Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the health of the music industry in England.
(Con)
In begging leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the
Order Paper, I declare my interest as chairman of the Royal
College of Music.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Culture, Media and Sport ( of Whitley Bay) (Con)
My Lords, the music industry is a key national asset,
contributing £4 billion to our economy in 2021, fuelling tens of
thousands of jobs and projecting our soft power on the global
stage. We are working with the industry to respond to the
difficulties that some aspects of the sector continue to face
following the pandemic, including rising energy costs, with which
we have supported businesses through the £18 billion energy bill
relief scheme. We will continue to work closely with the industry
to understand emerging challenges and identify ways we can
support it.
(Con)
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer, but is the
grim reality not that music faces an existential crisis? The ENO
and Britten Sinfonia are in huge difficulties following Arts
Council England’s cuts, and BBC orchestras are under long-term
threat. GCSE music entry is in free fall and music A-level is now
the preserve of well-off and independent schools. One grass-roots
music venue is closing each week and the number of music hubs is
to be cut by 50%. There is an astonishing failure to recruit
enough music teachers and, most cruelly of all, EU touring is now
torturously difficult, with bookings for hard-pressed
UK musicians in EU
festivals down a staggering 45% since the disaster of the Brexit
withdrawal agreement. My question is simple: why do the
Government seem so determined to destroy classical music in the
UK?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
I must disagree with my noble friend. The Arts Council’s
portfolio, which has now begun, includes around £21 million per
annum of investment in music. That is £2 million more than in the
previous round. Nearly 80% of the Arts Council’s investment in
music is in classical music and nearly 40% is in opera. My noble
friend mentioned a number of things that time does not allow me
to touch on, but I welcome the BBC’s announcement that it will
review its decision in relation to the BBC Singers and the BBC
orchestras. He may have seen the announcement from the Arts
Council and English National Opera that they have agreed £11.46
million of funding for the first year, and the Arts Council has
set a budget of £24 million of investment for the second two
years, inviting the company to make an application to it for that
amount. The Foreign Secretary raised touring at the EU-UK
Partnership Council, as we continue to raise this at the highest
levels with the EU.
of Knighton (CB)
First, does the Minister understand the concern of the music
industry, in that in state schools, for example, there are no
peripatetic music teachers? That means that poor pupils do not
get music lessons, which become the preserve of the rich. There
is a follow-on from this: our orchestras will not be replenished
by young people—young students. Secondly, on the problems with
touring in Europe, assured us that such problems
would not happen. The noble Lord, , has admitted that the
Government got it wrong, not just with visas but where cabotage
comes in: you might get a visa but arrive with no instruments.
When will the Government get it right?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
I agree with the noble Lord about the importance of ensuring that
pupils in the state sector have opportunities. I myself benefited
from a peripatetic music teacher at school. Our national plan for
music education is ensuring that high-quality music education is
available everywhere. We are working with the Department for
Education on the cultural education plan; the noble Baroness,
Lady Bull, is very kindly helping to ensure that we cast the net
as widely as possible to capture best practice and are ambitious.
On the creative industries sector vision, we are working to
ensure that the talent pipelines are there so that we can
continue to have a globally competitive music industry of which
we can be proud; it enriches our lives in so many ways. I have
pointed to the work that the Foreign Secretary has taken forward
with the EU-UK Partnership Council in relation to touring.
