Recommendation 20

We asked the Department what the obstacles were to setting up a Government-backed insurance scheme for live events, given that many festivals, in particular outdoor ones, were struggling because they were unable to get insurance this year and would have to make decisions about whether to go ahead.55 The Department could not update us about any change in policy, but said it was conscious of the issues and had been listening to the sector on an ongoing basis and that it was for ministers in discussion with HM Treasury to decide how to prioritise public funding to support the sector. The Department told us it had not modelled the cost of underwriting of festival indemnity insurance.56 50 Q 1 51 Qq 9, 65 52 Qq 9, 18, 47; A V Matrix submission, pages 1–4; 53 Q 18 54 Q 73 55 Qq 3–5, 7–9 56 Q3–5 14 COVID 19: Culture Recovery Fund 2 Proving value for money and maximising impact Achieving objectives and securing value for money