Creative Education Access Bill [HL]
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(2 days, 22 hours ago)
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Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone, on her Bill and the way she opened this Second Reading. I also welcome my noble friend the Minister to her place. I look forward to her maiden speech today and to working with her.
Last week we had a debate on the Government’s priorities. I focused on creative education and the importance of making changes to improve the uptake of music in our state schools. Our Labour Government inherited an education system in which the EBacc had squeezed music education and other arts education from the curriculum. In music this damaged both music teacher recruitment and retention and contributed to declining GCSE and A-level entries. Recruitment targets for music teacher training were missed for 11 out of 12 years, and the number of music teachers fell by 850 between 2011 and 2023. A-level music remains in crisis. Entries have fallen by 41% since 2013 to a record low of 4,635 students, while GCSE music entries are around 27% lower than they were in 2010.
As the noble Baroness said in her opening speech, this decline has not affected all young people equally. Music has one of the largest disadvantage attainment gaps of any subject. Schools in the most deprived fifth of local authorities are more likely to have no entries in some arts GCSEs. Some 54% of state schools in those areas have no GCSE music entries, compared with 21% in the least deprived authorities. I thank Professor Adam Whittaker of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Dr Anthony Anderson of Birmingham City University for the research they do on disadvantage-related attainment gaps in music education, and for providing briefings on it. Their work found that, in 18 local authorities, either only one school offers a music qualification—A-level or vocational—or, in the worst cases, none do. The list of authorities includes Knowsley, Hartlepool, South Tyneside, Rochdale, Salford and Tameside, as well as four London boroughs. As a former Salford MP, it breaks my heart to see the Salford local authority included in that list.
The Social Mobility Commission found that children from poorer backgrounds are three times less likely to learn an instrument, sing in a choir or play in an orchestra. Recently, I attended an event hosted by the excellent Royal Philharmonic Society, where three of our most gifted young musicians, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Ben Goldscheider and Jess Gillam, discussed the state of music education. These musicians were worried that music education is not in a great place and said that “it’s not what it was”. Like many musicians, they do what they can to support music in our schools, but they cannot solve these issues as individuals. It falls to us in this place to create a better future for both arts and music education in our state schools.
The United Kingdom’s music industry is one of our greatest success stories: it generates £8 billion for the economy and supports 220,000 jobs. Every performer, composer, producer, sound engineer, technician and educator begins somewhere. If we weaken music education, and arts education more broadly, we weaken the talent pipeline that feeds our universities, conservatoires, orchestras and creative industries.
I welcome the Government’s commitment to removing the EBacc performance measure, but removing a barrier is only the first step. We must rebuild the music teacher workforce, restore effective teacher training incentives, such as the bursary, expand access to instrumental tuition and ensure that children in disadvantaged communities have the same opportunities as those elsewhere. Music education is about far more than producing professional musicians; it helps young people to develop creativity, confidence, resilience and collaboration. My hope is that we can create an education system where every child and young person, whatever their background, has the chance to choose music and benefit from all that it offers.
Today’s Second Reading debate brings a welcome focus to the subject of creative education and the issues and challenges of restoring it after the damage done in recent years. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone, for enabling that focus through the Bill.
Australia: Social Media Algorithms
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(3 days, 22 hours ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Where we talk about trusted news, there is a difference between that and the misinformation and disinformation that has fuelled hate in this society. It is not about what I think that people should read but about getting a factual basis for the news sources that people have access to. We have a huge amount of misinformation and disinformation circulating. We see this spill out on to our streets with the extremist views that should be countered with this.
Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, following on from the earlier points, particularly the point about Ofcom and its use of enforcement powers, the Communications and Digital Committee is just starting an inquiry into the Online Safety Act—in effect, post-legislative scrutiny. We will be looking at that issue, but it is heartening to hear my noble friend the Minister say that the Secretary of State is already raising this with the chair of Ofcom. We want to see Ofcom using those powers. There is a very strong public feeling that it has not done so. It is a case of “Watch this space”. I would be interested to talk to the Minister about that.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I would be very happy to meet my noble friend regarding this issue. We find with all legislation that the Bill becoming law is not the end of the road. We are determined that it is enforced and that people are as protected and as safe online as possible. I look forward to hearing more about the committee’s inquiry.
