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The Scottish Government in collaboration with Creative Scotland have acted very swiftly in putting measures in place to support the sector and we are looking ahead to its safe restart.

The arts and culture sector is exploring ways to bring people together whilst ensuring safety, artistic integrity and economic viability. Many things need to be considered – particularly how physical distancing can be accommodated by performing arts organisations and within venues. We will continue to discuss with the sector looking ahead to guidance on re-opening and will consider potential support measures. As I mentioned to the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee on 21 May I cannot yet comment on what the measures and resources could be, but these will be kept under consideration.

The Scottish Government does not hold details of the net annual economic worth and the jobs created by the pantomime season.

Similarly, the measurement of the impact of individual events outwith Scotland's Winter Festivals programme is not a matter for the Scottish Government.

Scotland's Winter Festivals 2018-19 was a great success delivering over 110 events and engaging 416,000 people across 17 Local Authorities and the Scottish Government is currently gathering information from delivery partner on the impacts of Scotland's Winter Festivals 2019-20.

“ Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis” published on 21 May sets out how we will look at the cumulative and overall impact of those measures, and of ongoing restrictions. The route map provides an indication of the order in which the Scottish Government will carefully and gradually seek to lift current restrictions, but does not attempt to specify dates for all of the different phases. Rather as we move beyond the first phase, future phases will be based on meeting particular criteria.

In the meantime the Scottish Government moved swiftly to support (a) venues and (b) staff by investing £2.3 billion into support for businesses and employers, with hardship funds for self-employed people and the creative and tourism sectors plus funding has been made available for tourism, hospitality and creative industry businesses that are experiencing hardship as a result of COVID-19 and are not eligible for other sources of support (except UK Job Retention Scheme).

Further information on the full package of UK and Scottish Government support to help events businesses through the coronavirus pandemic is provided at:

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. However, we are in regular contact with the sector, as well as those who represent the sector, to monitor the ongoing impact of the current situation, which is changing quickly. We are also monitoring the uptake of the various support measures that are available. We will work with Creative Scotland and the enterprises agencies to understand how many venues applied for funding and how many were successful.

We are aware that the impact on venues in the entertainment sector has been particularly challenging, and we will continue to work with the sector to respond to the long-term impact.

The Scottish Government has been having ongoing discussions with all parts of the culture sector through a variety of channels, including independent performance venues across a range of sectors such as theatre and live music. This has helped identify the scale of the impact COVID-19 has had on different parts of the sector, and inform the support the Scottish Government has provided.

Through the Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Fund we have made
‎ £40 million pounds available to small Scottish creative, tourism and hospitality businesses who have experienced at least 50% loss of current or projected revenue as a result of COVID-19. This fund recognises the importance of these sectors, and the specific challenges they face. In addition to this fund, there are a range of other support mechanisms open to independent performance venues, including rates relief for 2020-21, the Job Retention Scheme and access to the UK Government’s bounce back loans. Some may also have been eligible for the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund.

We continue to engage with the sector to monitor the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and to consider how such businesses will be able to reopen when they are able to do so.

The Scottish Government has made a number of grant schemes available specifically for the arts, culture and tourism sectors as a result of COVID-19, and in addition arts, culture and tourism businesses are able to apply to a range of other COVID-19 business support schemes. These funds are supported via a mixture of additional budget allocations to the sector and through repurposing of existing funding streams.

Specific arts, culture and tourism support:

• Creative Scotland is providing the following support in response to the COVID-19 situation.
• The Creative Scotland Bridging Bursary Fund for freelance creative professionals (£4.0m). As of Monday 18 May, 1596 arts and creative bursaries have been paid, with 380 deemed ineligible.
• The repurposed Open Project fund to help practitioners adapt and respond to the current changing circumstances (£7.5m). As at 18 May, there have been 116 individual applications and 60 applications from organisations to the Open Fund. These will be assessed at the end of May.
• One-off bursaries through Screen Scotland to film and TV sector workers (£1.5m). 462 have been paid as at 18 May and 133 were deemed ineligible.
• Screen Scotland has also announced that Scotland’s independent film and TV production companies are able to apply for newly ring-fenced development support fund of £1m for awards over the next 3-6 months to enable planning towards production when Government guidance allows.
• Museums Galleries Scotland have formed the Urgent Response Fund (£700k) and the Digital Resilience Fund (£115k). As of 18 May 2020 22 applications have been received for the Urgent Response Fund, with 16 assessed. Seven museums have been awarded funding, seven decisions have been deferred, one is pending decision with one decline. The Digital Resilience fund has received 40 applications, with 37 assessments and 35 awards having been made.
• We are supporting the Edinburgh Fringe with a £500,000 initial package of support comprising a £400,000 interest-free loan from the Scottish Government and a £100,000 grant from the Council.
• VisitScotland has made available up to £400k from its 2020-21 budget to provide grants to destination management and sectoral membership organisations whose income from member businesses has dropped substantially in the current crisis. The fund remains open and around 40 applications have been received to date. VisitScotland has also waived fees for the c.4000 members of its Quality Assurance scheme, saving businesses around £1m in fees at this difficult time.

