Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce the arts premium outlined in the most recent Conservative Party manifesto.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to high quality education for all pupils, and integral to this are the arts and music.
The Autumn Statement announced additional investment of £2 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25, over and above totals announced at the 2021 Spending Review.
This means funding for both mainstream schools and high needs is £3.5 billion higher in 2023/24, compared to 2022/23. That funding is on top of the £4 billion, year-on-year increase provided in 2022/23. In total, this represents an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in schools’ funding in just two years.
Arts education is integral to the school system and the department will also continue to invest around £115 million per annum in cultural education to 2025, through our music, arts and heritage programmes. Consideration for an Arts Premium will be given in due course.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to negotiate with the EU a visa waiver agreement for UK musicians and other artists touring and working on a temporary basis in the EU.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK took an ambitious approach to negotiations with the EU, and our proposals would have ensured that touring artists and their support staff did not need work-permits to perform in the EU. Regrettably, these were rejected by the EU.
It is not UK Government policy to negotiate visa-waivers. The Government is focussed on supporting the creative sector to adapt to requirements for touring in the EU and has now confirmed the vast majority of Member States offer visa and work permit free routes for touring. The UK Government has engaged with the remaining Member States on allowing creative professionals to tour more easily, however ultimately it is up to these countries to align their requirements more closely with the UK's generous rules.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are taking steps to make up for in full the loss of funding from Creative Europe.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government decided not to seek continued participation in the Creative Europe programme, but to look at other ways of supporting the UK’s cultural and creative sectors.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a domestic successor to the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund, and is not intended to be a replacement for Creative Europe. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is focused on building pride in place and increasing life chances, and delivered through three investment priorities: communities and place, local businesses, and people and skills.
To support independent screen content – including film – to grow internationally, the Government launched the UK Global Screen Fund in April 2021 with initial funding of £7 million. We have committed a further £21 million to this Fund over the period 2022–25 to develop, distribute, and promote independent UK screen content in international markets.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to use the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to make up for the loss of funding from Creative Europe; and if so, how much funding will be provided to that end.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government decided not to seek continued participation in the Creative Europe programme, but to look at other ways of supporting the UK’s cultural and creative sectors.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a domestic successor to the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund, and is not intended to be a replacement for Creative Europe. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is focused on building pride in place and increasing life chances, and delivered through three investment priorities: communities and place, local businesses, and people and skills.
To support independent screen content – including film – to grow internationally, the Government launched the UK Global Screen Fund in April 2021 with initial funding of £7 million. We have committed a further £21 million to this Fund over the period 2022–25 to develop, distribute, and promote independent UK screen content in international markets.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are reviewing the case for making the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras a designated point of entry and exit for items affected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has closely considered the case for designating St Pancras as a CITES Point of Entry and Exit (PoE). Given the nature of CITES trade and the demands a PoE would place on the terminal’s resources and facilities, we do not consider it appropriate to designate it at this time. Defra keeps the list of designated PoEs under review and will continue to work closely with Border Force and industry to evaluate and update the PoE list as appropriate.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve cabotage arrangements for UK musicians touring in the EU.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The dual registration measure came into force in July 2022 to enable eligible specialist events hauliers to transfer their vehicles temporarily between their two operator licences without needing to change vehicle mid-tour.
The measure allows specialist hauliers to undertake journeys in GB on the basis of their GB operator licence and to do the same in the other location on the basis of their EU Community Licence or other third country operator licence. This means specialist events hauliers using the measure benefit by not having their journeys limited by cabotage rules that apply to international operators within each territory, when touring for cultural events.
The Department understands that seven operators – which have an operating base in GB and in the EU or other third country – are currently making use of this measure.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they will make to the government of the United States of America regarding the impact on UK musicians touring in that country of any plans to increase visa costs.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Minister for Media, Tourism and the Creative Industries raised this with the US Embassy on 16 March to make clear the concerns that the UK music industry has about the increase in US visa costs. We will continue to engage the US authorities on this.
US immigration policy is ultimately a matter for the US authorities, so any decision taken on their visa fees will be for them alone. The UK Government cannot interfere in another country's processes and must respect their systems, just as we expect them to respect the UK's processes.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 15 February (HL5298), how many car accidents occurred in England between 2000 and 2016 in which the glare of car lights was recorded as either the (1) main, or (2) a contributory, factor leading to the crash.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of reported personal injury road collisions in England involving at least one car, and which had the contributory factor ‘vision affected by dazzling headlights’ assigned to the collision by a police officer attending the scene is shown in the table, for each year between 2005 and 2016. Data on contributory factors was not collected prior to 2005.
Statistics on collisions involving dazzling headlights are produced based on contributory factors assigned by police officers attending the scene of collisions. A reporting officer can assign up to six factors which in their judgement may have contributed to the collision. These factors are not based on a full investigation, and some factors may not be obvious to the officer and are therefore likely to be underreported. No distinction is made as to whether or not a factor is a ‘main’ factor.
Year | Collisions involving at least one car, where ‘vision affected by dazzling headlights’ was recorded as a contributory factor | Total collisions involving at least one car where a police officer attended and at least one contributory factor was recorded |
2005 | 373 | 116,005 |
2006 | 411 | 114,834 |
2007 | 341 | 110,142 |
2008 | 348 | 102,916 |
2009 | 305 | 100,244 |
2010 | 245 | 94,911 |
2011 | 316 | 92,553 |
2012 | 267 | 90,105 |
2013 | 296 | 84,807 |
2014 | 276 | 90,739 |
2015 | 248 | 84,637 |
2016 | 240 | 78,038 |
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 30 January (HL Deb col 415), how many car accidents have occurred in the UK in each of the last five years in which the glare of car lights was recorded as either the main or a contributory factor leading to the crash.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of reported personal injury road collisions in Great Britain involving at least one car, and which had the contributory factor ‘vision affected by dazzling headlights’ assigned to the collision by a police officer attending the scene, is shown in the table for each of the last 5 years for which data are available.
Year | *A - Vision affected by dazzling headlights | *B - Total collisions involving at least one car |
2017 | 292 | 81,385 |
2018 | 250 | 74,507 |
2019 | 258 | 69,249 |
2020 | 180 | 51,813 |
2021 | 208 | 57,915 |
Notes
*A - Collisions involving at least one car, where ‘vision affected by dazzling headlights’ was recorded as a contributory factor
*B - Total collisions involving at least one car where a police officer attended and at least one contributory factor was recorded
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Kamall on 20 October (HL Deb col 1168), whether there are ongoing discussions with the arts sector regarding a reduction in VAT on tickets; and what assessment they have made of the effect of such a measure on the sector.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
VAT is the UK’s third largest tax forecast to raise £154 billion in 2022/23, helping to fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS and policing.
In addition, a request for a VAT cut should be viewed in the context of over £50 billion of requests for relief from VAT received since the EU referendum.
Currently, there are no plans to reduce the main rate of VAT on tickets for the art sector. However, the Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the tax policy making cycle and Budget process.