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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the impact the Department's UK City of Culture Competition and new UK Town of Culture competition will have on local communities.

The strong evidence from UK City of Culture shows that supporting local culture pays both economic and social dividends. Town of Culture is a new competition to ensure smaller places across the UK can share in the real impact by shining a spotlight on places and enabling them to tell their story. The winner of the new Town of Culture competition will receive £3.5 million and, for the first time ever, I have confirmed from the outset that the City of Culture winner will receive £10 million.