Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support disabled access to venues.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is committed to improving the accessibility of cultural and heritage venues across the UK for everyone.
In June 2021, the Government Disability Unit launched an enhanced programme of Disability and Access Ambassadors. As part of this, David Stanley BEM was appointed as the Arts and Culture Disability and Access Ambassador. The Department is working closely with him to improve accessibility to the sector and its venues for people with disabilities.
DCMS investment is enabling important accessibility upgrades in cultural venues across the country, including via infrastructure grants to DCMS-sponsored cultural bodies. The joint DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund also has improvements to access and/or interpretation for visitors with disabilities as a core criterion, with recent awards including new accessible doors, lifts, ramps, and signage at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, amongst other projects.
Arts Councils across the UK are also working together with the British Film Institute to launch a free, UK-wide arts access scheme, called ‘All-In’. The pilot of this scheme is set to launch in Spring 2024. This scheme will operate across the UK in arts and cultural venues, for seamless, barrier-free booking which is responsive to individual circumstances and needs.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 funding provided by Arts Council England for cultural activities in Lincolnshire.
Answered by John Whittingdale
His Majesty’s Government is deeply committed to supporting access to high-quality arts and culture across the country, including through public funding to organisations in Lincolnshire via Arts Council England.
Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 National Portfolio, public funding is being provided to 11 organisations in Lincolnshire (an increase from 6 in the previous, 2018–22 portfolio) encompassing theatre, dance, museums, visual arts, and literature and libraries. The total investment in Lincolnshire through the national portfolio is £2.4 million per year – an increase of over £1 million per year from the last portfolio.
Funding offered or administered by the Arts Council in the previous financial year and the current financial year to date totals £14.2 million. This includes £5 million through the third round of the Government’s Cultural Development Fund, administered by Arts Council England, for East Lindsey District Council to support partners in transforming the Embassy Theatre and regenerating Skegness Pier and the surrounding public space. Arts and cultural organisations in Lincolnshire also benefited from over £15 million through the Culture Recovery Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are three Arts Council England ‘Priority Places’ in Lincolnshire: Boston, East Lindsey, and North East Lincolnshire. There are six DCMS ‘Levelling Up for Culture Places’ in Lincolnshire: Boston, East Lindsey, South Holland, North Kesteven, North Lincolnshire, and North East Lincolnshire. Levelling Up for Culture Places were agreed between DCMS and Arts Council England, and will be the focus for additional Arts Council England engagement and investment to strengthen cultural and creative opportunities in the areas and for the people who live there.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
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 funding provided by Arts Council England for cultural activities in the North West.
Answered by John Whittingdale
His Majesty’s Government is deeply committed to supporting access to high-quality arts and culture across the country, including through public funding to organisations in the North West of England via Arts Council England.
Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 National Portfolio, public funding is being provided to 120 organisations (up from 97 in the 2018–22 portfolio) in the North West across theatre, dance, museums, visual arts, literature and libraries.The total investment in the North West through the national portfolio is currently £49.7 million per year – an increase of more than £7.5 million per year compared to the last portfolio.
Between 2020/21 and 2023/24, Arts Council England will have invested over £428 million in arts and cultural organisations in the North West of England. This includes £13,651,486 of public funding through the Government’s Cultural Development Fund, Libraries Improvement Fund and Museum Estate and Development Fund, administered by Arts Council England. Arts and cultural organisations in the North West of England also benefited from over £120 million through the Culture Recovery Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
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 funding provided by Arts Council England for cultural activities in the South East.
Answered by John Whittingdale
His Majesty’s Government is deeply committed to supporting access to high-quality arts and culture across the country, including through public funding to organisations in the South East of England via Arts Council England.
Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 National Portfolio, public funding is being provided to 139 organisations (an increase from 105 in the 2018–22 portfolio) in the South East of England across theatre, dance, museums, visual arts, literature and libraries. The total investment in the South East through the national portfolio is £45.6 million per year – an increase of over £5 million per year from the last portfolio.
Between 2020/21 and 2023/24, Arts Council England will have invested over £360 million of public money in arts and cultural organisations in the South East of England. This includes £12,439,377 through the Government’s Cultural Development Fund, Libraries Improvement Fund, and Museum Estate and Development Fund, administered by Arts Council England. Arts and cultural organisations in the South East also benefited from over £106 million through the Culture Recovery Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings on changes to Orchestra Tax Relief she has had with representatives of the orchestra sector since 18 July 2023.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The extension to the higher rates of cultural tax reliefs announced at Spring Budget 2023 are collectively estimated to be worth £350 million to theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries over the five-year forecast period.