Wider funds which arts, culture and tourism organisations may be eligible to apply for include the Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund, the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund, the Third Sector Resilience Fund and the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund. There is not yet specific information for applications from arts, culture and tourism companies for the other funds.

Official data on the impact of COVID-19 on those employed in the arts, culture and tourism sectors are not yet available for Scotland.

The ONS has published initial UK-level data on the impact of COVID-19 by industry through its Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey (BICS). Data for Wave 3 of BICS (covering the period 6 April to 19 April) was published on 7 th May, and includes data on the Accommodation & Food Service sector and the Arts, Education & Recreation sectors. This publication also includes UK level data on responding firms’ trading status, measures taken to respond to COVID-19, and the use of the UK Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Data from ONS’s BICS is available at:

The impact of COVID-19 of Scotland’s arts, culture and tourism sectors has been extremely challenging. The Scottish Government has significant and ongoing engagement with key stakeholders from these sectors including through the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group and Creative Scotland’s Covid-19 response group, which have been key in identifying and addressing many of the challenges for businesses, employees and the self-employed. We have expanded our substantial package of support for businesses to include support for self-catering businesses and the Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund and Self-Employed Hardship Fund will support many who have not been eligible for other forms of support. Creative Scotland is providing an expected total budget of £14 million of support in response to the COVID-19 situation including the Bridging Bursary Fund for freelance creative professionals; the repurposed Open Project fund to help practitioners adapt and respond to the current changing circumstances; and one-off bursaries to film and TV sector workers. The Scottish Government is also engaging with the UK Government to make the case that any changes to UK Government support schemes such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, reflect the circumstances faced by businesses within the arts, culture and tourism sectors.

Official data on the financial impact of COVID-19 on the arts, culture and tourism sectors are not yet available for Scotland.

The ONS has published initial UK-level data on the impact of COVID-19 by industry through its Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey (BICS). Data for Wave 3 of BICS (covering the period 6 April to 19 April) was published on 7 th May, and includes data on the Accommodation & Food Service sector and the Arts, Education & Recreation sectors. This publication also includes UK level data on responding firms’ trading status, and impacts on their recent turnover.

Data from ONS’s BICS is available at:

Scottish Ministers recognise the exceptional circumstances being experienced by the arts, culture and tourism sectors as a result of COVID-19, and the challenges these have created. We have significant and ongoing engagement with key stakeholders from these sectors including through the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group and Creative Scotland’s Covid-19 response group which has been key in identifying and addressing many of the challenges for businesses, employees and the self-employed. We have put in place a substantial package of support to address this, which includes the Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund, and the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund. Creative Scotland is providing an expected total budget of £14 million of support in response to the COVID-19 situation including the Bridging Bursary Fund for freelance creative professionals; the repurposed Open Project fund to help practitioners adapt and respond to the current changing circumstances; and one-off bursaries to film and TV sector workers.

At present, official data on numbers of domestic and international overnight visitors are not available for the period January – May 2020.

The ONS will publish estimated international overnight visitor numbers for 2019 from its Travel Trends publication on 22 May. These data will be available at:

The latest data on domestic overnight visitors, published by VisitBritain, cover the period to December 2019. These data are available at:

On 18 March, I announced an investment of £350 million to support local communities and households in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The investment comprises a range of funds to be delivered using a combination of approaches to ensure that resource is mobilised quickly to the places and people where it is needed. These approaches include funding delivered through Local Authorities and open bid funds such as the Community Wellbeing Fund and Third Sector Resilience Fund.

The Supporting Communities Fund, established with an initial £20m investment, is not an open bid fund. Instead it takes a targeted funding approach, providing funding to a range of community anchor organisations (CAO) who in turn can distribute funds to a wider network of community groups. CAOs are organisations that are or can work locally to connect activity and resources within the community and with statutory partners to help ensure funding reaches the people and places that need it. Many of these organisations have existing connections and networks in their communities and are already responding to the COVID crisis. The support from the funding is enabling CAOs to expand their networks to wider neighbourhoods and communities, partnering with other local community groups. Through this approach CAOs are helping to reach groups actively responding to COVID that would not otherwise directly be able to access funds themselves, and deliver support for the priorities identified by communities.

We are working with a range of national community development and community-led regeneration partners, to identify the initial group of anchor organisations, drawing on collective knowledge and experience of organisations that have track record in delivering services and responding to challenges.

A second phase of the funding has commenced, engaging with an extended group of partners including Third Sector Interfaces and Local Authorities to help address where there may be gaps in current provision and where there remains a need for support. Additional guidance to support these partners is being developed and provided as needed to support this next phase of the fund, which will include information to support signposting community organisations to the support available locally and through the fund.

The Supporting Communities Fund has, as of 6 May 2020, approved funding for 258 organisations. A list of those organisations is available on the SCVO Coronavirus Third Sector Information Hub at: