Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she plans to take to support orchestras.
Answered by John Whittingdale
HM Government is proud to champion our world-class orchestras and musicians, and help them to thrive. Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 Investment Programme, more money is going to more orchestral organisations in more parts of the country than ever before.
The Arts Council’s new national portfolio is supporting 139 organisations classed as ‘music’ by investing c.£65 million of public funding. The Arts Council’s investment in classical music remains high, in particular in orchestral music organisations, with 23 such organisations being funded – an increase from 19 in the last round; and at around £21 million per annum, which is around £2 million more than previously. Moreover, these numbers are likely to underestimate the level of music activity being funded as some organisations will fall into combined arts or non-discipline-specific categories. The Arts Council’s investment in orchestras, opera, and other classical organisations through the new portfolio constitutes nearly 80% of all its investment in music.
Organisations such as the Multi-Story Orchestra, Orchestras for All, ParaOrchestra, The People’s Orchestra, and Pegasus Opera are joining the National Portfolio for the first time – bringing down barriers to classical music, celebrating the power it can have in people’s lives, and inspiring the next generation of performers – while long-established organisations such as the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, and the Hallé Orchestra continue to receive funding.
Furthermore, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced at Spring Budget 2023 that the Government will extend the current headline rates of relief for the Theatre and Orchestra Tax Relief for two years. The rates for Orchestra Tax Relief will remain at 50% for expenditure taking place from 1 April 2023, reducing to 35% from 1 April 2025 and returning to 25% from 1 April 2026.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the English National Opera on the funding decisions made by Arts Council England.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State and Ministers regularly meet stakeholders from across the sector and across the country to discuss a range of topics. This includes the English National Opera.
The decisions made by Arts Council England about which institutions to fund, and by how much, in its 2023–26 Investment Programme were taken at arm's length from HM Government. This is in accordance with the well established process, which is published on the Arts Council’s website and made clear in the guidance for applicants. As such, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) does not, nor should it, review individual decisions.
We are pleased that both Arts Council England and the English National Opera are working together on possibilities for the future. Arts Council England has set a provisional budget of up to £24 million to support the English National Opera, subject to successful application, for 2024–26. This is in addition to the £11.46 million of funding already awarded to the ENO for the period April 2023 to March 2024 while it develops its future plans. Further detail was published in the joint statement on 12 April 2023 and can be accessed online. DCMS officials are helping to convene relevant parties and support finding a way forward.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with Arts Council England on the potential impact of reductions in funding for English National Opera.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Secretary of State and Ministers regularly meet Arts Council England, as an arm’s length body of the Department, to discuss a number of topics.
The decisions made by Arts Council England about which institutions to fund, and by how much, in its 2023–26 Investment Programme were taken at arm's length from HM Government. This is in accordance with the well established process, which is published on the Arts Council’s website and made clear in the guidance for applicants. As such, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) does not, nor should it, review individual decisions.
We are pleased that both Arts Council England and the English National Opera are working together on possibilities for the future of the organisation. Arts Council England has set a provisional budget of up to £24 million to support the English National Opera, subject to successful application, for 2024–26. This is in addition to the £11.46 million of funding already awarded to the ENO for the period April 2023 to March 2024 while it develops its future plans. Further detail was published in the joint statement on 12 April 2023 and can be accessed online. DCMS officials are helping to convene relevant parties and support finding a way forward.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to ensure no jobs are lost at the English National Opera following changes to the funding it receives from Arts Council England.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Arts Council England (ACE) has set a provisional budget of up to £24 million investment to support the English National Opera (ENO), subject to successful application, for 2024-2026. This is in addition to the £11.46 million of funding already awarded to the ENO for April 2023 to March 2024 while it develops its future plans.
ENO received £12.3 million per year in the 2018-22 National Portfolio Investment Programme. Even though it will not be part of the new 2023-26 Investment Programme, ACE has set a provisional budget of up to £12 million per year for 2024/25 and 2025/26 to support the ENO make a phased transition to a new artistic and business model.
