Music Tours: Special
Event Hauliers
(Bristol East) (Lab)
5. What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for
Transport on helping to ensure adequate availability of
specialist event hauliers to support domestic music tours in
summer 2022.
The Minister for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure ()
I wrote to , my counterpart
at the Department for Transport, in February to discuss plans for
supporting domestic tours through the implementation of the dual
registration proposals. I am pleased to say that those are being
taken forward and should come into force later this year. My
Department and the Department for Transport continue to work
closely with industry to understand the needs of the specialist
events haulage sector.
I thank the Minister for that response; I am glad that the
Government are finally talking about this issue, which has been
flagged up as a problem for a very long time, but “later this
year” will not be good enough for bands wanting to tour the UK
this summer. Harvey Goldsmith has said that there are not enough
trucks and not enough drivers, and that we need a solution now.
What is the Minister’s answer?
That is not the message that I have heard, but I will be meeting
UK Music representatives on Monday; if they share the concerns
that the hon. Lady has just expressed, I will be happy to discuss
those with them. The Secretary of State and I continue to do a
lot of work with ministerial counterparts in other countries and
across the Government on this issue. We are alive to the sector’s
concerns.
(Worsley and Eccles South)
(Lab)
In an astonishing admission, , the Government’s former Brexit
negotiator, recently said of musicians touring to the EU:
“There is a whole set of problems here that is making life
difficult on both sides”.
Big problems include the road haulage limits, which mean that
UK-based vehicles cannot make more than two laden stops in the
EU, which adds a £30,000 cost to each tour. Cabotage limits can
add up to £16,000 a day. Those are substantial burdens, and most
tours of UK orchestras are to Europe: such tours represent 12% of
their earned income. now believes that the Government
should change and move to a more pragmatic position to ease
touring. Does the Minister agree?
I thank the hon. Lady for her interest in this issue. The
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is not
responsible for the overall negotiating position, but as I say we
have been in close discussions with other Departments. We have
made progress on some of the specific issues raised with us, such
as splitter vans, and we have also provided a lot of support to
the wider events sector. We have made sure that carnets will not
be required and we have been doing a whole bunch of other
stuff.
As I said, I am meeting UK Music representatives on Monday to
discuss the remaining outstanding issues, but we have also had a
number of conversations with EU member states. In the vast
majority of those, people no longer require permits or visas to
carry out this kind of work.