Live Music
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(2 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, I too congratulate my noble friend on an excellent opening speech. My focus today is on the pipeline of musicians and the music teachers needed to train them—a pipeline damaged by young people’s lack of access to music in state schools. Our Labour Government inherited an education system where music had been squeezed out of the curriculum by the EBacc, which, from 2010, incentivised schools to focus on subjects excluding music and arts. This damaged music teacher recruitment and the take-up of music at A-level and GCSE.
A-level music remains in crisis. Only 4,635 students took it this year—a record low, down 41% since 2013. GCSE music entries are around 27% down since 2010. Music teacher training and recruitment have fallen by around 51% since 2010-11 and it remains a shortage subject. Even last year’s welcome rise in the number of trainees came with a warning: the number of music teachers with no relevant qualification beyond A-level rose by 10% in a single year.
Teach First found that schools in the poorest areas are three times more likely to lack a trained music teacher, and 17% do not offer music A-level at all—more than triple the rate of schools in the most affluent areas. The Social Mobility Commission found that children from the poorest backgrounds are three times less likely than wealthier pupils to learn an instrument, sing in a choir or play in an orchestra.
UK Music has warned that fewer trained teachers and a shrinking A-level cohort are damaging the industry’s talent pipeline. Without music in schools, music in the economy, culture and society will be seriously impacted. This Labour Government have rightly committed to scrapping the EBacc, but now we face the task of rebuilding music education, particularly in state schools in our most deprived areas. I urge my noble friend the Minister to press DfE Ministers to do all they can to reverse this decline we inherited by rebuilding the music teacher workforce and restoring the bursary for music teacher training, so that every young person, whatever their background, has the chance to choose music.
Class Inequality in the Arts
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(6 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The Government are already investing in arts and culture, and over the course of this Parliament they will invest £1.5 billion in capital funding for arts and culture. We are also investing in making sure that opportunities should never depend on background or schooling, and we are committed to ensuring that everyone can succeed in the arts. This includes looking at how we can encourage people to offer and take up apprenticeships. More importantly, it is about making sure the right people are in the room and that everyone knows that that room even exists.
Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, the Music and Dance Scheme schools, such as Chetham’s in Manchester and the Hammond school in Chester, give talented children from disadvantaged backgrounds access to world-class training. These eight schools are a success story, yet their future is endangered after funding was frozen or cut in real terms from 2010 to 2024. Without renewed investment, this pathway will disappear, reinforcing the class ceiling we are discussing. Can the Minister confirm whether additional funding will be found so that these schools can continue their vital specialist educational work?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
We are working with the DWP and Skills England to define and develop the growth and skills offer, and that also includes working with the DfE on how we make sure that as many children as possible can access specialist and general music and dance education. We recognise it is important to revitalise arts education, which is why there was a focus on this in the reformed national curriculum.
UK Streaming and Cinema Sector
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(6 months, 1 week ago)
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Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, we will have the Cross Benches next, then we will come to Labour.
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Public service broadcasters are vital, and it is important for us to recognise how central YouTube is to a number of young people’s access to content. We welcome Ofcom’s recommendation that public service broadcasters and platforms such as YouTube work together urgently to ensure that public service media content is made prominent on fair terms. We are considering Ofcom’s recommendation for legislation to support this. However, we want to see the outcome of these discussions in the first instance and encourage YouTube and PSBs to work together to try to achieve a deeper partnership that could benefit them and audiences. If I have not quite answered the noble Viscount’s question, I am happy to pick that up with him afterwards.
Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, I join the noble Lord, Lord Black, in welcoming the news that he mentioned and highlighting the importance of intellectual property and the UK’s copyright regime. Other jurisdictions are now moving away from weakening copyright. Australia has ruled out new exceptions, creators are prevailing in cases in the US courts and EU policymakers are exploring stronger rights. Does my noble friend the Minister accept that weakening UK copyright law now would be economically and strategically misguided, just as the value of high-quality creative content is becoming clearer to AI developers and legislators worldwide?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The Government want a copyright regime that values and protects human creativity, can be trusted and unlocks innovation. As I mentioned, expert working groups and a parliamentary working group have been convened and stakeholders will continue to be engaged as Ministers consider all options. I have been told that I can confidently say that we will publish a full report, economic impact assessment and consultation response by 18 March. I look forward to future debates covering the outcome of that process.
