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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department provided funding to the Turner Prize (a) directly and (b) indirectly via an organisation in receipt of funding from her Department in 2023.

Answered by John Whittingdale

DCMS does not provide direct funding to the Turner Prize. The Prize is managed by Tate, which funds it via a mixture of fundraising, contributions from host venues, and from Tate’s own budgets. DCMS provides Grant in Aid funding to Tate to support the organisation's overall operational and capital requirements.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which SMEs have received funding via the Create Growth Programme since its inception.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The Create Growth Programme provides finance, business support and investor capacity building to turn creative businesses into high growth firms. So far, the finance strand of the programme has awarded more than £3m to over 100 businesses. The business support and investor capacity strands do not provide direct grant funding to businesses.

In the Creative Industries Sector Vision, we announced new funding of £10.9m to expand the programme to £28.4m, providing support to another six English regions, to make 12 in total. As part of this, we are working with our national delivery partner, Innovate UK, to deliver a further two grant-funding competitions over the next 18 months. These will benefit even more high-potential creative businesses.

An initial list of funded SMEs can be accessed from the "Innovate UK's funded projects since 2004" dataset (filtered for "DCMS Create Growth Programme"), accessible here. The remainder of funded SMEs will be added in due course.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are taking steps to make up for in full the loss of funding from Creative Europe.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government decided not to seek continued participation in the Creative Europe programme, but to look at other ways of supporting the UK’s cultural and creative sectors.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a domestic successor to the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund, and is not intended to be a replacement for Creative Europe. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is focused on building pride in place and increasing life chances, and delivered through three investment priorities: communities and place, local businesses, and people and skills.

To support independent screen content – including film – to grow internationally, the Government launched the UK Global Screen Fund in April 2021 with initial funding of £7 million. We have committed a further £21 million to this Fund over the period 2022–25 to develop, distribute, and promote independent UK screen content in international markets.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to use the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to make up for the loss of funding from Creative Europe; and if so, how much funding will be provided to that end.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government decided not to seek continued participation in the Creative Europe programme, but to look at other ways of supporting the UK’s cultural and creative sectors.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a domestic successor to the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund, and is not intended to be a replacement for Creative Europe. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is focused on building pride in place and increasing life chances, and delivered through three investment priorities: communities and place, local businesses, and people and skills.

To support independent screen content – including film – to grow internationally, the Government launched the UK Global Screen Fund in April 2021 with initial funding of £7 million. We have committed a further £21 million to this Fund over the period 2022–25 to develop, distribute, and promote independent UK screen content in international markets.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations she has received on increasing funding for the performing arts.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government has increased funding for the performing arts.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport principally supports the arts through funding for Arts Council England, which makes individual decisions about which organisations and projects to fund at arm’s length from Ministers. At the Spending Review in 2021, the Government provided increased funding for Arts Council England. Arts Council England’s indicative financial settlement for 2022–5 includes an uplift of £43.5 million, or 2 per cent. As a result of this, and money from the National Lottery, Arts Council England will be spending more each year (by around £30 million) through its new Investment Programme (2023–6) than in the previous round (2018–23). It is investing in a record number of organisations, in more parts of the country than ever before.

This is in addition to the direct funding programmes through which the Department invests in arts and culture such as the Cultural Investment Fund and cross-Government funds such as the Towns Fund and the Levelling Up Fund which have benefited arts and cultural organisations across the country, as well as the more than £1.5 billion of support the Government made available to around 5,000 organisations and sites during the pandemic through the Culture Recovery Fund.

At the Budget last month, we extended the higher rates of Theatre Tax Relief, Orchestras Tax Relief, and Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief until 2025 – changes that are estimated to be worth £350 million over five years.

The Department is proud to work with a range of organisations representing the performing arts, and to receive representations about funding and other issues which can help them thrive. Arts and culture make a huge contribution to this country, not only to our economy and international reputation, but also to the wellbeing and enrichment of its people and communities.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the recent Arts Council England funding decisions for National Portfolio Organisations 2023-26, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of basing those decisions on the postcode of an organisation’s office rather than the postcode of the work being delivered on levelling up outcomes.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In line with its published guidance, Arts Council England considered both where organisations were based and where they were planning to deliver their activity in its assessments and decision-making for its 2023–6 Investment Programme, just as it did for previous rounds. This included consideration of the impact of investment on Priority Places, Levelling Up for Culture Places, places of historically low Arts Council investment, places of historically low cultural engagement, and the spread across the country and between rural areas, towns, and cities, as well as other balancing criteria unrelated to geography.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the appeals process for the funding decisions of Arts Council England.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Arts Council England has a complaints process for its funding streams. This is available on Arts Council England’s website.

