Arts Education

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Tuesday 7th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The curriculum and assessment review considered media literacy and preparing young people for life and work. The revised curriculum will strengthen media literacy through English and citizenship, enabling pupils to critically engage with content through different media channels. Schools can continue to offer GCSEs in media studies and film studies. DCMS supported its creative and cultural sectors, including the screen sectors, to contribute to the independent curriculum and assessment review’s call for evidence. We will continue to work closely with the Department for Education to support our sectors to respond to the consultation on the draft national curriculum.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her Question. Is the Minister aware that the Department for Education is cutting the strategic priorities grant in higher education that supports media and journalism? It is also excluding them from new maintenance grants and the lifelong learning entitlement—all this while Skills England has just identified media and journalism as a key occupational shortage area. Would she agree that this is the type of strategic misalignment we do not want if we are to battle misinformation and support the Government’s impressive creative industries sector plan?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

My strategic misalignment was to get answers that relate to music and arts education but not to journalism. I am happy to write to the noble Baroness on this issue.

Live Music

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Brennan. As the last debate was a little short, maybe at the end he could give us a little performance.

From concerts and festivals in stadiums and fields to small local venues, such as churches, mosques, temples and pubs, as the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, mentioned, music brings us together as a nation, as my friend the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, said. It is about celebration, as mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Brennan.

I want to mention the BBC: it champions live music, providing a wide range to suit everyone’s taste, including that which is not played anywhere else. It nurtures and launches British musicians’ careers. The BBC Proms, the five British BBC orchestras and the BBC Singers support an amazing education programme across the UK. We need to get the next charter review right and secure sustainable funding for the BBC; otherwise, there will be disruption not just to our media ecosystem but to that of the UK’s creative industries, including music.

Then there is the disaster that is Brexit. I am so pleased that I can still debate with the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty—welcome. Europe-wide touring for British musicians has been severely crippled by bureaucratic post-Brexit barriers, and the Government have so far failed to achieve tangible progress for musicians as part of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Can the Minister tell us whether there is any progress with short-term work permits and the 90-day rule?

Al Pinkerton, my colleague in another place, has a Private Members’ Bill which asks for a bespoke custom union deal with the EU. This is a sensible and practical way forward. It would provide solutions and could open negotiations to rejoin Creative Europe. It could also provide touring artists with expanded creative opportunities and frictionless travel for themselves and their instruments. Would the Minister agree that we need such pragmatic thinking to address these issues?

I have not got time, but I completely agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Gill, about the problem of AI.

Media Green Paper

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes an interesting point. The whole idea of prominence is to ensure that people know the difference between trusted sources of news and opinion, and that is where the prominence issue comes in by looking at ways we can make sure that such sites come further up in the searches that people make. On the specific question, I would say it would depend whether the item on a particular news programme was opinion purporting to be fact or more factual.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, we welcome the Green Paper, which rightly recognises the severe financial challenges facing our PSBs, vividly exposed by the recent devastating cuts at the BBC. We have long proposed on these Benches that the BBC World Service should be fully funded directly from an FCDO budget, freeing up millions of pounds per year. The World Service is so important both for underpinning soft power and for the security implications of guaranteeing a source of trusted news in a polarised world. Will the Minister take this on board and tell us what conversations her department is having with the Foreign Office on this really important matter?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

One of the real strengths of the BBC is that it is such a trusted source of news, and that is behind a lot of the issues within this. On the ongoing discussions with the FCDO, I am happy to meet the noble Baroness to discuss that. As she is aware, another Minister in the department deals with this. The Secretary of State has referred to the BBC’s overseas coverage as

“a light on the hill”,—[Official Report, Commons, 16/4/26; col. 992.]

and somewhere that people go to, so we do recognise the real importance of the World Service.

Sporting Events Bill [HL]

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 22nd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My Lords, I start by declaring that, further to the comments made by my noble friend Lord Hayward, if I was ever to win anything significant, it would definitely be by a massive stroke of luck.

The Government’s clearly stated intention for the Bill is to create an event-agnostic framework that can be applied to certain future sporting events without requiring new primary legislation. The Government have been very open in their belief that the Bill will cover all those possible scenarios. Our amendments seek to probe to see whether this is the case. The amendments are made in the spirit of helpfulness, as I know are the other amendments made by my noble friends and the noble Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter.

