Nationally Significant Cultural Institutions: Capital Maintenance Costs

Monday 2nd November 2026 Lords Chamber

Question

14:50

Asked by

[Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie]

To ask His Majesty’s Government, in the light of the reported repair requirements of the Royal Opera House, what support they intend to provide to nationally significant cultural institutions facing substantial capital maintenance costs.

[Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Con)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. In doing so, I draw the House’s attention to my relevant interests, particularly as a board member of Creative Scotland and a former board member and current sub-committee member of the British Library.

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Dacres of Lewisham) (Lab)]

This Government are committed to supporting our world-renowned cultural institutions. Fit-for-purpose infrastructure is vital to that success, which is why we are investing £1.5 billion to address the capital needs of cultural organisations across England. Through our creative foundations fund, the Royal Opera House has been awarded £5 million this year for urgent conservation work and structural repair, safeguarding that premier venue and supporting its progress towards net zero.

[Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Con)]

My Lords, the creative foundations fund, while welcome, will not address the stark capital crisis identified by the noble Baroness, Lady Hodge. Where is the longer-term strategic approach, and what can the Minister say in response to the sector, which has called last week’s Budget a missed opportunity, ignoring calls for theatre tax relief to cover the true cost of touring and excluding theatres from business rates reductions? Rather than giving institutions such as the Royal Opera House breathing space, are these short-term measures not more likely to suffocate ballet, opera and theatres?

[Baroness Dacres of Lewisham (Lab)]

This Government are deeply committed to supporting our world-renowned venues of culture and visual arts. It is important to mention that it has been over a decade since this sector has seen such investment in it—£1.5 billion of investment in arts and culture has definitely raised the bar and it is there to help all the different bodies within the sector. It is also important that there is £425 million in the creative foundations fund, which helps to support capital need, which is challenging for a great number of these industries.

[Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome the investment that this Government are making in Britain’s cultural infrastructure, not just at the Royal Opera House but at venues across the country. However, given the Prime Minister’s commitment to devolving powers to regional and local government, can my noble friend comment on whether we can expect further devolution of powers in arts and culture?

[Baroness Dacres of Lewisham (Lab)]

This Government are dedicated and committed to devolution of power, resources and decision-making to the heart of our communities. This is why mayors are empowered through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act to have strategic control over regional cultural investments. As I said, that brings the decision-making closer to those able to see, witness and experience our arts and culture, which we are extremely proud of, and we welcome that.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, last week I saw “The Standard of Living”, about that great Liberal and founder of the Arts Council, Maynard Keynes. Forget the maintenance—he actually built a theatre for his wife. We can no longer build but we need to maintain, and we on these Benches believe he knew a thing or two about the need for intervention for economic renewal. The majority of venues on the theatres at risk register are regional, such as Cambridge. Will the Minister make the case to the Treasury for extending the pubs and live music venues business rates relief in England to theatres?

[Baroness Dacres of Lewisham (Lab)]

This Government are dedicated to supporting the arts, including the visual arts and the organisations that the noble Baroness mentioned. We had a Budget focused on giving that breathing space not only to individuals and families but to businesses, and that includes our arts, visual culture and music venues. That is something that our Government will continue to support, not only through the £1.5 billion of funding across this Parliament but through the £425 million from the creative foundations fund.

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the best ways in which not just the Royal Opera House but other arts and cultural organisations could be supported would be to write off the Covid loans or turn them into non-repayable grants? That is how it was set up for Germany’s institutions, which have long left the Covid era behind them, whereas our organisations still have to pay massive amounts of interest, harmful to our arts, harmful to the organisations concerned and destructive to society, since this is our money which is being moved around in such a detrimental fashion.

[Baroness Dacres of Lewisham (Lab)]

I thank the noble Earl, because he raises an interesting point. I remind the House that this Government were resolute that such recovery funds were loans and should be cleared and repaid. Organisations facing severe financial difficulties can approach the Arts Council to explore adjusting repayment schedules, but this needs to be done under strict guidance and be a measure of last resort.

[Lord Mendoza (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of Historic England. In 2024, DCMS put out the Purcell report, looking at the deficit of maintenance in our cultural infrastructure. It came up with a figure of some £7 billion. One of our biggest problems is that we need the skilled labour to do this work. At Historic England, we estimate that about 100,000 jobs could be created for young people. We need desperately to get these skills in there, because there are companies out there that cannot take on the jobs even if we could pay for them, and only 14% of companies in the heritage construction sector employ people under the age of 25. Does the Minister agree that it would be wonderful if we could incentivise the construction sector to take on apprentices, to take on young people to teach them the skills that we need in this country to produce economic growth in this incredibly important sector?

[Baroness Dacres of Lewisham (Lab)]

I agree 100% with what the noble Lord said, which is why this Government are putting all their effort into ensuring that we are getting that talent pipeline. We have specialist heritage apprenticeships and national arts education pipelines to ensure just that.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, more generally in relation to opera, will my noble friend remind the party opposite that it was under its watch that the Arts Council was pressurised into basically defunding much of English National Opera’s support? It reduced the amount of money for opera touring. If we are looking seriously at devolution, can we ask the Arts Council to re-examine its approach to traditional opera, and to touring opera in particular?

[Baroness Dacres of Lewisham (Lab)]

My noble friend raises an interesting point. The Arts Council is doing a lot of work when it comes to innovative funding. That was one of the main points of the Hodge review. Not only that but we are making sure that we are putting that investment in now, with £1.5 billion through our Arts Everywhere fund, ensuring that everyone, everywhere, regardless of their socioeconomic background, has access to the arts.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, among our nationally significant cultural institutions are our great cathedrals and churches, yet many are at risk of closing their doors due to the costs of maintenance and repairs, such as Southwell Minster, which unsuccessfully applied to the places of worship renewal fund. What is more, the fund is for England only. Does the Minister recognise the cultural contribution of our places of worship across the UK? If so, will she look to restore the previous listed places of worship grant scheme, which was UK wide?

[Baroness Dacres of Lewisham (Lab)]

As the noble Baroness will know, a lot of this funding is devolved to the nations and regions. Our capital grant scheme offers more targeted support for the faith sector than the VAT rebate scheme that was mentioned. Over £230 million is being invested in such heritage buildings, with £42 million invested into the heritage revival fund. We must make sure that when different organisations, faiths and places of worship apply for grants, it is dealt with in a fair and balanced way, at arm’s length from the Government and by the Arts Council, so that it is devoid of political interference.