The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will see a 1.4% reduction in its expenditure between 2025 – 2029, alongside pressures to deliver administrative efficiencies.

ABO CEO Judith Webster said: “The UK’s celebrated orchestral sector has an important role to play in the Government’s ambitions of national renewal, stability and growth. Through orchestras’ work, we connect and strengthen local communities, improve education outcomes, enhance public health and wellbeing and boost the UK's cultural influence worldwide. Sustained investment is necessary to help make this happen, however. As an important part of the creative industries - one of the government’s eight growth driving sectors - today’s announcement was a missed opportunity to harness the power of the UK cultural sector.”

Whilst expressing concern, the ABO welcomes today’s commitments to capital investment for cultural institutions, the £2 billion increase to core schools budgets and previous announcements of unlocking dormant assets to support disadvantaged young people to access arts and culture.

The impact of today’s spending decisions on international touring, music education and core investment will become clearer over the coming weeks. In the meantime, we look forward to further detail about the DCMS’s National Youth Strategy and how this will support young people’s access to culture, as well as the Government’s forthcoming Industrial Strategy and further details of the Creative Industries Sector Plan.