Arts and Creative Industries: Social Mobility
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(9 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Noble Lords will be aware that unpaid internships are already largely banned. The law is clear that if an individual is classed as a worker, they are entitled to at least the national minimum wage, and anybody eligible must be paid accordingly. The Government published a call for evidence on unpaid internships, which closed recently, and our response is due to be published in early 2026. I am happy to meet the noble Viscount to discuss this and other issues raised in the excellent report by BECTU; I will also draw his attention to the response on unpaid internships when it is published.
Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, music hubs play a key role in teaching music in state schools, so they play a key role in social mobility for the careers in music, stage, film and theatre that we are talking about. The management of music hubs is the subject of a tender that was due to be placed currently but has now been postponed until the new year. I know this is causing concern, so can my noble friend the Minister talk to our noble friend Lady Smith, who is sitting next to her, to ensure that the tender and the setting up of the national centre for arts and music education go ahead as planned?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The Government are making good progress on the national centre for arts and music education, which will lead the music hubs programme from September next year. As my noble friend rightly identifies, this is a DfE programme, so I will offer to write to her with the details she asks for.
BBC Leadership
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(10 months ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The World Service is renowned and revered the world over. I can reassure the right reverend Prelate that this Government believe that it plays an essential role in our global democracy. As the Secretary of State said in her remarks yesterday, which have been repeated in your Lordships’ House, it is a light on the hill for people in places of darkness. This Government strongly support the World Service and will continue to do so.
Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, I think it is now broadly accepted that the BBC made a serious error in broadcasting the edited clip on “Panorama”, and that it did not act swiftly enough to issue an apology. But it is deeply concerning to hear today from respected BBC journalists Kirsty Lang and Misha Glenny that they are firmly convinced that the BBC is under an unprecedented level of political pressure that threatens its future existence. They rightly say that allowing the BBC to fail would be disastrous for our democracy and Britain’s reputation around the world.
Will my noble friend the Minister work with the Secretary of State to address these deep concerns about political pressures? Will we do whatever we can to improve the governance of the BBC? Will those of us who support the BBC as our most trusted news brand be vocal, as we are mainly in today’s Statement, in our support for our national broadcaster, particularly as it now has to fill those two difficult leadership roles and prepare to go forward to the charter review?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
For any public service broadcaster, accountability and trust are key, including in relation to the board. But what is important here is that the BBC maintains the high standards for which it is rightfully recognised, both nationally and internationally. It is right that the Government continue to support and work with the BBC, as an important national institution, and to manage the leadership transition. A number of the issues that my noble friend raised are likely to be addressed through the charter review, but I would be happy to meet with her to discuss the concerns that have been raised with her directly and to make sure that the Secretary of State is aware of them.
UK and EU Trade: Arts and Creative Industries
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I agree that they are an important part of soft power. I revert to the noble Lord on specifics around the UK Soft Power Council, which he has managed successfully to segue to from a quite specific Question. I will write to the noble Lord in due course.
Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, before the EU-UK summit in May, I raised the issue of withholding tax which impacts our orchestras when they tour in Germany, Spain and Italy. In Germany, withholding tax is reclaimable, but it can take two years to be refunded. One orchestra has £200,000 outstanding and will shortly claim another £50,000 but then have to wait two years. Removing or reforming Article 17 of the UK’s tax treaties with the EU or its member states could help to resolve this. Can my noble friend the Minister tell me whether our Government will try to find a resolution of this vital issue, which is having such a detrimental impact on the cash flow of British orchestras touring to the EU?
Oral Answers to Questions
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(2 years, 3 months ago)
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Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)
The Guardian reports that, as a result of the Conservative Government’s Brexit deal, the costs of touring in the EU are now so high that 74% fewer UK bands are now touring there. The UK touring scene is all the more valuable for musicians and bands now, but opportunities to perform here are being lost, as music venues and festivals are forced to close due to rocketing operational costs. Does the Secretary of State see just how the Government have failed the music industry? Is it not time for a Labour Government, who will support our excellent musicians, our venues and our festivals?
