Lord Aberdare

The Withdrawal Agreement protects UK nationals who live or are a frontier worker in an EU Member State at the end of the Transition Period. Those who have had a professional qualification recognised under the EU legislation listed in the Withdrawal Agreement will keep the right to practise the profession in the Member State in which they live or work. This includes many professions in scope of the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive such as engineering and accounting.

As of 1 January 2021, UK-qualified professionals who wish to supply services in the EU should seek recognition for their qualifications using the national rules in EU Member States. Professionals should check the European Commission’s Regulated Professions Database to find out if their profession is regulated in the state in which they are seeking to work. They should then contact the single point of contact for that country to find out how to get their professional qualification recognised. Alternatively, they can seek advice from the UK Centre for Professional Qualifications (UK NARIC) to find out which regulatory or professional body they should contact.

The UK-EU TCA provides a framework under which the UK and the EU may agree Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) on the recognition of professional qualification covering the UK and all 27 EU Member States. Once an arrangement is adopted under the TCA, UK professionals will be able to use the terms outlined in the arrangement to secure recognition for their professional qualifications within EU Member States.

Arrangements are implemented on a profession-by-profession basis and depend upon reciprocal cooperation from both the UK and EU Member States. The framework enables UK and EU professional bodies or authorities to make recommendations on MRAs to the Partnership Council.  Once an arrangement has been adopted, a professional qualified in the UK (e.g. an engineer) will be able to use the terms outlined in the arrangement to secure recognition of their qualifications within an EU Member State.

The Government continues to engage with stakeholders in the tourism sector to hear their priorities for the UK’s future relationship with the EU. Officials are currently engaging with the tourism trade bodies, including the British Association of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML) to gather feedback on priority regulators and qualifications for the tourism sector.

The Performing Arts guidance was developed in collaboration with the live events sectors to help venues put on live events in a covid secure manner.

The Secretary of State announced an unprecedented £1.57 billion support package for the cultural sector which will benefit the music sector by providing support to venues and many other cultural organisations to stay open and continue operating. So far, over £500 million has been announced from the Culture Recovery Fund for over 2,000 cultural organisations across England, almost a fifth of which has, so far, gone to the music sector. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations including venues, festivals and theatres.

As part of this, £3.36 million was shared between 136 grassroots music venues across England which had successfully applied for emergency support in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. These emergency grants of up to £80,000 enabled venues to cover ongoing running costs incurred during closure, such as rent and utilities but also allowed them the chance to adapt to become covid secure for socially distanced live audiences when permitted.

In order to propagate best practice across the industry, the Entertainment and Events Working Group gathers key industry bodies to help produce detailed guidance and ensure that the latest updates to that guidance are shared with their sectors.

We recognise that businesses and workers in the creative industries have been severely impacted by Covid-19.

The Government has not made an assessment of the number of workers who have left the music, performing arts and creative sector since March. We have worked closely with music and cultural sector representative bodies to maximise the survival of businesses and employee retention in the sector, through the extensive range of support the Government has provided to businesses and the self-employed.

We are committed to continuing to work with the music and cultural sectors to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.

Since Thursday 5 November, new national restrictions have been in force in England to control the spread of coronavirus and to limit contacts between households.

During this period, performing arts venues such as theatres, concert halls (including grassroots music venues) and entertainment venues can continue to operate under Stages 1 and 2 of the performing arts roadmap. This means performing arts professionals may continue to rehearse and train, and perform for broadcast or recording purposes. Other than for this purpose, these venues must close.

We have always said that further reopening of the performing arts sector would be dependent on the public health context at the time. DCMS has convened a Venues Steering Group which includes representatives from leading sector organisations as well as Public Health England and other experts to develop an action plan for maximizing activity under Stages 3 and 4, when it is permitted again, and for how we safely proceed to Stage 5 of the roadmap. DCMS will continue to work with these sectors to establish an appropriate pilot process for testing the return to stage 5 activity when appropriate and are working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care on the Government Mass Testing Programme.

No estimate is available currently for the impact of Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) on creative and music sector workers specifically.

As of 31 July, a total of 2.6 million people have claimed a SEISS grant with the value of these claims totalling £7.6 billion. More than two thirds of cultural freelancers received support through SEISS.

9.6 million employments have been furloughed through CJRS for at least part of the period between March to June. These claims have been made by 1.16 million employers, with 61% of eligible employers claiming.

We recognise that the music and creative sectors has been severely impacted by Covid-19. We continue to meet with stakeholders to discuss the challenges facing the industry.

No estimate is available currently for this but we are continuing to meet with live music stakeholders to understand the specific impacts that Covid is having on the whole industry.

The Chancellor has announced the Winter Economy Plan to protect jobs and support businesses over the coming months, once the existing SEISS and CJRS come to end. From November, the Jobs Support Scheme will provide further support to returning workers, while the extended Self-Employed Income Support Scheme will aid the self-employed who are currently actively trading but are facing reduced demand.

In addition, the Secretary of State provided a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This support package will benefit the live music sector by providing support to venues and many other organisations to stay open and continue operating.

As part of this support package, £3.36 million has been shared among 136 venues across England who applied for the Emergency Grassroot Music Venues Fund. This funding has supported grassroots venues to survive the imminent risk of collapse caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to the live music sector.

No estimate is available currently for this but we are continuing to meet with live music stakeholders to provide support and guidance for venues to re-open and stage live events.

As part of the Government’s 5 stage roadmap to get performing arts and live entertainment sectors back up and running as soon as possible, venues and organisations are able to put on live performances in front of a socially-distanced audience in line with the latest Covid secure guidance.

We recognise that the live music industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by Covid-19. We continue to meet with the stakeholders to discuss the specific issues facing the industry.

