Contribution
My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lady Sater for this debate. It is an opportunity to welcome the positive news in the Budget, which I do gladly, not least the reconfirmation of the extended rates of tax relief for theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries. As I noted in my Question on 15 October, it is not just the rate but the certainty for planning that is so important. I welcome too the recognition of the need for cultural infrastructure funding. There were no numbers attached to that in the Budget, so maybe the Minister can provide some today.
Today’s debate is also an opportunity to highlight the less positive news and the entirely absent. Like so many other businesses, employers in the arts and heritage sectors are dismayed by the Government’s new job tax, in the form of national insurance contributions and the rise in the minimum wage. My noble friend mentioned the £700,000 cost to the Southbank Centre. The Youth Hostel Association says that the Budget will add another £1.75 million to its cost base, on top of the hit it will receive from the decision to scrap the National Citizen Service.
At a well-attended event hosted by the Heritage Railway Association here in Parliament yesterday, I spoke to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways, the latter of which said that the Government’s changes in the Budget would wipe out its entire modest profit, forcing it to re-budget and make some very difficult decisions.
The NCVO estimates that the national insurance hike alone will cost the charity sector £1.4 billion. It is calling for the exemption that the Government have given to public sector employers to be made available to charities. Can the Minister say whether that is being considered? If it is, does she understand the invidious position in which that will put many arts and heritage organisations that are currently constituted as companies?
As the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, noted, it was disappointing that, while the Government are providing welcome support to our national museums, there was nothing to help our brilliant civic museums. There are 2,500 of them, compared to the 15 national museums. Many are reliant on local government, a far bigger funder of culture than central government. What are the Government doing to support both of them?
The Minister’s colleague Sir Chris Bryant today called on the music industry to impose a new levy on larger venues, but the sector is still reeling from the removal of the 75% business rates relief for grass-roots music venues in the Budget. That will create a tax bill of £7 million for a sector that, last year, returned an entire gross profit across all venues of just £2.9 million. The Music Venue Trust says that that £7 million bill is equivalent to 12,000 jobs in the sector.
I congratulate my noble friend Lord Harlech on his award this week from the Historic Houses Association; I was sorry that no one from DCMS attended to see it. Its director-general said that the Budget was a disaster from its perspective, particularly the changes to business property relief—a measure first brought in by a Labour Government in 1976. Many custodians of historic houses are lynchpins to their local visitor economy, providing venues for films, television and music concerts as part of the interconnectivity that the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, mentioned.
I am very grateful to the right reverend Prelate for mentioning cathedral schools. I hope that the Minister can give us some clarity on the music and dance scheme for schools and address its importance.
I have mentioned already the halting of funding for the National Railway Museum. That was part of more than £52 million for the culture and capital regeneration projects announced in March, including for National Museums Liverpool, the International Slavery Museum, the V&A Dundee, Venue Cymru, British Library North and the National Poetry Centre—a project led by the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage. Sadly, the Government have now said that they are “minded to withdraw” funding from all those projects. Those of us familiar with Whitehall jargon fear that that may be just a euphemism to avoid judicial review; I hope that the Minister can put us out of those worries.
Finally, I hope that the Minister will pick up the right reverend Prelate’s point in telling us about the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which is a vital lifeline for the custodians of historic churches.