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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the BBC about the funding of the BBC’s Orchestras.

The BBC is editorially and operationally independent of the Government and as such the Government is not involved in the funding of BBC Orchestras.

According to the BBC's 2018/9 Annual Report, the BBC spent £29million in 2019 on 'Orchestras and performing groups'.

In the past five years, Arts Council England (ACE) has invested over £107 million in orchestras and related classical music organisations in its National Portfolio. As culture is a devolved matter, this figure excludes funding decisions taken by the devolved administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Orchestras have also benefited from the Government’s introduction of the Orchestras Tax Relief (OTR), which is helping to support the increase of productions, especially via touring. Since the introduction of the OTR in 2016, £23 million has been paid out relating to 170 claims and 770 productions.