(LD)
My Lords, are the Government are going to do some work on making
touring easier in Europe? I have heard there is also a threat
that touring will become more difficult in the States. When can
we expect some positive results from these talks and efforts?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, 23 of the 27 member states of the EU already offer
visa- and work permit-free routes for touring artists from the
UK. We have seen progress on portable musical instruments being
transported cost-free without an ATA carnet and have had
confirmation that splitter vans are not subject to the TCA limits
on cabotage and cross trade. We continue to speak to the four
remaining member states and encourage them to have the same
generous rules that we have in the UK to welcome musicians from all over
the world. As I have said, the Foreign Secretary continues to
raise this at the highest level.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister referenced high energy costs. The noble
Lord, Lord Black, spoke more widely of some of the threats to the
music industry. Grass-roots music venues are closing at the rate
of one a week, as the noble Lord rightly said. Without these
venues, emerging artists will struggle to showcase their talents
and grow the fanbase required to move to bigger venues. The
Minister will know that many sports governing bodies prioritise
grass-roots investment, while non-music performing arts enjoy
various forms of public subsidy. Some theatres are able to charge
a small restoration levy. Music is so important to our personal,
communal and national shared experience. What other, more
imaginative options than the Minister has given us today are his
department exploring to ensure that smaller venues can flourish
instead of being lost for good?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Lord is right to raise this. I have pointed to the £18
billion energy bill relief scheme and the energy bill discount
scheme, which has succeeded it. The Music Venue Trust has been
raising the issue of small grass-roots venues. The Creative
Industries Minister, , met the trust last month to
discuss its proposals for a levy such as the noble Lord outlined.
I am also happy to say that on the trust’s other initiative, Own
Our Venues, the Arts Council has contributed £500,000 of public
funding towards this community project to purchase at-risk venues
and rent them back to the owners as benevolent landlords. We look
to creative solutions to these problems.
(Con)
My Lords, I commend the national plan for music education
produced by my noble friend Lady Fleet. It truly was a very
important intervention for music education in schools. With the
Prime Minister talking today about the importance of arts
education, it occurred to me: what on earth happened to the arts
premium that was promised in the 2019 Conservative manifesto?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
My noble friend is right to point to the brilliant work of our
noble friend Lady Fleet on the national plan for music education.
She and many others remind us that the arts premium was a
commitment in our manifesto. Of course, the pandemic has meant
that schools and teachers have had to focus on the lost teaching
hours that inevitably occurred, but I continue to make
representations to the Department for Education that we should be
returning to that commitment as soon as possible, not least
through our work on the cultural education plan, which is looking
at opportunities in education all round.
The (CB)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that Brexit problems
facing musicians are not just
about British musicians touring but
about musicians from Europe
coming into the UK? Music agents say that musicians are being
turned away at the border on a regular basis, the latest casualty
being the German band Trigger Cut, which tried to use the PPE
route, which, with a letter of introduction, should have been
straightforward. Will the Minister look at this and other such
incidents, which can only damage our reputation as a welcoming
country for artists, both in Europe and worldwide?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
The permitted paid engagement exemption route allows artists to
tour the UK for up to a month without a visa, but only if they do
not undertake paid work that is unrelated to their main overseas
job or area of expertise. Obviously, all visa policy is a matter
for the Home Office, but I regularly take up cases on behalf of
the sector with colleagues at the Home Office, and I am always
happy to hear of more examples that I can follow up on.
(Lab)
Is it not the case that the creative industries are withering on
the vine under this Government? We need the Government to set up
a body with the Treasury, the department of trade and the culture
department to come up with a package that can support the
creative industries, which are one of the most successful
industries in this country.
of Whitley Bay (Con)
Indeed they are, and that is why colleagues in the Treasury have
identified the creative industries as one of five key growth
areas for our economy. The creative industries were growing twice
as quickly as the rest of the economy pre pandemic and we want to
support their further growth. That is why the work that we are
taking forward with the creative industries sector vision is so
important to set them up for the future and why the tax relief
extension for theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries that
was announced in the Budget is just one example of the way in
which we continue to support them now.
(Con)
My Lords, one had only to watch BBC Four last night to realise
that the BBC depends for quality programmes as much on music as
music depends upon the BBC. Will the Minister please speak to the
governors of the BBC and say that the reprieve for the BBC
Singers was very welcome, but it is not a reprieve that we want,
it is their permanence?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
While my noble friend was watching BBC Four, I was listening to
Radio 2, where one of the BBC orchestras was playing from Great
Yarmouth—most enjoyably. Of course, the BBC is operationally
independent from the Government. It is up to it to decide, but we
welcome the decision to look at this again. It, like us, will
have heard the strong views from licence fee payers across the
country. The BBC has a clear mission set out in the royal charter
to deliver for licence fee payers and we look forward to it doing
that.
