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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the strength of Stoke-on-Trent's bid to be UK City of Culture 2021.

Stoke-on-Trent's bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 was assessed by an independent judging panel, chaired by Phil Redmond, along with the ten other bids to host the title. The bid was assessed as strong and was shortlisted on that basis. The panel reconvened on 6-7 December 2017 for the final stage of the selection process and recommended that Coventry should be awarded the title of UK City of Culture 2021. The unsuccessful bid teams will receive detailed feedback on their bids to help inform and shape their future cultural plans.