Arts Council England will only reconsider a decision if it finds that a material mistake has been made. For example, an organisation (or individual) can use the complaints process if it believes that:

• Arts Council England has delayed, made mistakes or failed to follow its own processes;

• Arts Council England has failed to give an applicant access to information or has given an applicant incorrect advice or information;

• Arts Council England has not treated an applicant politely;

• Arts Council England has unlawfully discriminated against an applicant or not treated an applicant fairly.

Arts Council England uses the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s principles of good complaint handling. If a complainant is dissatisfied with a decision or the way a complaint has been, complainants can refer the complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). Funding decisions by Arts Council England can also be subject to Judicial Review.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to review how Arts Council England (a) allocated and (b) announced funding, for the National Portfolio Organisation 2023-26 funding round.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The decisions made by Arts Council England about the allocation of funding for the National Portfolio Organisation 2023-26 funding round were taken at arm's length from HM Government. This is in accordance with the well established process, which is published on the Arts Council’s website and made clear in the guidance for applicants. As such, DCMS does not, nor should it, review individual decisions.

The Department works with all its public bodies, including Arts Council England, on continuous improvements and assurance. My officials will work with Arts Council England to learn from this recent funding round, as they would for any area of its work.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking ensure funding for (a) arts and (b) music is evenly distributed across the country.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In March 2022 we were delighted to announce the recipients of the £48 million first round of funding from the Cultural Investment Fund. This round of funding will go to more than 60 organisations, including those whose focus is on arts and music. The Cultural Investment Fund will invest up to £128.4 million of further capital in innovative cultural and creative projects, libraries, and museums across the country over the Spending Review period (2022/23–2024/25). Alongside this, the Cultural Development Fund represents the Department's largest existing ring-fenced funding explicitly for culture-led regeneration projects outside London, in line with our Levelling Up work. The successful applicants to the £30.2 million third round of the Cultural Development Fund will be announced in spring 2023, and will help to unlock economic growth in towns and cities across England through investment in cultural and creative activities, using creativity as a catalyst to make places more attractive to live, work and visit.

In addition, Arts Council England recently announced the outcome of its 2023-2026 Investment Programme, which will be investing £446 million each year in arts and culture across England. This funding will support a record 990 organisations across the whole of England and will give people across the country more opportunities to access high-quality arts and culture on their doorstep.

Arts Council England has also extended the Supporting Grassroots Live Music ‘time-limited priority’ until 31 March 2023, with a ring-fenced fund of £1.5 million. The fund is designed to support organisations across the country – including venues and promoters – with little or no prior experience of public funding applications.

In June 2022, the Department for Education and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport co-published a refreshed National Plan for Music Education, which sets out our vision to enable all children and young people across the country to learn to sing, play an instrument and create music, and have the opportunity to progress their musical interests and talents. As part of the plan, the Government announced a new investment of £25 million of capital funding to enable the purchase of musical instruments and technology, including adaptive instruments. The Department for Education also confirmed they will continue to invest £79 million per year for the Music Hubs programme over three years up to and including 2024/25, so that music hubs can continue to provide vital support to local schools.

This Government’s investment in arts and culture remains a key part of its levelling up work.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed National Portfolio Programme 2023-26 on the number of (a) performers, (b) stage management staff and (c) creative team directly engaged by National Portfolio Organisations.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Decisions about which organisations to fund, and by how much, are taken by Arts Council England at arm’s length from the Government. Arts Council England made its decisions in line with its published guidance and its ten-year strategy, ‘Let’s Create’. Assessments were carried out by Arts Council England, and decisions were made by its Area and National Councils, which include both local representatives and people who work in the sector. Any questions about specific funding decisions should be directed to Arts Council England.

