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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to agree an emergency compensation package with the creative sector.

The Government recognises the significant challenges that the pandemic has created for our creative industries and our support to the sector has been unwavering throughout.

We know the move to Step 4 will come as welcome news to our creative sectors but we also recognise that many organisations are still in need of emergency support. This is why we recently announced the final £300 million of the Government’s £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) in late June. In particular, portals are currently open for the Emergency Resource Support element of this round, which will provide further support for organisations in need of urgent funding as the cultural, heritage and creative sectors move towards reopening at full capacity.

This extra support is on top of the £1.2 billion that has already been awarded to over 5,000 individual organisations and sites in previous rounds of the CRF. Throughout the pandemic, we have introduced an unprecedented package of pan-economy support including generous employment schemes, grants, loans, a reduction in VAT and business rate relief, in addition to other sector specific support such as the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme. Our Plan For Jobs has also supported jobs and businesses with over £400 billion of economic support – one of the most generous and comprehensive packages in the world.