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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of (a) music festivals have accessed and (b) the number of roles in music festivals have been supported by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to date.

The Government has worked closely with music and cultural sector representative bodies to maximise the survival of businesses and employee retention in the sector, through the extensive range of support the Government has provided to businesses and the self-employed.

The Government has not made an assessment of the extent to which music festivals have accessed the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

As at 30 September, the sector with the highest proportion of its workforce eligible and receiving the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme support was arts, entertainment and recreation at 23%. In all, 45% of employers in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector were using the furlough scheme at the end of September.