By way of an example, say we wish to bid for one of the major and very large events, such as the Olympics or the World Cup. The delivery of those events requires significant cross-sector effort, bringing together national governing and representative bodies for the sports, such as the British Olympic Association or the Football Association; local government, including the host cities; and central government departments. We might need to construct new stadia or event spaces, purchase land and improve public transport links, for example.

Hosting such an event would potentially require the creation of a specific body to co-ordinate and oversee the event’s organisation. This is the approach that we are all very familiar with and something that we had to do with the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006, with which we created the Olympic Delivery Authority to work alongside the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The ODA was responsible for the redevelopment of the Stratford area, the construction of the sporting ventures, and the infrastructure and transport planning—all things I was very familiar with as a previous chair of the London and Continental Railways, which developed a lot of that work.

The Bill, however, does not provide a mechanism for the Government to create a delivery authority for a sporting event, should it become necessary. If Ministers needed to establish such a body for future events they would require primary legislation. Of course, this is an outcome that we all wish to avoid and it is the Government’s stated intention. If it transpires that bespoke primary legislation is indeed required for a future sporting event, what is the purpose of the Bill that we are trying to pass?

Amendments 2A, 6A, 58A, 58B and 61A, in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Parkinson, seek to rectify this shortcoming by creating a mechanism for the Secretary of State to establish a delivery authority if they believe it necessary. In drafting these amendments, I have taken inspiration from the provisions in the 2006 Act, which established the Olympic Delivery Authority, and amended them so that they can be applied generally to any event to which the framework applies. Amendments 58A and 58B seek to allow the Secretary of State to establish transfer schemes to the delivery authority and for the authority to be dissolved by order.

Amendment 61A seeks to insert a new schedule into the Bill. The first part of this proposed new schedule would provide for the establishment of a delivery authority and sets out the authority’s general functions. Those are to

“prepare for the sporting event … make arrangements in preparation for or in connection with the use or management … of premises and other facilities acquired, constructed or adapted in preparation for the sporting event … ensure that adequate arrangements are made for the provision, management and control of facilities for transport in connection with the sporting event, and … ensure the safety of individuals participating in or attending the … event”.

Part 2 of the proposed new Schedule sets out the constitution of a delivery authority, including membership of between seven and 11 people, the appointment of a chair and chief executive, and the procedure for removing members. Part 3 would provide procedural rules of delegation by the authority and seeks for the Secretary of State to require the authority to submit a report on the authority’s progress, which must be laid before Parliament. Part 4 would allow the Secretary of State to provide the authority with financial assistance, if necessary, subject to the affirmative resolution of the Bill.

I am aware that other provisions may be needed in secondary legislation. I will not pretend that we have all the detail behind this right, but we are trying to set out likely scenarios in which we would have to set up such a delivery authority and the things that would need to be considered. We are trying to build those into the framework. We ask the Government to come back more thoroughly on the schedules that would be needed, but we hope these are helpful by way of example.

I hope that the Minister understands the point that I am trying to make. If the Government believe that this Bill, when passed, will never need further primary legislation then it needs to cover all the possible requirements for future events. If we hope to host some major sporting events in the future then we may well need a delivery authority to support such an event. These amendments would allow the Government to do just that. I beg to move.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, my amendment covers a slightly different area. It seeks to ensure that cultural events affiliated with a sporting event are part of the Bill’s scope. We on these Benches support the Bill’s aim to create a legislative framework. However, past experience has shown that cultural events such as the Cultural Olympiad were hard to include and very much seen as an afterthought. Those of us who witnessed and participated in the events in 2012 will argue that they were far from that; they were integral and magnificent—the opening and closing ceremonies, and the cultural coming together across the UK.

The Bill’s current wording refers to events “sporting or otherwise” and

“held in connection with the sporting event”.

This is a probing amendment that seeks assurance from the Minister that this is the case and asks her to consider making the reference to cultural events more explicit.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

My Lords, Amendments 3 and 4 are in my name. I am grateful for the support of the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson. Although it is a pro bono position, I declare my interest as a board member of the London Marathon Foundation.

