Ministers have come under fire for delaying the publication of research designed to determine whether crowds can return to sporting and cultural venues.
Conservative MP Richard Holden told the House of Commons that venues such as the Empire theatre in Consett urgently needed to know what the Government has planned.
He said: "Publishing it soon will be vital for the sector, so that they can get on with planning to reopen."
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He spoke out after Culture Minister Nigel Huddleston announced the Government was delaying a decision on whether to let more people attend major sporting and cultural events. Instead, it will hold more tests - including allowing spectators into Wimbledon games if they can prove they have been vaccinated.
A series of pilot events with large crowds of people have already been held, ranging from the FA Cup Final to an indoor night at a Liverpool nightclub, but the Government has delayed publishing the findings.
Mr Holden praised the Government for providing subsidies to struggling businesses, adding: "But getting people into venues is now what is required, as highlighted to me last weekend when I visited the Empire theatre in Consett, and at a national level, by great organisations such as UK Music.
"I welcome the events research programme and what it is doing to look at reopening. It sounds like it is good news.
"Publishing it soon will be vital for the sector, so that they can get on with planning to reopen. If it is good news, it is also going to be vital for public confidence in booking."
Mr Huddleston told MPs that because the final date for ending lockdown had been delayed, the Government would now run more test events at which mass audiences are permitted. This would include "trialling the practical use of Covid certification at a range of events, alongside other mitigations," he said.
He said: "Some of these pilot events will be permitted at full capacity, providing visitors demonstrate their Covid status. The men’s and women’s finals at Wimbledon, for example, will be played with centre court at full capacity, and those matches will be the first major outdoor sporting events held at full capacity in the UK since the start of the pandemic.
"The events research programme is continuing live discussions with a number of theatres and cultural and business event organisers about their inclusion in the programme, which would see events taking place with larger capacities."
One Conservative former minister has voiced his “fear” that data on large test events has not been published because “it would have demonstrated that we could have safely opened on June 21″.
Mark Harper, who chairs the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group, said he suspects the numbers are "fantastically positive" after test events held at sporting, music and other venues have not caused any Covid-19 outbreaks and he is "a little confused" as to why the numbers have not been released.