On 18 July 2023, HM Government published draft legislation for several administrative changes to creative industry tax reliefs, including orchestra tax relief, for the purpose of consultation. Since then, senior officials at the Department for Culture, Media & Sport have engaged with the Association of British Orchestras (ABO) and others to seek their feedback on draft changes to legislation on cultural tax reliefs proposed by HM Treasury. Officials from HM Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs have also met the ABO as the responsible Departments for this policy and its delivery. Details of Ministerial meetings can be found on the Gov.uk website here.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, for each year since 2013, what number of people were working in each of the nine sub-sectors of the creative industries, and what contribution each sub-sector has made to the economy.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK’s creative industries are worth more than the life sciences, automotive manufacturing, aerospace, and oil and gas sectors put together, generating £126 billion annually and employing over 2.4 million people across the country.
As set out in the Government’s Creative Industries Sector Vision, our ambition is to grow this sector by a further £50 billion gross value added and to support one million more jobs by 2030, delivering a creative careers promise which builds a pipeline of talent.
Each sub-sector of the creative industries makes a distinct contribution to the UK economy. The information requested is shown in the following tables:
Number of people working in each creative industries sub-sector (000s):
| Advertising and marketing | Architecture | Crafts | Design and designer fashion | Film, TV, radio and photography | IT, software and computer services | Publishing | Museums, Galleries and Libraries | Music, performing and visual arts |
2013 | 155 | 94 | 8 | 124 | 232 | 574 | 198 | 85 | 244 |
2014 | 167 | 101 | 8 | 136 | 228 | 607 | 193 | 84 | 284 |
2015 | 182 | 90 | 7 | 132 | 231 | 640 | 200 | 97 | 286 |
2016 | 198 | 98 | 7 | 160 | 246 | 674 | 193 | 92 | 291 |
2017 | 190 | 104 | 10 | 160 | 261 | 712 | 192 | 96 | 283 |
2018 | 195 | 111 | 9 | 163 | 245 | 733 | 199 | 89 | 296 |
2019 | 190 | 112 | 9 | 171 | 239 | 775 | 196 | 95 | 315 |
2020 | 201 | 115 | 8 | 151 | 279 | 872 | 197 | 104 | 294 |
2021 | 226 | 106 | 7 | 160 | 290 | 963 | 199 | 94 | 294 |
2022 | 241 | 110 | 5 | 139 | 280 | 1,035 | 209 | 96 | 283 |
Contribution to economy of each creative industries sub-sector, as measured by gross value added (GVA) (£ billions):
| Advertising and marketing | Architecture | Crafts | Design and designer fashion | Film, TV, radio and photography | IT, software and computer services | Publishing | Museums, Galleries and Libraries | Music, performing and visual arts |
2013 | 13.2 | 2.6 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 18.2 | 29.9 | 11.4 | 1 | 9.7 |
2014 | 13.3 | 3 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 18.1 | 32.6 | 11.4 | 0.8 | 8.6 |
2015 | 17 | 3.4 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 19.4 | 33.5 | 11.1 | 0.9 | 9.6 |
2016 | 15.7 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 3 | 20 | 37.6 | 11.4 | 0.9 | 9.3 |
2017 | 16.8 | 3.7 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 19.7 | 38.2 | 10.6 | 1 | 9.6 |
2018 | 16.4 | 3.5 | 0.3 | 3.3 | 19.2 | 40 | 10.4 | 0.9 | 10.2 |
2019 | 15.8 | 3.4 | 0.4 | 3 | 20.2 | 41.3 | 10.7 | 1 | 10.1 |
2020 | 15.9 | 3.2 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 17.8 | 42.9 | 10.1 | 0.6 | 7.4 |
2021* | 18.2 | 3.5 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 19.9 | 48.8 | 11.3 | 1 | 8.9 |
2022* | 18.8 | 3.7 | 0.4 | 3.2 | 20.8 | 55.4 | 11.6 | 1 | 11.2 |
*Figures for 2021 and 2022 are summed monthly GVA estimates as annual GVA estimates are not yet available. These figures are subject to revision and not directly comparable to the annual GVA estimates for 2013-2020 due to being calculated via a different method.
Source: Economic Estimates: GVA for DCMS Sectors and the Digital Sector, 2020 - GOV.UK (Annual GVA 2013-2020); DCMS and Digital Economic Estimates: Monthly GVA (to Sept 2023) - GOV.UK (Summed monthly GVA 2021-2022)
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding is available for arts and culture in rural areas.
Answered by John Whittingdale
As set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, HM Government is committed to ensuring that funding for arts and culture is more fairly distributed across the country. Arts Council England’s 2023–26 investment programme (the ‘National Portfolio’), worth over £444 million per year, has seen investment to cultural organisations in rural areas increase to £44.6 million, benefiting 110 organisations across the country.
