Class Inequality in the Arts
Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Twycross(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
Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Twycross(1 week, 3 days ago)
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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
Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Twycross(3 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
Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Twycross(4 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
Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Twycross(6 months 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?
Live Events Ticketing: Resale and Pricing Practices
Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Twycross(1 year, 1 month ago)
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Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Mindful that your Lordships’ House is going to be debating the Royal Albert Hall Private Member’s Bill, if not next week, then the week after, I raised this issue myself. On debentures, we are consulting on a range of measures, including a price cap on the resale of tickets for live events. We will consider all views in determining the best route forward once the consultation is concluded.
Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, it is time to take action to protect fans from extortionate ticket prices and the illegal practices that are now the hallmark of the secondary ticket market, with the profits going to ticket touts rather than to the artists and performers at live events. As shadow Minister for Music and Tourism, I was pleased to put forward this policy on capping resale of live event ticket prices for the Labour manifesto. So I welcome the Government’s consultation on this policy and the call for evidence on pricing practices in the live events sector.
I must say that my actions followed years of campaigning by the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, my friend Sharon Hodgson MP and the FanFair Alliance, which has done sterling work on this. However, as my friend the Minister, Chris Bryant, said in the Commons, it is not a consultation on whether to act; it is about how we should act. I too feel that enforcement is essential in this crackdown on the black market for ticket sales. We saw so few investigations and prosecutions taking place under the previous Government. Will my noble friend the Minister and the DCMS team take that challenge on board, as other noble Lords have asked?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Absolutely. I mentioned in a previous response that there was a successful prosecution relatively recently. Without prosecutions, without teeth and without action, all the work by Members of this House, including my noble friend and others who have been campaigning for years to address these issues, will have been in vain. I am clear, as my noble friend indicates, that this needs to lead to clear action.
BBC: Impartiality
Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Twycross
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I assume that, like all organisations in the public sector, the BBC will have internal processes to monitor this, and a social media policy.
Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, the BBC does incredible work at home and abroad but it has finite resources and, let us face it, is often under attack from politicians and other media outlets. Can my noble friend the Minister confirm that, unlike successive previous Administrations, which have too often sought to undermine the BBC and its public service role, this Government will act in a way that recognises the BBC’s key role in informing the public on complex issues and its great value to the creative industries?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
I welcome my noble friend’s view on the BBC, which closely aligns with that of the Government. The BBC matters hugely to our public life and this Government are committed to supporting it so that it can succeed well into the future. In doing so, we will ensure that it is responsive to the public and able to tell inclusive stories about the lives of all people in all parts of the UK.
Olympic and Paralympic Games: Team GB
Debate between Baroness Keeley and Baroness Twycross
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
Yes, I would agree with the noble Baroness. Alongside the UK’s sports funding increase, the Government have also committed in our Autumn Budget to support elite and grass-roots sport by investing in multi-use facilities across the UK and scaling up work so that DCMS can deliver on plans for the UK and Ireland to host the 2028 UEFA European Football Championship.
Baroness Keeley (Lab)
My Lords, I declare my interests as in the register. In praising Team GB Olympic and Paralympic athletes for their continued success, I want to mention our Olympic head coach for athletics, the wonderful Paula Dunn. On community benefit from sport, in my former constituency in Salford, investment in the park tennis project has revitalised old tennis courts and is bringing people of all ages back to tennis. So I want to ask my noble friend the Minister: will the Government continue to invest in grass-roots facilities, including tennis and padel courts, particularly in areas of higher deprivation?
Baroness Twycross (Lab)
The importance of grass-roots sports facilities cannot be overstated. As I said in response to the previous question, the Government committed in the Autumn Budget to support grass-roots sport by investing in multi-use facilities across the UK. That will enable people such as those referred to by my noble friend to get the start in those sports that they need.