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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the application process for covid-19 related support for businesses in the (a) events and (b) music industry.

The £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund will provide targeted support to critical cultural, arts and heritage organisations to help them survive and recover through the coronavirus pandemic.

Our priority is to ensure that organisations get the funding they need as swiftly as possible. That is why £3.36 million has already been allocated to 136 grassroots music venues across England, in view of the urgent need to protect organisations in that sector from imminent collapse. The delivery bodies are also currently processing more than £800 million of applications for grant funding, and will make announcements about hundreds of allocations in the coming weeks.

We are aware that the events industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by Covid-19. We continue to engage with stakeholders, including through the Visitor Economy Working Group and the Events Industry Senior Leaders Advisory Panel, to monitor the situation.