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

To ask Her Majesty's Government why there are no representatives of the music industry on the Cultural Renewal Taskforce.

The Cultural Renewal Taskforce has been established to support the renewal of DCMS sectors and to help the development of new COVID-19 secure guidelines for the reopening of places and businesses in these sectors, where and when it is safe to do so. The Taskforce is made up of individuals and organisations from across DCMS sectors, representing a broad range of views and backgrounds. The organisations vary not only by size and scale, but are also representative of organisations with sector interests across the country.

To support the Cultural Renewal Taskforce and the development of guidelines, DCMS has also set up eight sectoral Working Groups, which are ministerially led. Each Working Group has broad membership covering a range of relevant organisations and representative bodies for sectors.

The Entertainment and Events Working Group has numerous members from the music industry, including Association of British Orchestras, Association of Independent Festivals, Music Venue Trust and The Musicians Union. In addition, the membership of the Broadcasting, Film and Production working group also includes representation for the music industry from the Association of Independent Music, British Phonographic Industry, Music Producers Guild, and The Musicians Union.

As well as establishing these Working Groups, we continue to work with the music industry to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.