Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her Department's policy is on investment in skills in the grassroots performing arts.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This government is making a substantial investment in skills across the economy, with over £1 billion of additional funding by 2028-29, on top of the phase 1 settlement for 2025-26. This protects opportunity, delivers the workforce needed for the Plan for Change, and fuels future growth.
The Creative Industries Sector Plan sets out how we will develop high quality, responsive, inclusive and targeted education, skills and training for the Creative Industries, which will benefit grassroots performing arts. This includes delivering a refreshed UK-wide £9 million creative careers service to raise awareness of creative careers and ensuring that we continue to consider the needs of smaller employers when developing our growth and skills offer. The Plan recognises the UK’s significant strengths in educational infrastructure for performing arts, including our world-leading institutions, and commits to working with DfE, Skills England and industry to support increased access to quality specialist creative education provision across England.
On the 2nd June, the government also announced that £132.5 million of dormant assets funding will be allocated to increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities in the arts, culture, sports and wider youth services, aimed at improving wellbeing and employability.
The Department for Education will launch the National Centre for Arts and Music Education in September 2026 to expand arts access for young people, enhance teacher training, and strengthen school-arts partnerships. In addition, in 2024/25, Arts Council England awarded £14.2 million to 1,220 creative practitioners through its Developing Your Creative Practice programme, and a further £28 million to 1,119 practitioners via National Lottery Project Grants.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
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 (a) music concert event organisers, (b) large venue event organisers, (c) ticketing platforms and (d) others on the amount expected to be raised by the grassroots ticket levy in the second quarter of 2025.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government wants to see the music industry supporting the ticket levy to back the artists, venues, festivals and promoters who make up our grassroots sector. We are working closely with the sector to monitor progress, particularly with LIVE and the Music Venue Trust, who are tracking data on the uptake of the levy. Sector reporting shows 8% of 2025 tickets on sale in the UK now include the grassroots ticket levy, with an encouraging uptake in recent months. Summer ticket sales and the establishment of the LIVE Trust should mean greater uptake by autumn. I am delighted that the Royal Albert Hall has announced that it will now include the levy for all ticketed events and am enthusiastically encouraging all venues, promoters and artists to follow suit. If not, the Government will reconvene the live music sector to consider legislative options.
Since November I have held two roundtables with members of the live music sector to drive progress on the levy uptake. We are urging major promoters to act without delay, and I recently met Live Nation to encourage them to back the scheme in earnest. I would also urge every major artist to encourage their team to sign up as a matter of urgency so that at least a majority of qualifying tickets carry the levy by the end of the year.
Asked by: Adam Thompson (Labour - Erewash)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how her Department monitors progress of the grassroots ticket levy.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government wants to see the music industry supporting the ticket levy to back the artists, venues, festivals and promoters who make up our grassroots sector. We are working closely with the sector to monitor progress, particularly with LIVE and the Music Venue Trust, who are tracking data on the uptake of the levy. Sector reporting shows 8% of 2025 tickets on sale in the UK now include the grassroots ticket levy, with an encouraging uptake in recent months. Summer ticket sales and the establishment of the LIVE Trust should mean greater uptake by autumn. I am delighted that the Royal Albert Hall has announced that it will now include the levy for all ticketed events and am enthusiastically encouraging all venues, promoters and artists to follow suit. If not, the Government will reconvene the live music sector to consider legislative options.
Since November I have held two roundtables with members of the live music sector to drive progress on the levy uptake. We are urging major promoters to act without delay, and I recently met Live Nation to encourage them to back the scheme in earnest. I would also urge every major artist to encourage their team to sign up as a matter of urgency so that at least a majority of qualifying tickets carry the levy by the end of the year.