In local authority areas identified as predominantly rural, there has been a 22% increase in investment in National Portfolio Organisations and Investment Principles Support Organisations. Urban areas with significant rural portions have seen an increase of 37%.
Cultural opportunities are also provided in rural areas by organisations based in neighbouring urban areas – for instance, through touring. Public library services in the Arts Council’s National Portfolio with a base in urban areas are also important to cultural opportunities in rural locations. The National Rural Touring Forum has also had its funding increased to help build capacity in this important part of the sector.
Arts Council England has also supported approximately 30 Cultural Compacts across England – including in rural and Levelling Up priority areas – and has provided these existing Compacts with further funding to build capacity and long-term cross-sector relationships. (Cultural Compacts are partnerships between the cultural and heritage sectors, Local Authorities, and wider local partners such as universities, health agencies, and the private sector, with the aim of enhancing creatives’ contribution to local development.)
Additionally, arts and cultural organisations in rural areas are able to access Arts Council England’s project grants, an open access programme for arts, libraries and museums projects. This supports thousands of individual artists and community and cultural organisations, with over £105 million of funding awarded in 2022/23.
Meanwhile, DCMS’s £86 million Museum Estate and Development Fund has supported several museums in rural areas, including The Food Museum in Stowmarket which presents the agricultural history of East Anglia, the industrial museums Papplewick Pumping Station and Coldharbour Mill, Shandy Hall, the rural home of the writer Laurence Sterne, and Ruddington Framework Knitters Museum.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she is steps taking to ensure the adequacy of funding for cultural activities in Nottingham.
Answered by John Whittingdale
His Majesty’s Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to high-quality arts and cultural opportunities and activities, no matter where they live. We have supported culture in Nottingham in a variety of ways.
Between 2020/21 and 2023/24, Arts Council England will have invested over £30 million in arts and cultural organisations in Nottingham. As part of its 2023–26 National Portfolio, public funding is being provided to 14 organisations in Nottingham encompassing theatre, dance, museums, visual arts, literature and libraries. This funding includes over £1.2 million per year to New Art Exchange, the highly successful visual arts centre.
As part of the above funding, Nottingham City Council’s museum service was reconfirmed as a National Portfolio Organisation in the latest round of funding, meaning it will receive £1.4 million over the next three years. A number of the local projects which it directly funds are aimed at encouraging more people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and diverse backgrounds to engage with the city’s heritage. The independent National Justice Museum is also part of the Arts Council’s National Portfolio and will receive £733,000 of support over the period 2023–26.
Another of the City Council Museums, Wollaton Hall, has this year received £470,000 from the Government’s Museum Estate and Development Fund for assistance with maintenance, whilst Nottingham libraries have received funding through both rounds 1 and 2 of the Government’s Libraries Improvement Fund.
Nottingham Castle Museum’s recent transformation was funded in part by a £13.9 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants programme also remains open for funding bids from anyone operating arts and cultural organisations in England.
The recent announcement of the third round of the Government’s Levelling Up Fund included support for Bulwell, which will be receiving almost £20 million of public investment for Bulwell town centre – including a new marketplace, and aiming to improve the look and feel of hidden heritage by reinstating original features.
Organisations in Nottingham also benefited from the Culture Recovery Fund to protect them during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 39 organisations sharing over £10.5 million of funding.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times and on what dates she has attended meetings of the Expert Advisory Panel on Cultural Education.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Cultural Education Plan will ensure that all young people, regardless of their background, can access high-quality cultural education. Among other things, this is an important step in delivering our Creative Careers Promise, set out in the Creative Industries Sector Vision, which aims to build a pipeline of talent into our creative industries, from primary school onwards.
Development of the plan is being led by a panel of 22 experts, including teachers and education leaders, and representatives from the performing arts, libraries, museums, heritage and youth sectors, and the creative industries. While development of the Cultural Education Plan is being driven by the Expert Advisory Panel, the Minister for Arts & Heritage (Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay) and the former Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb MP) have attended panel meetings on multiple occasions.
Furthermore, the panel is being informed by a series of 50 listening exercises with representatives from across the creative, cultural, education and youth sectors. Lord Parkinson joined one of these listening exercises held at the Royal Opera House with teachers and educationalists from across the country.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the cultural tax reliefs beyond 31 March 2025.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises the value of the UK’s world-leading creative industries and arts sectors.
The ‘cultural tax reliefs’ consist of theatre tax relief (TTR), orchestra tax relief (OTR) and museums and galleries exhibitions tax relief (MGETR).
There is no end date for the TTR or OTR.
MGETR will end on 1 April 2026. The sunset clause for MGETR was extended to this date at Spring Budget 2023, to enable museums and galleries to benefit from the extension of the 40% (for non-touring productions) and 45% (for touring productions) rates of the cultural reliefs. However, the Government keeps all tax reliefs under review.