Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 17
Third Report - Impact of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors: First Report
Published 23 Jul 2020
Paragraph 76
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Impact of Covid-19 on DCMS sectors All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Since lockdown began, we and many others in the cultural sector have been warning DCMS about the challenges of resuming live performance. The £1.57 billion of support from Government will only tide the cultural sector over for so long and will not be sufficient to compensate for a loss of the Christmas season. The Cultural Renewal Taskforce has been slow to demonstrate meaningful progress. The fact it was only established two months after lockdown means valuable planning time for the return of live performance has been lost. Moreover, telling venues they can reopen with just a few days’ or weeks’ notice does not address the lead times for performance, the challenges of social distancing or the concerns about audience behaviours. To provide more certainty and allow for forward planning the Government should, no later than 1 August, publish ‘no earlier than’ dates for stage 5 of its plan to reopen performing arts venues.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Third Report - Impact of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors: First Report (HC 291), paragraph 76, 23 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 October 2020 (deadline 23 September 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out support already provided across DCMS sectors, agrees with the recommendation for a national domestic tourism campaign, and on several other recommendations says it is considering options, working with the sector, or would need further evidence.
- On tax reliefs for theatre and music, the government says it "keeps all tax reliefs under review" and that HM Treasury "would need to assess" any new relief for effectiveness, cost to the Exchequer, wider economic impacts and ability to stand up to abuse.
- On extending the furlough scheme for the creative industries, it states that "there will be no further extensions or changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme", which closes at the end of October, and points to a new Job Support Scheme from 1 November.
- On museum insolvency, the government says it is "looking at legislative, and non-legislative, options" to prevent the dispersal of collections.
- On a 'Creators Council', it says it "would need a clear steer from the sector" and "robust evidence" of a gap in what the existing Creative Industries Council delivers, if the sector wishes it to consider the proposal.