Lord Brennan of Canton (Lab)

My Lords, I too echo the congratulations to the two maiden speakers who we have heard so far this evening: the noble Lord, Lord Hobby, who I worked closely with when I was a shadow schools Minister, and the noble Lord, Lord Blackwater. I particularly enjoyed his devastating critique of the previous Conservative Government’s policy on music in education and hope to hear much more of it from him during his time here in this House. Culture is part of our debate today and this is Ivors week, because the Ivor Novello Awards take place on Thursday. It is the world’s greatest award ceremony for songwriters and composers. I should declare that I am a member of the Ivors Academy and I pay tribute to Tom Gray, the chair of that academy, and Roberto Neri, its chief executive. They do so much to try to enhance and protect creator remuneration in this country. It is also because Ivor Novello came from Cardiff, which is where I come from. I praise the Government first for introducing and laying an SI, which many noble Lords may not be aware of, that will put the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority on a statutory footing, as an external whistleblowing authority for the creative industries. I congratulate both Jen Smith, the CEO of CIISA, and the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws, on their work in getting that important body to this stage. I hope the Government will also take reserve powers to ensure it gets properly funded. In the King’s Speech, we heard about the draft Bill regarding ticketing. I welcome that, though I wish it was more than a draft Bill. It was one of the recommendations in my own recently published report, commissioned by the Culture Committee in the Commons, on live and electronic music. It contained what I call the seven essentials of live music: celebration, by embracing live music not just for money-making but as a public good; grass roots, by nurturing grass-roots and community live music for its own sake and as an incubator of future success; safety, by prioritising fans from harm of injury, crime, violence, harassment and discrimination at live events; accessibility, by thinking and acting accordingly at all times; transport, by making live music a central part of transport policy; having a voice to promote and support the voice of music fans; and ticketing, by treating fans with respect, providing transparency and ending rip-off practices. I hope that the Government come forward sooner rather than later with the actual Bill and introduce it to Parliament. I hope that, when they do so, they also put into the Bill another recommendation in my report: to at least take the powers to put the live trust levy, which is currently voluntary, on a statutory basis to ensure that it is properly funded. Last week I attended the Great Escape music event in Brighton, which promotes new music, where I met a young man called Isaac Neilson. He is a working-class artist from the Derbyshire town of Buxton who has been trying to build his career as an artist and songwriter since 2022. Isaac is performing a gig every day in 2026 to try to build his career. He is currently on day 139 of that challenge. If any noble Lords, or anyone else listening to this debate, has any venues in their area that they think he might be able to perform at, I hope they will offer him that opportunity. I want to mention one other thing to the Government, which concerns recorded music. Battery Studios, one of our iconic studios, is in danger of closure and redevelopment. We ought by now to have measures to designate assets of cultural value to protect such places, where everyone from Paul McCartney to Kylie Minogue have recorded.