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Written Question
Welsh National Opera: Finance
Tuesday 11th July 2023

Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Arts Council England on the potential impact of the reduction in funding on the Welsh National Opera.

Answered by John Whittingdale

It is important that people across the country have access to a diverse range of cultural opportunities. Arts and cultural bodies receive funding through a wide variety of sources, including through Arts Council England, an arm’s-length body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The Welsh National Opera will receive £4 million of public funding through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 Investment Programme, and was also successful in its application to the Arts Council’s ‘Transform Programme’ through which it will receive an additional one-off payment of £3.25 million. This means the Welsh National Opera will receive over £15 million of public funding between 2023 and 2026.

The decisions about which organisations to fund, and by how much, is a decision taken wholly by Arts Council England independently of 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. How the Welsh National Opera chooses to spend its grant funding with respect to staffing, touring, and community work are matters for the organisation itself.

Cultural organisations such as the Welsh National Opera are also benefiting from the two-year extension to the higher rates of theatre, orchestra, museums and galleries exhibition tax reliefs announced at the last Budget. This extension will continue to offset ongoing pressures and boost investment in our cultural sectors. They will incentivise investment in productions in the UK, support them to tour, drive economic growth, and allow the sector to maintain its international competitiveness and reputation.


Written Question
Welsh National Opera: Finance
Tuesday 11th July 2023

Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the reduction in funding from Arts Council England on the Welsh National Opera.

Answered by John Whittingdale

It is important that people across the country have access to a diverse range of cultural opportunities. Arts and cultural bodies receive funding through a wide variety of sources, including through Arts Council England, an arm’s-length body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The Welsh National Opera will receive £4 million of public funding through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 Investment Programme, and was also successful in its application to the Arts Council’s ‘Transform Programme’ through which it will receive an additional one-off payment of £3.25 million. This means the Welsh National Opera will receive over £15 million of public funding between 2023 and 2026.

The decisions about which organisations to fund, and by how much, is a decision taken wholly by Arts Council England independently of 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. How the Welsh National Opera chooses to spend its grant funding with respect to staffing, touring, and community work are matters for the organisation itself.

Cultural organisations such as the Welsh National Opera are also benefiting from the two-year extension to the higher rates of theatre, orchestra, museums and galleries exhibition tax reliefs announced at the last Budget. This extension will continue to offset ongoing pressures and boost investment in our cultural sectors. They will incentivise investment in productions in the UK, support them to tour, drive economic growth, and allow the sector to maintain its international competitiveness and reputation.


Written Question
Welsh National Opera: Finance
Tuesday 11th July 2023

Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the reduction in funding from Arts Council England on the (a) staffing, (b) touring and (c) community work of the Welsh National Opera.

Answered by John Whittingdale

It is important that people across the country have access to a diverse range of cultural opportunities. Arts and cultural bodies receive funding through a wide variety of sources, including through Arts Council England, an arm’s-length body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The Welsh National Opera will receive £4 million of public funding through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 Investment Programme, and was also successful in its application to the Arts Council’s ‘Transform Programme’ through which it will receive an additional one-off payment of £3.25 million. This means the Welsh National Opera will receive over £15 million of public funding between 2023 and 2026.

The decisions about which organisations to fund, and by how much, is a decision taken wholly by Arts Council England independently of 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. How the Welsh National Opera chooses to spend its grant funding with respect to staffing, touring, and community work are matters for the organisation itself.

Cultural organisations such as the Welsh National Opera are also benefiting from the two-year extension to the higher rates of theatre, orchestra, museums and galleries exhibition tax reliefs announced at the last Budget. This extension will continue to offset ongoing pressures and boost investment in our cultural sectors. They will incentivise investment in productions in the UK, support them to tour, drive economic growth, and allow the sector to maintain its international competitiveness and reputation.


Written Question
Welsh National Opera: Finance
Tuesday 11th July 2023

Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the amount of transition funding offered by Arts Council England’s to the Welsh National Opera.

Answered by John Whittingdale

It is important that people across the country have access to a diverse range of cultural opportunities. Arts and cultural bodies receive funding through a wide variety of sources, including through Arts Council England, an arm’s-length body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The Welsh National Opera will receive £4 million of public funding through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 Investment Programme, and was also successful in its application to the Arts Council’s ‘Transform Programme’ through which it will receive an additional one-off payment of £3.25 million. This means the Welsh National Opera will receive over £15 million of public funding between 2023 and 2026.

The decisions about which organisations to fund, and by how much, is a decision taken wholly by Arts Council England independently of 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. How the Welsh National Opera chooses to spend its grant funding with respect to staffing, touring, and community work are matters for the organisation itself.

Cultural organisations such as the Welsh National Opera are also benefiting from the two-year extension to the higher rates of theatre, orchestra, museums and galleries exhibition tax reliefs announced at the last Budget. This extension will continue to offset ongoing pressures and boost investment in our cultural sectors. They will incentivise investment in productions in the UK, support them to tour, drive economic growth, and allow the sector to maintain its international competitiveness and reputation.


Departmental Publication (News and Communications)
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

Mar. 26 2024

Source Page: East Midlands Gateway Phase 2: Section 35 Direction, Planning Act 2008
Document: Request statement on behalf of SEGRO (PDF)

Found: P h a s e 1 i s under construc�on and in opera�on on land to the north of East Midlands Airport


Written Question
English National Opera: Finance
Thursday 20th July 2023

Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department will notify the English National Opera of the outcome of its funding application for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years.

Answered by John Whittingdale

Decisions made by Arts Council England about which institutions to fund, and by how much, are taken at arm's length from HM Government. As such, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has no role in notifying organisations of the outcome of their funding applications.

Arts Council England has awarded £11.46 million of public funding for the English National Opera for the current year (2023–24) and has set a budget of a further £24 million for 2024–26, with a final decision on the latter sum expected over this Summer.


MP Financial Interest
Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Original Source (5th February 2024)
3. Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources
Name of donor: Royal Opera House
Address of donor: Bow St, London WC2E 9DD
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Two tickets including hospitality for La Bohéme, value £344
Date received: 24 January 2024
Date accepted: 24 January 2024
Donor status: company, registration 480523


Deposited Papers

Feb. 01 2008

Source Page: List of grants to Arts Council England regularly funded organisations (RFOs) in 2007/08. 19 p.
Document: DEP2008-0312.xls (Excel)

Found: ArtsL68624.0EngageL153085.0English PENL47509.0English Stage Company (Royal Court Theatre)L2132062.0English Touring Opera


Departmental Publication (News and Communications)
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

Apr. 03 2024

Source Page: 7 Trustees Appointed to the Wallace Collection Board
Document: 7 Trustees Appointed to the Wallace Collection Board (webpage)

Found: for a number of cultural projects in the US including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Winspear Opera


Non-Departmental Publication (News and Communications)
Wallace Collection

Apr. 03 2024

Source Page: 7 Trustees Appointed to the Wallace Collection Board
Document: 7 Trustees Appointed to the Wallace Collection Board (webpage)

Found: for a number of cultural projects in the US including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Winspear Opera