The purpose of these amendments is very simple. They seek to give the appropriate national authorities, rather than just the Secretary of State, the power to apply the unauthorised association provisions and all the transport provisions that are included in this Bill. Appropriate national authorities, as defined in the Bill, are the Secretary of State or the devolved Administrations. These amendments would widen the scope to designate the five parts of the sporting events framework set out. Their aim is simply to future-proof the Bill so that powers can be conferred by the appropriate authority if there is a reasonable case to do so.

For example, if greater powers were devolved in relation to transport provision then the legislation would enable devolved authorities to apply these powers without needing to change primary legislation again. There simply is nothing more behind them than that. These amendments are part of a package of amendments that I have tabled or signed that seek to extend the scope of the Bill to include major, regular, UK-based events and to ensure greater flexibility in the potential use of the framework provisions. I will explain in more detail my arguments for doing this when we discuss group 6.

--- Later in debate ---

Moved by

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury]

15: Clause 3, page 2, line 35, leave out “three” and insert “four”
Member’s explanatory statement
This probing amendment, and others in the name of Baroness Bonham-Carter, adds a condition for Sporting Events to be covered by this Bill, to make the sporting event free to air.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

In moving Amendment 15 I shall speak also to Amendments 26 and 79. We on these Benches think that we should consider events that are in scope of this Bill as part of the free-to-air listed events regime for audiences in the UK, so that those who wish to follow a sporting event but cannot obtain a ticket due to cost or availability can still follow the event without incurring extra costs and potentially having to pay for a subscription; and, secondly and really importantly, because it will encourage and expand the audience for such events. Watching a sport you do not know can spark interest and participation. There are more chances that this will happen if the event is not behind a paywall.

The Minister mentioned the Lionesses. Thanks to the BBC championing and broadcasting women’s football free to air, enabling the public to watch the Lionesses’ triumphant journey in both European and world tournaments, there are new audiences in stadiums, as well as on screens; and, most importantly, it has inspired women and girls to take up the sport. Similarly, there is the legacy of Channel 4 and the Paralympics, and I refer to what the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, said earlier about encouraging and enabling disabled kids to get involved in sport.

It is in the power of the DCMS to review listed events—the “crown jewels”, as they are known. The amendment I am proposing would create an opportunity to revise the list, and this follows a concerning trend where fans’ rights to enjoy events on free-to-air television have been gradually eroded. For the first time, the finals of the Champions League—football is the sport of the day—Europa League and Conference League were all behind a paywall. If the Government intend to host such great sporting events in the UK, as we have been discussing today, the British public deserve the right to be able to watch them.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, I rise with great pleasure to follow the Baroness, Lady Bonham-Carter, who is very much the leader of your Lordships’ House in this space. I am here having signed Amendments 15 and 26 to show cross-party support, so I will be brief.

As the noble Baroness set out, we have seen a gradual erosion of people’s access. We often discuss access to the right to participate in sport, but there is also the access to being part of the whole sporting experience and to view major events live. Free-to-air broadcast is what keeps major sporting events genuinely public, rather than turning them into elite viewing that is available only to those who can afford subscription television or other sources. If access depends on payment, watching sport becomes unevenly distributed, with lower-income households at a clear disadvantage. In practice, that particularly excludes, or risks excluding, many children and young people from the shared experience of watching major sporting events with their peers and their communities. Free-to-air coverage ensures that money is not a barrier to participation in what is a common cultural space, where sport is experienced collectively rather than privately. That broad access is something that gives sport extra public value, and that is why it is important to protect it as something that belongs to everyone, not just those who can pay.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

I thank everyone for taking part in this debate—except possibly the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, who is making me have to think of a different way of saying “free to air”. I am, of course, disappointed but actually not surprised by the Minister’s response. She has given me valuable time but I hope we can explore this further.

To pick up on what the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, said, the crown jewels debate got cut off at the knees. We have charter renewal coming up. I totally respect what everyone says about the future and things changing every day, but we need to discuss this because it is important that we share these things. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, that the paywall is the paywall and means that things become niche rather than shared; that is the thing we are really trying to overcome here. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 15 withdrawn.

National Arts Bank

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2026 Grand Committee

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

I join noble Lords in thanking the noble Lord, Lord John, for this inspired debate. I do not know quite a few of the noble Lords here. This is a different forum, so noble Lords might not appreciate that I am the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

On our Benches, we believe there is a strong case for exploring mechanisms that improve access to affordable capital for cultural organisations, particularly those with significant civic value but limited or no ability to secure conventional lending on viable terms. Cultural organisations are very enterprising, as many noble Lords know. They exist in a mixed economy of grants. If they are lucky and live in Southwark, they are from local councils, but they are also from organisations such as the Arts Council, trusts and foundations, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hyde, said. They also seek sponsorship and philanthropic giving. There is direct income from membership schemes, commercial activities such as ticket sales, and revenue from gift and coffee shops.

