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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he is taking steps to ensure that local authorities support local theatres during the next phases of the covid-19 outbreak.

This Government recognises how severely regional theatres, and the wider Arts sector, have been hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

Local authority owned theatres, who have exhausted other avenues for funding, were entitled to apply for support through the government’s major £1.57 billion support package for cultural organisations. This funding is designed to support organisations through the coronavirus pandemic until spring 2021.

In addition, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government is providing local authorities with an unprecedented package of support, including £3.7bn of non-ring fenced grants. This direct financial support provided by the government is just part of a comprehensive package of support which includes cash flow measures as well as grants and business rates reliefs for businesses.

The Government continues to monitor the impact of these and other measures, and both my department and Arts Council England, the sector’s development body, are in regular contact with local authorities to engage them on such issues.