Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on the ability of independent artists to tour Europe after the UK has left the EU; and what assessment he has made of their ability to tour Europe in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

The Government understands that outward mobility of creative talent is key to the success of the creative industries, especially for sub-sectors like music where touring is the life-blood of the industry. We recognise the importance of temporary movement of goods and equipment for touring musicians in the sector. The White Paper on The Future Relationship between the United Kingdom and European Union includes a specific reference to the importance of mobility for cultural cooperation in its Mobility chapter.

DCMS have held a series of ministerial roundtables with the creative sector on the impacts of the UK’s exit from the EU on the creative industries, including representatives from the music industry regarding touring musicians and crews and my Department will continue this engagement as we prepare for exit.

We also know that self-employed professionals make up a large part of the sector, and that is why the government’s White Paper on The Future Relationship between the United Kingdom and European Union mentions that the UK will look to discuss mobility of self-employed and freelance workers as part of negotiations.

We firmly believe it is in the interests of both the EU and the UK to strike a deal. That remains the goal on both sides and we are confident that this will be achieved. But it is the job of a responsible Government to prepare for all scenarios, including the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal.

To date, we have published a series of 77 technical notices so that businesses and citizens have time to prepare in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario, with more to be published shortly. These do not reflect the totality of our plans, and do not reflect an increased likelihood of ‘no deal;’ an acceleration at this point was long-planned to ensure plans are in place by March 2019 in the unlikely scenario they are needed.