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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage corporate sponsorship of the arts at a local level.

The Government believes that a thriving arts sector is vital for the cultural landscape of this country. We highlighted in the recent Culture White Paper that we would like to see a rejuvenated approach to corporate sponsorship of the arts. We are working with Arts Council England and other partners on this agenda, including looking at local level partnerships.

Arts Council have already commissioned a new Private Investment Survey and is currently inviting all arts and cultural organisations in England to take part by April 29^th. The new survey will be published in the autumn and will provide an updated overview of private investment in England’s cultural sectors, including at the local level. It will also bridge the gap in terms of data on how the sector has developed since the last survey was published covering data for 2011/12, which recorded business investment in the arts as £113 million.