Owning a building is obviously an asset for a cultural organisation but it comes with huge financial exposure. Today there are rising energy costs, the impact of wars, inflation and, previously, the pandemic. I declare an interest as a trustee of the Lowry in Salford, where I have seen this at first hand. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, that I am experiencing it outside London.

Noble Lords have mentioned the excellent report on Arts Council England by the noble Baroness, Lady Hodge. She put it starkly when she said that arts organisations are facing a

“capital crisis, the scale of which is threatening the very fabric of the country’s cultural infrastructure”.

The last big injection of capital took place 20 years ago and, as she says:

“The boilers and lifts installed then now need to be replaced”.


There are literally cracks in the walls and buckets in the corridors and backstage, as I am sure the noble Baroness, Lady Hyde, knows.

The noble Baroness, Lady Hodge, recommends that the Government urgently find innovative ways of responding, and there has been a response. Earlier this year the Government announced capital investment funding distributed through Arts Council England, which will provide financial assistance to invest in

“buildings, equipment, digital infrastructure and technology”,

but much more is required, as the noble Lord mentioned in his introduction. The scale of capital need across the cultural sector is now so substantial, as the noble Baroness, Lady Gill, said, that demand for support, even in the form of loans or guarantees, is likely to exceed the available capacity. The question therefore becomes not simply how capital is distributed but what outcomes it is intended to achieve.

The most important criterion should be not just remedial capital investment in isolation but investment that demonstrably improves long-term resilience and sustainability. In other words, support should ideally prioritise projects that help organisations adapt successfully to future operating conditions, whether through energy efficiency, modernisation, diversified income generation, audience accessibility, digital capability, workforce development or more flexible use of buildings and assets.

Then there is social capital. Many noble Lords have mentioned NEETs, and I return to the Lowry. It is more than a building, theatres and a gallery. Through vigorous learning and engagement work, it helps and inspires young people into the creative sector. Over the years, it has forged almost 30 community partnerships across Salford and Greater Manchester and has contributed a deep, diverse and long-lasting impact on local lives through educational, volunteering and community engagement programmes. It is at the heart of its community. Many other cultural organisations are the same, but they need to have a stable and safe roof over their heads to provide outreach work, inspiration and future careers for the next generation, as so many have said.

In the past, Nesta, which the noble Baroness, Lady Gill, mentioned, set up an arts impact fund by bringing together public, private and charitable funding. It provided repayable finance to arts organisations with ambitions to grow, to achieve great artistic quality and, crucially, to impact in the specific area of social value. Does the Minister agree that social capital should be considered as leverage for raising financial funds?

Most theatres, galleries, performance venues and arts training institutions are carrying significant pressures around capital maintenance, infrastructure renewal and cash flow. A national arts bank could help unlock investment where organisations are fundamentally sustainable but constrained by the risk profile perceived by commercial lenders. There will of course be key questions around scope, governance and strategic prioritisation—as the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, mentioned—but if designed well, such a mechanism could strengthen the sector’s resilience and preserve important cultural infrastructure and places. We agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Hodge, that, without that, arts organisations are facing a crisis.

Sporting Events Bill [HL]

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 3rd June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her introduction to the Sporting Events Bill. My noble friend Lord Addington will be leading on this from our Benches and may occasionally hand me the baton. We welcome this Bill, which creates a legislative framework that will attract international sporting events to the UK, as the Minister said. It will provide the opportunity to inspire future generations of athletes, create unforgettable experiences, boost visitor numbers and the economy and exercise our soft power through sports. We on these Benches welcome and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, on his role as ministerial adviser on soft power and major events. We look forward to working with him.

The legislative framework is useful and will assist with the organising of those events that we have already secured—the Minister mentioned Euro 2028. It will also help when bidding to host future events, but should there also be a clear bidding framework for putting together such bids, or at least a commitment to increase transparency surrounding bids? That would be a strong sign for the sports industry of more positive intentions from the Government.

