Question asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the impact that the United Kingdom’s visa and immigration
policies have on the UK creative and cultural industries.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and
Borders () (Con)
My Lords, the United Kingdom is, and will continue to be, an
attractive destination for top international talent in these
fields. Our visa and immigration system has been designed to
support, and is supporting, all areas of the United Kingdom’s
thriving and expanding creative and cultural industries. It is a
very generous, adaptive and flexible proposition from the
department.
(LD)
I thank the Minister for his response. As I think he was trying
to say, and as the Chancellor recently said, the creative
industries are one of the UK’s five high-growth priority sectors.
Skills and talent from a global pool are essential to its
success, but it is experiencing widespread workforce shortages
from both here and abroad—exacerbated, of course, by Brexit. Does
the Minister accept the concerns of the chief executive of
Creative UK that the Migration Advisory Committee’s shortage
occupation list, as a mechanism for addressing this problem, is
not fit for its core purpose? Some occupations from the creative
sectors already appear to have been deemed out of scope. Why? The
recently published Creative Industries Sector Vision says:
“the Home Office, DCMS and industry will work together to
maximise the effectiveness of existing immigration routes for the
creative industries workforce”.
How is the Minister’s department planning to do this while at the
same time limiting such an essential route?
(Con)
I am afraid that I do not accept the noble Baroness’s proposition
that we are, in some way, limiting access to the United Kingdom
for creative workers. As I alluded to in my Answer, our domestic
law allows musicians, entertainers, artists and their technical
staff from non-visa national countries, such as EU member states,
the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to perform in the UK
without requiring a visa. A non-visa national can stay one month
without a visa if they are invited to the UK by a UK-based client
or organisation and paid by a UK source, under the permitted paid
engagement visitor rules. A non-visa national can stay three
months without a visa if they have been assigned a certificate of
sponsorship by a licensed sponsor, which is usually a UK company.
A non-visa national can stay six months without a visa if
performing at a permit-free festival; they are listed in the
Immigration Rules and run from Glastonbury to Glyndebourne. All
nationalities can apply for a 12-month stay, on a temporary work
creative worker route visa, if they obtain a visa and have a
certificate of sponsorship.
The (CB)
My Lords—
(Lab)
My Lords, the recently announced increase of at least 20% in the
visa charge for people on the 10-year route to settlement and
their families will mean a rise of at least £18,265 for an adult
and much more for a family. What assessment has been made of the
impact on long-term residents, many of whom are on lower incomes
and already struggle to meet visa fees?
(Con)
I regret that I did not hear the beginning of the noble
Baroness’s question. How is that connected to the creative visa
schemes?
(Lab)
My question is connected to visas, and visas were in the original
Question. I asked about the recently announced increase of at
least 20% in the charge for people and their families on the
10-year settlement route, which will mean a rise of at least
£18,265 for an adult and more for a family.
(Con)
I am afraid that I still do not follow the noble Baroness’s
question, but I reassure her that we will bring forward a further
fees order in the autumn. No doubt she will ask further questions
then, but I reassure her that visa fees are carefully studied by
the department. It is vital that they appropriately reflect the
cost of running the visa scheme.
The (CB)
My Lords, looking at this in the opposite direction to the noble
Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter, is the Minister aware of the real
concern of losing British creative skills permanently to Europe,
including our music touring technicians such as sound engineers
and lighting crews, because of the obstacles the current
agreement with the EU now poses to their work if they remain in
this country?
(Con)
As I have already said, we are proud of the fact that we have a
very generous offer to those coming into the UK for creative
purposes. We hope that other countries will reciprocate. I
reassure the noble Earl that we have spoken to every EU member
state about the issues facing our creative and cultural
industries. From these discussions, 20 member states of the EU
have confirmed that they offer visa and work permit-free routes
for UK musicians and performers.
(Con)
My Lords, I find myself meeting nothing but young homegrown Brits
who want jobs in the creative industries. What are we doing to
develop our own national talent in this area?
(Con)
DCMS recently published its Creative Industries Sector Vision,
which was published in June and has been developed in partnership
between the Government and industry. It is a vision for creative
industries to become an even greater growth engine, where
creative talent from all backgrounds and creative businesses from
all areas of the United Kingdom can thrive.
(CB)
My Lords, there have been recent welcome discussions between the
UK and some European countries about a bilateral reciprocal youth
mobility visa to address the needs of specific sectors. This
would not be the complete answer, but it would help those people
most impacted by the current situation, which is young and
emerging still-to-be-established talent. Will the Minister ensure
that, if such a youth mobility scheme is introduced, it includes
roles and paid work in the cultural and creative sector?
(Con)
I agree with virtually everything the noble Baroness said. I
reassure her that we remain committed to expanding our YMSs—youth
mobility schemes—to more nations, including, but not limited to,
those within the EU. Those youth mobility schemes provide
cultural exchange programmes, to allow a person aged between 18
and 30 from participating countries and territories to experience
life in the United Kingdom for up to two years. As the noble
Baroness says, it is subject to bilateral reciprocal agreements
which benefit British citizens equally.
(Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister explain why so many people in the
creative industries are complaining about the length of time it
takes to get a visa and why they often cannot get their equipment
here? From listening to what the Minister outlined, there
does not seem to be any problem, but that is not the view of the
creative industries, so what will he do to sort it out?
(Con)
I reassure the noble Lord that the visa system is operating
within the service standard in every sector, so there is no delay
in creative visas being awarded to those who apply. The system
works well. I simply do not recognise the account that he gives;
if he has any particular cases, I would be grateful if he would
write to me, and I can look into them.
Lord Swire (Con)
I think the noble Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter, has hit on
something, because we all know, if only anecdotally, that the
system is not working as well as it should. Will my noble friend
the Minister commit to going back to his department and having a
discussion with DCMS as to how this regime can be better applied?
There is no threat of people overstaying, particularly in the
performing arts—it is unlikely, other than the national state
orchestra of North Korea, who would probably want to stay here,
but otherwise they just want to come here and perform and then go
away. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by making it rather
difficult for some of these performing artists to go about their
business.
(Con)
I am afraid, timid as I am to disagree with my noble friend, that
is just wrong. There are no issues here. In 2022, we issued 6,498
creative worker visas, of which 180 were issued to EEA nationals.
Over the last decade, the number of creative visas issued has
remained consistently high compared to other temporary work
routes, such as the charity and religious worker visa routes.
While the volumes fell during the pandemic, as one might expect,
they have returned to high volumes. I suggest that the high
volumes and low barriers to entry are a symbol of the excellence
of our own success in the areas of work to which these visas
relate.
(Lab)
My Lords—
(LD)
My Lords, I am sorry not to give way to the noble Lord.
The Minister’s assurances roll over the Dispatch Box like
treacle. Is he not aware that organisations as diverse as BECTU,
the technicians’ trade union, and Barbican, the arts centre, are
making exactly the same complaints as his noble friend just made?
Is not the root cause of this that Brexit, far from being
oven-ready, is half-baked and has left our creative industries in
particular bereft of support?
(Con)
My Lords, the answer is no.
