Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the proportion of (1) the Cultural Recovery Fund, and (2) any
other emergency support for the performing arts provided during
the COVID-19 pandemic, that has directly benefited workers in
that sector who are freelance.
(Lab) [V]
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on
the Order Paper. In doing so, I draw the House’s attention to my
interests as listed in the register.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport () (Con)
My Lords, around 40% of awards made so far from the £1.57 billion
Culture Recovery Fund have gone to non-building-based
organisations. Arts Council England has also provided over £47
million of awards to individuals through non-CRF funds. The
Government have supported the self- employed in the performing
arts through the Self-employment Income Support Scheme. As of 31
December, 60,000 self-employed people in the sector have claimed
for phase 3 of the scheme, 76,000 received support in phase 1 and
72,000 in phase 2.
(Lab) [V]
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her detailed Answer and
wish her a very happy birthday. It is undoubtedly true that
significant help has gone to organisations from the CRF, but
organisations can help freelancers only by employing them. Recent
research from Freelancers Make Theatre Work shows that performing
arts organisations ordinarily expect to spend nearly 40% of their
turnover on employing freelancers. This has not been possible for
nearly a year and there is no early prospect of work resuming.
One-third of freelancers in the sector have received no
government support since the pandemic began and I can tell from
personal experience how desperate they have become. Do the
Government now have plans to broaden the eligibility criteria for
the Self-employment Income Support Scheme and/or to enable
remaining CRF funds to be used to provide more targeted, direct
support to freelancers?
(Con)
I thank the noble Baroness for her kind wishes. In relation to
her question, she is right that the work of freelancers is
totally tied up with the ability of cultural institutions to
begin to perform again, something that we are all very much
looking forward to. The Treasury is looking at phase 4 of the
Self-employment Income Support Scheme and will be announcing the
terms of that in the Budget early next month. In the meantime, we
have held back £400 million from the Culture Recovery Fund as a
contingency to make sure that we are able to support
organisations and the freelancers they employ, so that we can
begin to enjoy our performing arts again when it is safe to do
so.
(GP) [V]
My Lords, what has the regional distribution of money paid out
from the Culture Recovery Fund been? How much has been in London
and the south-east and how much in the rest of the country?
(Con)
I start by wishing the noble Baroness a happy birthday as well,
and the noble Baroness, Lady Lane-Fox, if she is listening—it is
a busy day. I will have to write to the noble Baroness, Lady
Bennett, with the exact distribution in England. In the devolved
Administrations, £33 million has been given to Northern Ireland,
£97 million to Scotland and £59 million to Wales.
(Con)
My Lords, I draw attention to my entries in the Register of
Lords’ Interests. I also wish absolutely everybody a happy
birthday, particularly the Minister, who has achieved so much at
such a young age. I wonder whether she has had a chance to look
at the Institute for Fiscal Studies report, which suggests that
for about 5% of the cost of the furlough scheme we could fill the
gaps left for some freelancers who are not eligible under SEISS.
It is about £5 billion, which in pre-Covid days was a lot of
money, but in Covid days it is just 5%. Could she give me the
Government’s view on that report? Will she, along with her
colleagues, meet trade bodies such as the Creative Industries
Federation which are doing so much work engaging with freelancers
and looking for solutions?
(Con)
I am of course happy to agree to meet any of the trade bodies
that my noble friend suggests. Colleagues in the department are
considering this report and working very closely with HMRC, the
Treasury and the freelance community to understand take-up of the
Self-employment Income Support Scheme and how that can best
operate in future.
(CB)
I too wish all the noble Baronesses a happy birthday, of course.
I would like to pick up on the question of the noble Lord, Lord
Vaizey. At the moment under SEISS, those freelancers who have
gaps in their self-assessment tax returns during the last three
years due to maternity leave, paternity leave or caring
responsibilities have received lower grants. Can the Minister
assure the House that the Government plan to adapt the scheme to
incorporate a declaration for those freelancers so that these
gaps can be covered?
(Con)
I reassure the noble Viscount that all these options will be
considered, but we remain of the view that the support that we
are offering the cultural sector through the Culture Recovery
Fund, combined with following public health advice so that we can
reopen our cultural venues as quickly as possible, is the best
route for re-employing freelancers.
(Lab) [V]
All the people to whom we are giving birthday wishes—which I join
in doing—are women. I draw the Minister’s attention to the fact
that women freelancers working in the arts, who constitute a very
high proportion, suffer badly for two reasons. Last year, pay gap
enforcement was suspended, and many women reduced their working
hours to care for children who were home for school. This renders
them not qualified for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme.
Will the Government adjust their provision to include targeted
support for women freelancers working in the arts?
(Con)
As I said to other noble Lords, we are considering all the
elements in detail and all the barriers to taking up the support
offered. A further announcement on this will be made by the
Treasury in the Budget.
(LD) [V]
Happy birthday to all as well, and for once I suspect that the
noble Baronesses wish they were a bit older so that they could
get the jab. Last week we saw British talent triumph in the
nominations for the Golden Globes. We cannot risk losing this
vibrant sector, which contributes so much to our economy and
world standing, but that is what we are heading towards. As my
honourable friend has repeatedly highlighted in his campaign “Gaps in
Support”, so many of those facing this plight are from the
creative industries. Does the Minister recognise that there
should be more targeted financial help for this group? Can she
say what exactly the Government are doing about this?
(Con)
I feel as though I should have birthday cake on the Dispatch Box.
Of course our understanding and our approach needs to evolve as
our understanding of the pandemic and its impact evolves. We have
aimed to tackle this from all directions by supporting our
institutions with a major funding package, having a very broad
job support and self-employed support scheme, and giving targeted
support to individuals—particularly from the Arts Council, which
has distributed £47 million in England alone.
(Con) [V]
Diversity of the performing arts is important. What is the
linkage with self-employed freelancers, so that both Government
and these individuals can keep abreast of what exactly is
happening and raise matters of concern?
(Con)
The Government are making every effort to co-ordinate with the
sector and hear from it directly about the impacts. I shall give
my noble friend two examples: we have established steering groups
for both indoor venues and outdoor events and festivals, and are
working closely with a number of sector bodies across music and
the arts. If there are particular groups that he thinks we should
be listening to more, I invite him to get in touch.
(Lab) [V]
My Lords, I am beginning to wish I had brought some freelancers
along to sing “Happy Birthday”, rather than ask a question.
However, given that the spring Budget is fast approaching, will
DCMS Ministers now lobby the Chancellor to admit the mistakes of
the past and accept and correct the injustice of excluding so
many of our hard-working freelancers in the cultural industries
from the Government’s Covid-19 support schemes? I also urge them
to take advantage of the fact that we are entering the new tax
year.
(Con)
I cannot accept the noble Lord’s criticism of the Government’s
action, which has been speedy, generous, broad and effective. Of
course we keep it under review, but it is unparalleled in its
generosity.
