Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)

My Lords, I thank the Grand Committee for allowing me to speak in the gap. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Mann, for this disappointingly short but important debate. It is important because it is clear how much sports clubs contribute to civil society, our health and our economy. The noble Lord mentioned the Premier League, and obviously it is my dearest hope that Wrexham will be promoted from the Championship to the Premier League soon. Thanks to the patronage of Ryan and Rob, the whole town has benefited from that regeneration and the money that they and football have brought into the town. In 2022, DCMS estimated that the sports sector contributed £18.1 billion to the UK economy, supporting 550,000 jobs and outpacing the growth of the national economy. The previous Government invested more than £1.5 billion in grass-roots, school and elite sports, as well as a sports survival package during the Covid-19 pandemic, which provided £600 million of emergency funding to sports clubs and organisations impacted by spectator restrictions. However, this Government have hammered businesses with higher business rates and higher employers’ national insurance. The Sport and Recreation Alliance, which represents more than 100 national governing bodies, has highlighted the damaging impact of business rates across the sector, both for grass-roots groups and larger facilities. The chair of the Culture, Media and Sports Committee in the other place has warned that business rate rises translates to rising participation fees, some by as much as 85%. Do the Government recognise that higher business rates are making sport less accessible to those who cannot afford these increases? We have consistently warned the Government about the negative impacts that their economic policies are having on the sports sector. During debates on the Sporting Events Bill, we highlighted the calls from stakeholders to address increasing employment costs and higher business rates. What impact has the Employment Rights Act had on sport where work is often seasonal and contracts need to be flexible? Can the Government give an explanation why they gave a 20% cut in business rates to pubs, clubs and live music venues but failed to include sports venues? What assessments were done to analyse the impacts? The noble Lords, Lord Bassam and Lord Mann, mentioned the enterprise zones. We currently have 48 such zones in England, which allows businesses to benefit from incentives such as business rate discounts. Furthermore, all business rates growth above an agreed baseline are retained by the local authority to be reinvested in the local area. The Chancellor has said the autumn Budget will introduce greater fiscal devolution with greater business rates retention for local councils and strategic authorities. Can the Minister provide any further detail on these plans? In addition, what plans do the Government have for any new and existing enterprise zones more broadly? Businesses benefit from certainty, and those in existing enterprise zones will want to know which benefits will continue or if there will be changes. We must all be on the side of businesses, including our sports clubs, large and small. I would be interested to hear from the Minister what action the Government are taking to support those clubs and what impact assessments have been taken of their economic policies so far.