Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of live music performances taking place in England in September 2020 in comparison to the same period last year.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to simplify tender processes for education establishments to procure cloud-based virtual learning environments.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The department has published user tested procurement guidance on GOV.UK as well as approved frameworks as part of our Buying for Schools guidance. At present this does not currently provide a recommendation for virtual learning environments, but approved frameworks are regularly reviewed to ensure they meet the current and future buying needs of schools.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, we are funding support for school 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.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what funding they will make available to education establishments to invest in virtual learning environments.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
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.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the proportion of (1) theatres, (2) live music venues, (3) concert halls, and (4) arenas, for which it would be more expensive to open under social distancing restrictions than to remain closed.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they estimate live arts performances to resume (1) with, and (2) without, social distancing restrictions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) theatres, (2) live music venues, (3) concert halls, and (4) arenas, about the average capacity needed to make a profit.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to announce sector specific support for the commercial arts sector.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that apprentices, including those on higher and degree courses, will have their courses funded to completion, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
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.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to provide funding to public sector training providers for the breaks in learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as opposed to these funds being drawn from employers' levy funding.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
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.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 24 April (HL Deb, cols 600–602) on records held by the National Lottery Heritage Fund that the fund took legal advice and that even if it had retained the records, “it would not have been able to make them available”, what was the nature of the legal advice taken; and on what grounds it was argued that such records could not be made available.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The National Lottery Heritage Fund (the Fund) took advice from its professional legal advisors as to the legal status of the Conservation Management Plans, which included advice on copyright and on the implications to the Fund if they were to make the CMPs available to third parties. The advice concluded that if the Fund disclosed the Conservation Management Plans it would risk being in breach of copyright