, it does track funding for D/deaf and/or disabled organisations and cultural projects. Since April 2024, these groups have received over £4 million in funding. This includes £363,718 in annual funding to Stagetext, a deaf-led charity who provide accessible captions and subtitles, so that deaf, deafened, and hard of hearing people can access creativity and culture. ACE also funds a number of projects and programmes across England that do not fall within this funding category, but which directly or indirectly benefit the D/deaf community.

DCMS is also supporting ACE and the other arts councils in the UK and Ireland to develop All In - an access scheme dedicated to removing barriers and improving the experience of deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people when attending creative and cultural events. All In aims to increase overall attendance by making it easier for people with access requirements to find and book tickets, while also developing standards for creativity and culture that promote quality and consistency across the UK and Ireland; all supported by training and skills development.