We appreciate that the Covid-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to the live music sector.

No estimate is currently available. However, through our ongoing dialogues with industry, we are aware that there are significantly fewer events taking place when compared to the same period last year.

As part of the Government’s 5 stage roadmap to get performing arts and live entertainment sectors back up and running as soon as possible, venues and organisations are able to put on live performances in front of a socially-distanced audience in line with the latest Covid secure guidance.

We recognise that the live music industry and its supply chain has been severely impacted by Covid-19. We continue to meet with the stakeholders to discuss the specific issues facing the industry.

On 5 July, DCMS announced a major £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. This funding will provide targeted support to organisations across a range of sectors, including performing arts and theatres, museums and galleries, heritage sites, live music venues and independent cinema.

We want this package to support organisations across the cultural, heritage and creative sectors, and will publish further detailed guidance as soon as possible in July.

As part of continued engagement with our sectors, DCMS Ministers, and officials have spoken to many organisations in the arts and culture sectors directly, as well as arms-length bodies and sector representatives.

Through this engagement we know that the capacity needed to make a profit varies not just between the sub-sectors, but also between individual organisations and on an even more granular level, what those organisations programme. These considerations, as well as costs relating to staffing, fixed costs, maintenance, production costs, and loans, also impact upon the size of the possible finance gap an organisation may have when considering when and whether to reopen.

Following the establishment of the Cultural Renewal Taskforce, on 23 June the Prime Minister announced that from 4 July theatres will be permitted to reopen for rehearsal, pre-production and broadcast, although not yet for live performance with an audience. Alongside the work that we are doing with representatives of the entertainment and events industry to develop supporting guidance, this represents the first steps in the roadmap to recovery for our nations’ theatres.

The Government remains committed to supporting the cultural sector through this pandemic and getting the curtain up at venues for live performances across the country as soon as it is safe to do so.

As part of continued engagement with our sectors, DCMS Ministers, and officials have spoken to many organisations in the arts and culture sectors directly, as well as arms-length bodies and sector representatives.

Through this engagement we know that the capacity needed to make a profit varies not just between the sub-sectors, but also between individual organisations and on an even more granular level, what those organisations programme. These considerations, as well as costs relating to staffing, fixed costs, maintenance, production costs, and loans, also impact upon the size of the possible finance gap an organisation may have when considering when and whether to reopen.

Following the establishment of the Cultural Renewal Taskforce, on 23 June the Prime Minister announced that from 4 July theatres will be permitted to reopen for rehearsal, pre-production and broadcast, although not yet for live performance with an audience. Alongside the work that we are doing with representatives of the entertainment and events industry to develop supporting guidance, this represents the first steps in the roadmap to recovery for our nations’ theatres.

The Government remains committed to supporting the cultural sector through this pandemic and getting the curtain up at venues for live performances across the country as soon as it is safe to do so.

As part of continued engagement with our sectors, DCMS Ministers, and officials have spoken to many organisations in the arts and culture sectors directly, as well as arms-length bodies and sector representatives.

Through this engagement we know that the capacity needed to make a profit varies not just between the sub-sectors, but also between individual organisations and on an even more granular level, what those organisations programme. These considerations, as well as costs relating to staffing, fixed costs, maintenance, production costs, and loans, also impact upon the size of the possible finance gap an organisation may have when considering when and whether to reopen.

Following the establishment of the Cultural Renewal Taskforce, on 23 June the Prime Minister announced that from 4 July theatres will be permitted to reopen for rehearsal, pre-production and broadcast, although not yet for live performance with an audience. Alongside the work that we are doing with representatives of the entertainment and events industry to develop supporting guidance, this represents the first steps in the roadmap to recovery for our nations’ theatres.

The Government remains committed to supporting the cultural sector through this pandemic and getting the curtain up at venues for live performances across the country as soon as it is safe to do so.

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the department is investing £14.3 million to fund expert technical support for schools to get set up on an accredited digital education environment. Using this funding, schools and multi academy trusts can apply to get set up on one of two free-to-use digital education environments: Google’s G Suite for Education or Microsoft’s Office 365 Education.

Further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-with-technology-for-remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19#get-help-using-online-education-platforms.

We understand that apprentices, including those undertaking higher level and degree apprenticeships, may face disruption to their learning as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

We are supporting employers and training and assessment providers to make use of distance-learning tools, wherever it is possible and practicable to do so, to enable as many people as possible to continue with and complete their apprenticeships.

We recognise that some apprentices may be unable to undertake training at present and that training providers may not currently be able to deliver it. We have therefore temporarily changed the funding rules to allow employers and providers to initiate a break in learning of over 4 weeks to ensure that apprentices can promptly resume their learning when they can do so.

Funding remains available for all apprentices continuing their apprenticeships, including higher level and degree apprenticeships.

Further guidance for apprentices, employers and providers can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-apprenticeship-programme-response.

We are keeping this guidance under review and will publish updates as the situation evolves.

We are working with training providers, end-point assessment organisations and external quality assurance organisations during this challenging time to support employers and apprentices.

We are encouraging training providers to deliver training to apprentices remotely and via e-learning as far as it is practicable. Where that is not possible and a break in learning of more than 4 weeks is necessary, payments to the training provider will be suspended for the duration of the break in learning. For levy-paying employers, this means that payments from their apprenticeship service accounts will be paused. Further guidance for employers and training providers is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-apprenticeship-programme-response.

Where the COVID-19 outbreak results in loss of income due to ceased or reduced delivery of training, training providers should consider their eligibility and apply for the wide range of financial support that HM Treasury has announced for businesses. Full details of this substantial package of support can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses.