Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
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 to help ensure that theatres (a) outside London and (b) in Bolton North East constituency receive equitable funding from Arts Council England.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
His Majesty’s Government is deeply committed to supporting theatres across the whole country, including through public funding to organisations made via Arts Council England.
The arts are for everyone, and the Government has made it a priority to ensure that funding for the arts is fairly distributed across the country. Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 National Portfolio, increased funding of £444.6 million per annum will fund a record 985 organisations in more parts of the country than ever before. This is an increase from £410 million per annum and 828 organisations under the previous portfolio. Of the 275 new organisations joining the funding portfolio, 214 are outside London.
Overall investment in theatre has also increased through this round of the Arts Council’s investment programme – both in terms of the number of organisations supported, and the volume of funding, which is now more than £110 million per annum, encompassing 194 organisations. The Octagon Theatre in Bolton receives annual funding of £625,359. In the last three years, theatres and theatre-focused projects in the Bolton North East constituency have received over £2.5 million of funding via Arts Council England.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent protestors from disrupting sporting events.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We must protect the right to peaceful protest, but that does not give licence to a vocal minority to spoil events that millions of us enjoy.
The Home Secretary and the Culture Secretary have chaired productive discussions, with sports, police and government united against preventing further disruption of this kind. The Government has taken action to support the police in their efforts to prevent disruption at major sporting events, including giving them more powers through the Public Order Act 2023. This criminalised actions like ‘locking on’, allowing police to stop and search protesters for items like padlocks and superglue if they suspect they are setting out to cause disruption. We will continue to support sports organisations in their planning as necessary.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if the Government will take steps to ensure Channel 4’s current regional distribution of offices and headcount across Greater Manchester is maintained and that a potential expansion to Bolton is supported, in the event that Channel 4 is privatised.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Channel 4’s strengths in the regions and nations are to be celebrated and maintained into its future, and that is not at odds with private investment - Channel 4’s access to networks out of London is likely to be an attractive asset to nurture and develop for any potential buyer.
We have consulted on the best ownership model to support Channel 4 for years to come. Our public consultation ran for 10 weeks before closing on 14 September. We are carefully considering the views and evidence we have received to inform the government’s policy-making and final decision.