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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what fiscal steps the Government plans to take to ensure that the creative industries can start growing again as the economy recovers from the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government is committed to working with the creative industries to support their recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Government’s response to Covid-19 has been one of the most generous and comprehensive in the world. This includes the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, both of which have been extended until April 2021.The Chancellor has announced a further £4.6 billion in new lockdown grants to support businesses and protect jobs through the current national lockdown.

In addition to an extensive package of economy-wide support, last year the Government announced the unprecedented £1.57 billion support package for the culture sector and, as of 11 December 2020, over £1 billion has been allocated across all four nations of the UK. This funding is supporting the arts and culture sector to survive the pandemic.

In July 2020, the Government announced a UK-wide £500 million Restart scheme to support film and TV production companies that have been unable to film due to the lack of insurance covering Covid-related risks. As of 20 January, the scheme is supporting over 16,000 jobs and over £470 million of production spend across the UK.