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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effect of the cost of living crisis on the live events and hospitality sectors.

Increasing costs of energy bills are undoubtedly impacting on many sectors, including live events and hospitality. These sectors are facing significant pressures, which is why the government has taken immediate action to support them over winter with the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.

This scheme, delivered by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy, will support businesses and other non-domestic customers with increased energy prices by providing a discount on gas and electricity unit prices. Discounts will be applied to energy usage initially between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023.

My Department will continue to engage constructively with DCMS sectors, from music venues to business event organisers to monitor the impact of rising costs, and will continue to work across government to support BEIS’ three-month review of the scheme, aimed at determining what further support is required.