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

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in their work to help UK musicians to tour EU countries after the UK's departure from the EU.

His Majesty’s Government is committed to supporting the UK’s world-class creative industries to adapt to new arrangements following our departure from the European Union.

We have worked extensively with the sector and directly with EU Member States, and have clarified arrangements on the movement of people, goods, and haulage. We have taken steps to support specialist concert hauliers, and have worked across Government and with the sector to develop guidance including ‘landing pages’ on GOV.UK specifically for touring musicians and other professionals from the creative sectors.

Through this work, we have confirmed that:

• nearly all EU Member States offer visa- and work-permit-free routes for musicians and creative performers. This includes – following extensive engagement by the Government and the creative sector – Spain and, most recently, Greece, which announced a visa- and work-permit-free route in June 2022;

• portable musical instruments, carried or in a vehicle, can be transported cost-free and should not require ATA Carnets; and

• small ‘splitter vans’ are not subject to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement limits on ‘haulage for the creative sectors’ and ‘cross trade’. In addition, the Government has introduced dual registration to support specialist hauliers, meaning they can benefit from more generous market access arrangements in Great Britain and the EU.

We continue to work closely with the sector to support musicians and other creative professionals to tour internationally, both in the European Union and more widely.