Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to require large music venues and arenas to commit to a ticket levy to help fund grassroots music venues.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which play an absolutely crucial role in our world-leading music sector and developing homegrown talent.
That is why we are supporting live music through a range of measures. This includes an additional £5 million to Arts Council England’s (ACE’s) successful Supporting Grassroots Music fund, as set out in the Creative Industries Sector Vision in June. This expands and extends ACE’s existing grassroots fund, and takes our total investment in grassroots music through the fund to almost £15 million since 2019. This fund will enable venues to increase support for young and emerging artists, improve equipment and physical infrastructure, and support venues to become more financially resilient and develop new income streams.
This is in addition to other Government support including the Culture Recovery Fund, which provided over £200m of support for live music venues, the £800m Live Events Reinsurance Scheme, alongside the cross-sector grants, loans, and reduction of VAT on tickets to 5%. Further, over £3 million was provided during the pandemic from the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund.
Music venues are also eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief, with a 75% relief up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business. This relief was extended for a further year during the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. DCMS and DLUHC are also working closely with the sector to revise planning guidelines to ensure that new developments engage with existing music venues before being built.
Industry-led discussions are ongoing regarding increased support for grassroots music venues from larger events and venues, and DCMS actively supports these sector-led initiatives. Whilst we have no current plans to mandate a ticket levy, Ministers and officials continue to engage with industry to understand the challenges and review opportunities to strengthen the financial resilience of the grassroots music sector.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of an emergency fund for grassroots music venues to prevent closures.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which play an absolutely crucial role in our world-leading music sector and developing homegrown talent.
That is why we are supporting live music through a range of measures. This includes an additional £5 million to Arts Council England’s (ACE’s) successful Supporting Grassroots Music fund, as set out in the Creative Industries Sector Vision in June. This expands and extends ACE’s existing grassroots fund, and takes our total investment in grassroots music through the fund to almost £15 million since 2019. This fund will enable venues to increase support for young and emerging artists, improve equipment and physical infrastructure, and support venues to become more financially resilient and develop new income streams.
This is in addition to other Government support including the Culture Recovery Fund, which provided over £200m of support for live music venues, the £800m Live Events Reinsurance Scheme, alongside the cross-sector grants, loans, and reduction of VAT on tickets to 5%. Further, over £3 million was provided during the pandemic from the Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund.
Music venues are also eligible for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief, with a 75% relief up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business. This relief was extended for a further year during the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. DCMS and DLUHC are also working closely with the sector to revise planning guidelines to ensure that new developments engage with existing music venues before being built.
Industry-led discussions are ongoing regarding increased support for grassroots music venues from larger events and venues, and DCMS actively supports these sector-led initiatives. Whilst we have no current plans to mandate a ticket levy, Ministers and officials continue to engage with industry to understand the challenges and review opportunities to strengthen the financial resilience of the grassroots music sector.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with representatives of large (a) arenas, (b) stadiums and (c) festivals on providing financial support to grassroots music venues.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which are the lifeblood and research and development centres of our world-leading music sector.
DCMS is in regular discussions with all parts of the music industry, including live venues at every level. We work with industry and across Government to improve the sector's economic resilience to future economic shocks, as we did through the pandemic, and we continue to engage with the sector on the impact of current pressures. We are also supporting the sector through the Energy Bills Support Scheme and will continue to do so through the Energy Bills Discount Scheme until Spring 2024.
We will shortly be publishing a Creative Industries Sector Vision that will set out this Government’s ambitions, shared with industry, to support all parts of the creative sector to 2030. We look forward to working with the music industry to deliver on these objectives.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of preventing TV Licensing from prosecuting people who are unable to pay their TV licences during the period of increased cost of living.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee, not the government. The Government is therefore not involved in TV Licensing operations. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is responsible for collecting and enforcing financial penalties imposed by the courts which includes fines imposed for the non-payment of a TV licence.
In 2021, 49,126 people were proceeded against by HM Courts & Tribunals Service for non-payment of the licence fee, and 44,364 were fined. The BBC has recently confirmed that no enforcement or prosecution action has been taken against over-75s who previously held a free licence and therefore no over-75s have been fined. The Department does not hold data on the amount collected from TV licensing fines and will engage with relevant departments to follow up with this information.
The Government is independent from the BBC, and any decision to suspend enforcement action by TV Licensing, or assessment of the impact of this decision, would be a matter for the BBC. Given the BBC’s independence it would not be appropriate for the government to seek to intervene in operational decisions on enforcement action. Nonetheless, the government expects the BBC to collect the licence fee in an efficient and proportionate manner, and to treat all vulnerable people with sensitivity in doing so.