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

10 Recommendations

17 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

3 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 6 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

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

1 result

18 Conclusion Accepted in Part

Eighth Report - COVID 19: Culture …

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

We challenged the Department and ACE on what they had done to support parts of the sector including freelancers, commercial organisations, supply chain businesses delivering the technical aspects of the sector’s activity (for example, sound and lighting for events) and … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees to write to the Committee by mid-September 2021 on the matter, but it rejects the committee's suggestion that it lacks understanding of its funding's impact or has not supported the identified sectors (freelancers, commercial organisations, etc.).

HM Treasury

View details

Government Response AI assessment · 26 of 10 classified

Accepted 14

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 1

Deferred 1

Not Addressed 3

Rejected 6

Total 10 recs + 17 conclusions

Correspondence 3 letters

25 Oct 2021 Correspondence from Sarah Healey, Permanent Secretary, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, re Eighth Report of Session 2021-22 - Covid 19: Culture Recovery Fund, dated 30 September 2021

Parliament page

19 May 2021 Correspondence from Sarah Healey, Permanent Secretary, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, re Public Accounts Committee Oral evidence: COVID-19: Culture Recovery Fund, HC 1291 Monday 26 April 2021, dated 7 May 2021

Parliament page

27 Apr 2021 Correspondence from Sarah Healey, Permanent Secretary, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, re Update on progress made in the delivery of the Culture Recovery Fund, dated 23 April 2021

Parliament page