To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support the Government plans to provide to the events sector during autumn and winter 2020.
Answered on
21 September 2020
DCMS appreciates the important role that the events sector plays in the UK’s economy, and that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to many businesses operating in these sectors.
The Secretary of State provided a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of cultural and creative sectors. This support package will benefit cultural sector services by providing support to cultural venues and many other organisations in the Creative Industries that host live events, to stay open and continue operating.
From 15th August, and as part of the Government’s 5 stage roadmap to get performing arts and live entertainment sectors back up and running as soon as possible, organisations can now put on live indoor performances in front of a socially-distanced audience. This is in addition to the earlier announcement that from 11 July we can all enjoy performances outdoors with social distancing.
We are committed to continuing to work with the events sector to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery. We recognise that the events industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by Covid-19.
We are continuing to meet with stakeholders, including through the Events & Entertainment and Visitor Economy working groups and the Events Industry Senior Leaders Advisory Panel, to discuss the specific issues facing the sector.