The Department is pleased that the Arts Council England and English National Opera are working together on possibilities for the future of the organisation.
Asked by: Baroness Bull (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Penn on 9 March (HL Deb col 886), whether they will include 50 per cent of marketing spend in the qualifying expenditure for Theatre Tax Relief to match the level of the equivalent scheme in the United States of America.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Whilst the Government keeps all tax reliefs under review, the Government is not planning to expand the scope of Theatre Tax Relief (TTR) to include 50 per cent of marketing spend. The objective of theatre tax relief is to support and incentivise production and that is why eligible expenditure is focussed on the costs that are incurred producing and closing the theatrical production, rather than marketing.
The Government assesses that the equivalent scheme in New York is less generous overall than the UK relief: the amount of relief a production can receive is capped at $3 million and there are additional eligibility criteria and a more limited scope (for example, ballet and opera will not qualify). Whilst the UK scheme excludes marketing, it is uncapped and more generous in scope.
At Spring Budget 2023, the Government went further to support theatres by extending the 45 per cent (for non-touring productions) and 50 per cent (for touring productions) rates of TTR for a further 2 years. The rates will taper to 30 per cent /35 per cent on 1 April 2025 and return to 20 per cent /25 per cent on 1 April 2026.
The extension will continue to offset ongoing pressures and boost investment in our cultural sectors.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay on 1 December (HL3495 and HL3496), what is Art Council England's national opera strategy; and whether they will put on hold their plans to withdraw all national programme funding from English National Opera until one has been published.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Arts Council England made its decisions regarding its 2023–26 Investment Programme in line with its published guidance and its ten year strategy, ‘Let’s Create’, which covers all art forms, and which can be found on its website at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/lets-create.
Assessments were carried out by Arts Council England staff, based on balancing criteria published in its funding guidance, and were made by its Area and National Councils, which include both local representatives and people who work in the sector.
More opera organisations will be funded in the new Investment Programme portfolio than in the preceding one, and opera accounts for 40 per cent of funding for music in the new portfolio. His Majesty’s Government will continue to work with Arts Council England to understand the impacts of its investment in arts and culture, including on opera.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much public funding the English National Opera received in each of the last 15 years; and what discussions his Department had with Arts Council England on funding that organisation (a) over the next three years and (b) in the long term; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Records of the level of public funding for English National Opera are available in its annual accounts, which are published online on the Companies House website.
Following Arts Council England’s decisions relating to English National Opera and its 2023–26 Investment Portfolio, which are taken at arm’s length from the Government, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is helping to convene relevant parties and support them to find a way forward. I am keen that Arts Council England and English National Opera work together on the future of the organisation.
All decisions on which organisations to fund through the 2023–26 Investment Programme, and by how much, have been taken by Arts Council England in line with the long-standing principle that Arts Council England makes such decisions at arm’s length from the Government. The Chief Executive of Arts Council England, Darren Henley, answered questions from the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on these issues on 8 December 2022.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Art Council England National Portfolio Organisation funding between 2023 to 2026 on the English National Opera Breathe programme.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Decisions regarding what programmes an organisation delivers are made independently of the Government. As part of its decisions relating to its 2023–26 Investment Programme, Arts Council England – which operates at arm’s length from the Government – has proposed a package of support for English National Opera. The Department is keen that Arts Council England and English National Opera work together on possibilities for the future of the organisation.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Arts Council England’s decision to reduce funding for the English National Opera on (a) permanent and (b) freelance employment in that sector.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I refer the Hon Member for Worsley and Eccles South to my previous answers on these matters, UIN 97389, tabled on 28 November 2022 by the Rt Hon Member for Camberwell and Peckham.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reviewing opera (a) funding and (b) geographical provision in England.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I refer the Hon Member for Worsley and Eccles South to my previous answers on these matters, UIN 97389, tabled on 28 November 2022 by the Rt Hon Member for Camberwell and Peckham.