This Bill can be useful not just for sporting events; I can also see it being utilised for cultural ones. The Edinburgh Festival could benefit, as well as all-year events such as the City of Culture. It is my understanding that the Government intend to set out a strategy for major events that will include culture. Can the Minister tell us the timeline for this?

As she mentioned, London hosted the wonderful 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and I join her in paying tribute to the great Tessa Jowell. Alongside the Games was the Cultural Olympiad. Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony—a beautiful, brilliant spectacular— was a showcase for our great creative industries and ended memorably with our monarch meeting James Bond and then jumping out of a helicopter. It was not just about the Olympic arena. Across the nation, people got together to engage in cultural activities; in all, 621 productions and projects resulted in 13,000 performances and events at 1,270 venues across the UK. However, the legislation passed for those Games did not include their cultural element. For the sporting events that fall under this legislation, will the Minister consider including affiliated cultural events? There appears to be scope, and I think she was suggesting this in her opening remarks, but we would like to make this clearer in legislation.

Then there is the group A of listed sporting events, the crown jewels protected for free-to-air TV. This Bill has been created with sporting events of significant interest in mind—events that we believe should also be free to air. Group A should be expanded. There was joy, and of course sorrow, for those able to see the UEFA final last weekend. Should it not have been something that everyone could access to watch for free? What about the Glasgow Commonwealth Games happening this July? We on these Benches believe there should be no need for special pleading from the Prime Minister—just add this to the Bill.

Then there are infrastructure, transport and security. Some of these considerations have made it into the Bill, which is a positive step and again welcomed by these Benches. But built environment intervention seems to be missing: athletes’ accommodation, as well as facilities for visitors, restaurants, parks and access to accommodation at an appropriate price range. These would drive opportunities to boost the tourist economy and are needs that we think should be considered within the framework and the Bill.

We are glad to see consideration of advertising and branding. This is important for interconnected reasons: a good legal framework protects sports organisations from unauthorised branding and marketing, but also, as the Minister said, makes deals for official sponsors more appealing. It also limits the unauthorised use of marketing for activities, usually online, that could cause harm. My noble friend Lord Foster will elaborate on this topic and, noble Lords will not be surprised to hear, on gambling. There is also the matter of the use of trademarks—more on this from my noble friend Lord Addington.

Finally, and I think this has happened again today, some concern has been expressed in the House about having to wait for a draft ticketing Bill. Does this Bill not provide an opportunity to discuss how we can create a strong anti-touting ticket system across the board, with proper enforcement? Does the Minister not agree that we should seize this opportunity now, rather than have to wait another year for a different Bill? We look forward to working with the Government on this Bill.

National Museums and Galleries

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Monday 27th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

We are making sure that we work with the museums on this, not in isolation from them. Last week, for example, officials at DCMS sat down with representatives from all the national museums to talk through how the process might work, in terms of having a working group with the national museums. We are clear that it is a complex matter. It is not, “It’s right to, or it’s wrong to, or we should do this as a point of principle”: we just want to work through the issues with the museums. At the moment, we have been working through the terms of reference for what that working group would be looking at, and we are not planning to come to any conclusions before the autumn.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, the much-anticipated return of the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK, to be exhibited at the British Museum, reminds us of the value of sponsorship, philanthropy, cultural diplomacy, soft power and, on a more practical level, the need for conservation skills, and indeed curatorial ones. How do the Government intend to support such skills going forward? We welcome their curriculum review, but when are we going to see actual action that reverses the years of arts education and these skills being marginalised?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I am delighted, as I know the noble Baroness is, that the UK has been able to agree the loan with France of the Bayeux Tapestry. The noble Baroness correctly identified that skills are at the heart of any future policy. Every single conversation I have at every single institution I visit focuses on skills, and I have done a number of round tables around this. This particular area of curatorial skills is one that I know the museums are keen to explore. Getting our young children into museums is the first step in them stepping off on the journey of a career in the sector.

Creative Industries: Freelance Champion

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Thursday 22nd January 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in the appointment of the freelance champion for the creative industries as announced in the Creative Industries Sector Plan on 23 June 2025.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)]

Freelancers play a vital role in the creative industries, which is why we committed to appoint a freelance champion in the creative industries sector plan. Since then, we have been working closely with industry to develop the scope of the role. In two weeks’ time, my colleague, