The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross)

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Sater, for initiating this important debate. Noble Lords will notice that we are extremely tight on time. Everyone managed to get about three or four questions into their very short speeches, so if I do not get to every point I will write to noble Lords and place copies of the letter in the Library. I thank noble Lords from all sides of the House for their thoughtful contributions. Many have raised concerns that I will endeavour to address, but first I will highlight the Government’s commitment to the arts, culture and heritage, and their recognition of the value of the sector. At various points, I will refer to what the Budget does to support these sectors. Most noble Lords stressed the value of culture and heritage, not least the noble Baroness, Lady Sater, and the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey. The arts, culture and heritage are vital to the UK’s economy, well-being and opportunities. They are also fundamental to our cohesion as a society and to our national story, fostering pride and earning global recognition. These sectors employ 666,000 people and indirectly support a whole host of other businesses. Culture and heritage are not simply nice to have. To respond to a point raised by the noble Baroness, they have crucial roles to play in supporting the missions of both growth and opportunity. This Government are committed to making sure that heritage and culture are not just the preserve of a privileged few but that their benefits can be enjoyed by everyone. As the noble Baroness noted, that includes social and mental health benefits. A number of noble Lords spoke about the pressures faced by the culture and heritage sectors. The Government recognise the financial pressures facing our sectors after 14 years of cultural vandalism and the legacy of Covid-19. The level of the cuts experienced by the sector during the period of Conservative government was highlighted by my noble friend Lord Bassam. I will go through some of the specific questions raised. The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, asked about the impact of business rates on grass-roots music venues. The Government are working closely with the live music sector to support an economically sustainable grass-roots music sector. Following the Autumn Budget, we are continuing to support Art Council England’s supporting grass-roots music fund, which provides grants to venues, recording studios, promoters and festivals. The noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans asked about the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. I note the concern for our listed places of worship. Departmental budgets have been set following the Budget announcement on 30 October. The outcome of individual programmes such as the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme will now be assessed during the departmental business planning process. On the points made by a number of noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, around touring and the EU, the Government are focused on resetting and strengthening our relationship with our European partners. We will engage with the EU Commission and member states and explore how best to improve arrangements for touring across the European continent without a return to free movement. My noble friend Lord Bassam made a number of points. I agree that it is absolutely vital that we work with Arts Council England and leading thinkers such as Nesta on understanding how we should fundraise. On the smart fund, we are not ruling out that type of work but we need to look at more evidence on user behaviour. The noble Baroness, Lady Fleet, asked about specialist schools and VAT increases and a number of noble Lords also raised the issue of VAT on private schools. The noble Baroness asked whether the specialist schools were in scope of the VAT increase. As set out in the Treasury’s response to the technical consultation on the VAT changes, performing arts schools that offer full-time education to children of compulsory school age and/or 16 to 19 year-olds for a charge will remain in scope of this policy. This is to ensure fairness and consistency across all schools that provide education services and vocational training for a charge. The noble Lords, Lord Parkinson and Lord Harlech, made points about business property reliefs. Currently, agricultural and business property reliefs contribute to the largest estates paying a lower effective tax rate on average than smaller estates. In our view, that is not fair or sustainable. The noble Baroness, Lady Sater, mentioned the strain on the sector after the pandemic and local government funding issues, as did the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty. The Government know that the public funding landscape we inherited is very challenging. Net expenditure on cultural services by local authorities—which, as noble Lords made clear in the debate, are the largest funder of culture across England—has fallen significantly since 2010 as councils saw their budgets decimated. This Government have, however, started to address the funding concerns for local authorities, with an increased settlement confirmed at the Budget. We recognise that commercial income is not keeping pace with increased outgoings. We are acutely conscious of these significant challenges. The noble Baroness, Lady Sater, made a specific point about business rates. The Government are creating a fairer business rate system that protects the high street, supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. In relation to other Budget issues highlighted by my noble friend Lord Bassam, the measures announced by the Chancellor on 30 October amount to a valuable package of support for these sectors. It included an uplift in grant-aided funding for national museums and galleries to help support their long-term sustainability and a package of cultural infrastructure funding that will build on existing capital schemes, with additional capital investment to support cultural organisations across the country. Further details will be set out in due course. The Budget also included funding for creative industries, one of the eight growth-driving sectors in the Government’s modern industrial strategy, which will see DCMS continue to fund important programmes such as Create Growth and an expansion of the creative careers programme, worth £3 million. This will build on its success in raising awareness of career routes and tackling skills gaps in this key sector. Another priority for this Government is to improve access to arts and music for all children and young people, which links to our government mission to extend opportunities. That is why we are working with the Department for Education on its curriculum assessment review that promises to review barriers and opportunities in order to ensure that every child has the best start in life. This Government also committed £3 million at the Autumn Budget to expand the creative careers programme, which will give schoolchildren the opportunity to learn more about creative career routes and directly engage with the workplace. We are going to run out of time for this debate, so I will address a couple of issues that came up and I will write to noble Lords. I am keen for the noble Baroness, Lady Sater, to get at least a minute at the end to respond.