The Government will continue to work with Arts Council England to understand the impacts of its investment in arts and culture, including on performers, stage management staff, and creative teams directly engaged by National Portfolio Organisations.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2022 to Question 72233 on Arts: Finance, how much and what proportion of Arts Council England’s annual budget for this investment round is non-ring fenced grant-in-aid provided by her Department.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

On 4 November 2022, Arts Council England announced plans to invest a total budget of around £446 million per year through its 2023–26 Investment Programme. Arts Council England forecasts that £351.8 million (equivalent to 78.8%) will be supported by non-ring fenced Grant-in-Aid. Further detail is available at Arts Council England’s website.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the livelihoods of people in the creative industries during the period of increases to the cost of living.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government is aware of the number of issues facing the creative industries as a result of rising inflation and rising energy prices.

In September 2022 the government announced support for businesses, including businesses within the creative industries, through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. This is expected to cut non-domestic energy bills by between one-quarter and one-third up until March 2023. BEIS recently launched a 3 month review into the effectiveness of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. DCMS continues to work with BEIS and industry to analyse the impact of the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme on our sectors.

Support is also available through the targeted support package announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in May, worth over £37 billion in total, to ease the cost of living burden on millions of households with the greatest need, including those working in the creative industries.

The creative industries are some of the fastest growing sectors in the UK economy, contributing £116 billion in GVA and employing 2.1 million people. That is why we are developing a Sector Vision to set out our ambitions for the sector between now and 2030, which we will publish in the coming months.

Supporting the resilience of the creative industries’ workforce in the long-term is a key objective of the Policy and Evidence Centre’s Review of Job Quality and Working Practice in the Creative Industries which was co-funded by DCMS and is due to be published later this year. The Government will work with industry to consider its recommendations.

The Government is also supporting the creative industries through Arts Council England, which recently announced support for 990 organisations across the creative and cultural sectors as part of its 2023-2026 Investment Programme.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to protect public funding for creative industries during the period of increases to the cost of living.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government is aware of the number of issues facing the creative industries as a result of rising inflation and rising energy prices.

In September 2022 the government announced support for businesses, including businesses within the creative industries, through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. This is expected to cut non-domestic energy bills by between one-quarter and one-third up until March 2023. BEIS recently launched a 3 month review into the effectiveness of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. DCMS continues to work with BEIS and industry to analyse the impact of the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme on our sectors.

Support is also available through the targeted support package announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in May, worth over £37 billion in total, to ease the cost of living burden on millions of households with the greatest need, including those working in the creative industries.

The creative industries are some of the fastest growing sectors in the UK economy, contributing £116 billion in GVA and employing 2.1 million people. That is why we are developing a Sector Vision to set out our ambitions for the sector between now and 2030, which we will publish in the coming months.

Supporting the resilience of the creative industries’ workforce in the long-term is a key objective of the Policy and Evidence Centre’s Review of Job Quality and Working Practice in the Creative Industries which was co-funded by DCMS and is due to be published later this year. The Government will work with industry to consider its recommendations.

The Government is also supporting the creative industries through Arts Council England, which recently announced support for 990 organisations across the creative and cultural sectors as part of its 2023-2026 Investment Programme.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what funding she will allocate to National Portfolio Organisations through Arts Council England in (a) 2023-2024, (b) 2024-2025, (c) 2025-2026 and (d) 2026-2027.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

As the Minister responsible for arts and culture, I regularly meet with the Arts Council England (ACE), who are an arms-length body of my Department. After careful consideration of the potential impact, my Department agreed with ACE to delay the announcement of its 2023-26 investment programme. I can now confirm the new date for the announcement is Friday 4 November and that this has been agreed with ACE.

I recognise that this delay caused some uncertainty for organisations in the short term but I am confident that this will be minimal as the investment programme begins on 1 April 2023.

Individual funding allocations to organisations in the Investment Programme are always a matter for ACE and all of these funding decisions are taken at arm’s-length from the government. The primary funding source for the ACE investment programme is non-ring fenced Grant-in-Aid provided by DCMS. As set out on its website, and in the ‘Addendum to the Guidance for Applicants’, ACE’s average annual budget for this investment round is £428 million, and it will receive a 2% uplift to the total budget compared with the 2018-22 investment programme. However, it is important to note that ACE uses other funding sources for its investments, for example Lottery funding.

The total funding allocated to organisations in the 2023-26 Investment programme will be set out in the announcement on 4 November 2022.

I commit to update the House with further details in due course.

Found: | 98422 Date tabled: 05 Jan 2022 | Date for answer: 10 Jan 2022 | Date answered: 13 Jan 2022 Arts