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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on adequacy of funding for live music venues in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK.

No such discussions have taken place. The live music industry is a vital part of the UK’s music ecosystem, contributing £1bn to the economy in 2016. We have undertaken a number of measures to support live music, most recently announcing that the Agent of Change principle will be included in the National Planning Policy Framework, helping to protect music venues when new housing is built.