UK Inquiry Tracker

COVID-19: Culture Recovery Fund

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 23 Mar 2021 Closed: 16 Nov 2021 Parliament page

The covid-19 pandemic meant that museums, galleries, cinemas, music venues, nightclubs, theatres, arts centres, archives and heritage sites were required by law to close their doors on 23 March 2020, with many remaining closed for most of the following year and not all due to fully reopen until summer 2021. … Read more The covid-19 pandemic meant that museums, galleries, cinemas, music venues, nightclubs, theatres, arts centres, archives and heritage sites were required by law to close their doors on 23 March 2020, with many remaining closed for most of the following year and not all due to fully reopen until summer 2021. Without targeted support, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) expected large-scale financial failures for the UK’s cultural, arts and heritage institutions, and announced its £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund in July 2020 to help these institutions survive the pandemic and to support their long-term sustainability. Of the £830 million grants and loans funding awarded to the sector so far, £495 million has been actually paid out. The Department aimed to support the survival of 75% of the organisations in the sector at risk during 2020-21. To determine how much money would be available, the Department considered various scenarios. Its worst-case scenario assumed that social distancing would remain until the end of March 2021 and that demand would remain at 40% of pre-COVID-19 levels. The current situation exceeds this worst-case scenario. The criteria for awarding funding included that organisations were financially viable before COVID-19; had exhausted all other funding options; were ‘culturally significant’; or were essential to the cultural fabric of a place or supported the government’s wider ‘levelling-up’ agenda. Applications for both revenue and capital grants were oversubscribed, while loans funding was undersubscribed. By December 2020, 85% of revenue grants had been awarded to the arts and 15% to heritage organisations. London received 31% of total funding, followed by the North West and South East which each received 12%. In common with other emergency COVID-19 funding, implementing the CRF has presented risks of fraud, error, duplication and overpayment, and DCMS also created the Culture Recovery Board in July 2020 to provide assurance to the Secretary of State over funding and approve loans over £3 million. By January 2021, three reports of fraud relating to two grants administered by ACE had been received through the COVID Fraud Hotline. The grants, totalling £473,000 were withheld by ACE and no funds were paid out. The Committee will question senior officials at DCMS and the Chief Executive of Arts Council England. If you have evidence on the issues raised in this inquiry , please submit it here by 6pm on Thursday 15 April. Show less

3 Recommendations

24 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

3 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 7 events

28 Oct
2021

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Eighth report from Session 2021-22

25 Oct
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sarah Healey, Permanent Secretary, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, re Eighth Report of Session 2021-2…

23 Jun
2021

Report published

Eighth Report - COVID 19: Culture Recovery Fund

19 May
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sarah Healey, Permanent Secretary, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, re Public Accounts Committee Oral …

27 Apr
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sarah Healey, Permanent Secretary, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, re Update on progress made in the …

26 Apr
2021

Oral evidence

COVID-19: Culture Recovery Fund

26 Apr
2021

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Wilson Room, Portcullis House

COVID-19: Culture Recovery Fund

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

26 Apr 2021

View on parliament.uk

COVID-19: Culture Recovery Fund

Darren Henley · Arts Council England Emma Squire · Historic England Sarah Healey · Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Sir Damon Buffini · Culture Recovery Fund

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Eighth Report - COVID 19: Culture Recovery Fund	HC 340	23 Jun 2021	27	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

27 results

2 Recommendation

Eighth Report - COVID 19: Culture …

We are concerned about the Department’s and Arts Council England’s ability to manage the significant...

We are concerned about the Department’s and Arts Council England’s ability to manage the significant and ongoing loan book commitments created by the Culture Recovery Fund. As a result of repayable finance awarded under the Culture Recovery Fund, Arts Council … Read more

HM Treasury

COVID-19: Culture Recovery Fund

Activity timeline 7 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

We are concerned about the Department’s and Arts Council England’s ability to manage the significant...

In implementing the fund during the pandemic, the Department’s need to act quickly to provide...

The Department lacks a comprehensive understanding of the coverage and impact of its funding on...

It remains to be seen whether the Department has achieved its objectives for the Culture...

The taxpayer’s investment in the sector, and the Department’s future role in overseeing it, present...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

The Department acknowledged that the changing pandemic scenarios around issues such as the return of...

The Department wrote to us to explain that ACE was now responsible for managing £252...

We questioned the Department about its assessment of the profile for default on loans and...

We asked the Department about its long-term plans for the loan book, as our experience...

The Department had considered that the end of September 2020 represented a cliff- edge for...

We asked the Department what it had learned about setting and communicating realistic deadlines.

We asked the Department whether in retrospect it had struck the right balance between applying...

We asked about the low level of fraud in the fund and whether the Department’s...

We received good evidence from a number of bodies about their experience of the fund...

We asked the Department whether some organisations had been excluded from the support offered by...

The Department considered that the regional breakdown of all the success rates in awards for...

We challenged the Department and ACE on what they had done to support parts of...

We questioned the Department about the assessments it had made of the long-term impact on...

We asked the Department what the obstacles were to setting up a Government-backed insurance scheme...

We asked the Department to tell us how it would be evaluating the success of...

The Department said it wanted to satisfy itself that organisations in need were supported and...

We queried whether the Department ought to have set its value for money criteria for...

We asked ACE what it had learned about the sector.

We questioned the Department about the future of the sector and what it saw as...

We asked what plans ACE had for its funding in future years and how its...

Nationally, the sector contributed £34.6 million to the UK economy in 2019.67 We therefore challenged...

Correspondence 3 letters