Julia Lopez
I appreciate the hon. Member raising the concerns of the music industry because we, too, very much want to support it. When I first joined the Department, the industry was very vocal about some of the challenges of touring, and we methodically worked through those challenges to make sure that some of them were eased. We have also supported grassroots venues. However, I often wonder whether, when Labour Members raise these points in the Chamber, they do not have an ulterior motive. I am keen to see whether they will put in their own local manifestos their desire to rejoin the European Union.
Budget Resolutions
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(2 years, 6 months ago)
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Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)
In his Budget speech, the Chancellor said he wanted to recognise the contribution of our creative industries and the tourism that comes from orchestras, museums, galleries and theatres. It was welcome that the Budget made permanent the tax reliefs they can claim. However, this Budget comes at a time when funding for our arts and culture sector is widely seen to be in crisis. Local authorities are the biggest funders of arts and culture, but years of cuts from Conservative-led Governments mean that the funding previously spent on supporting orchestras to work in communities, investing in grassroots music venues or strengthening the pipeline of talent into the music industry has fallen by 43% since 2010. The Local Government Association reports that more than a third of local authorities are saying that they need to make cost savings on arts and culture to balance the books. That balancing of the books has become ever harder at a time of increasing need for social care, children’s services and support for homelessness.
The decline of support for music is most worrying in music education, where music and art subjects are being squeezed out for pupils in state schools. There has been a drop in the number of music teachers, a drop in the number of hours music is taught, a drop in the take-up of music subjects at GCSE and A-level, and a drop in funding in state schools. Just 15% of state-school students receive sustained music tuition compared with half of children at independent schools, which still believe in music education.
Music hubs have a vital role in providing high-quality music education, providing it to 87% of schools in England, yet the funding for music hubs has declined in real terms over the last decade. Their financial viability will come under even further threat in September if the Government end their funding of the teachers’ pension scheme for the thousands of music teachers engaged by music hubs. This has only been extended to August, so there is a great deal of uncertainty. By not addressing this issue and by bringing about the decline of music education in state schools, the Government risk losing music teachers, future musicians and the audiences of the future. They also fail to offer children access to an activity with many benefits for their academic, social and emotional development.
There are further challenges for the music industry. For musicians looking to tour overseas, the Government’s failure to negotiate a touring agreement with the EU has had devastating impacts on pay and career progression, particularly for developing artists. Added to that, we have failings at His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in issuing A1 forms on time, and that is causing long delays and financial penalties for UK musicians who tour Europe. It is not acceptable that touring musicians are now waiting up to a year to be paid due to HMRC’s failings.
Musicians hoping to play closer to home in one of England’s brilliant music venues or one of our festivals may now find fewer options. Over 125 grassroots music venues were lost in 2023, according to the Music Venue Trust, and 15 festivals have already been forced to postpone or cancel this year. Music events are important for the visitor economy. UK Music estimates that over 14 million music tourists come to the UK every year, and they spend £6.5 billion while they are here. The Music Venue Trust reports that every £10 spent on a live music ticket is worth £17 to the area’s local economy. Grassroots venues are where many musicians learn their trade. The Bath music venue Moles helped to launch the careers of Ed Sheeran, Oasis and Radiohead, but it was one of the 15% of grassroot music venues that closed their doors last year.
The Budget missed many opportunities for the Government to help the music industry, and Ministers have failed to address the issues I have raised. Today my right hon. and learned Friend the Leader of the Opposition said
“It is short-sighted and frankly immoral, to allow arts and culture to become the domain of a few privileged pupils… Britain is a world leader in music and film, but we are holding back masses of potential because the Conservatives’ creativity crisis is shutting kids out.”
Fourteen years of Conservative Governments undervaluing culture and music have created that creativity crisis, and I am delighted that Labour’s mission is to break down the barrier to opportunity in music in the arts. Labour’s former Culture Secretary, Lord Smith of Finsbury, said that he believed his role from 1997 to 2001 was about
“all the things that for ordinary people make life worth living.”
If elected, Labour will unleash a generation of creativity, so that every child gets access to creative subjects, not just the privileged few, and I welcome that.