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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the time taken for construction at cultural venues on access to the arts in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.

The government has not made a specific assessment of how the time taken for construction at cultural venues would impact access to the arts in either Surrey or the Surrey Heath constituency.

As part of the introduction of the new Creative Foundations Fund, which is addressing urgent capital needs in the arts and cultural sector, the government did however consider the temporary loss of access caused by possible necessary closures while works are completed. The conclusion was that the long-term benefits outweighed the short-term impact, and that the renewal of assets will help retain and attract audiences.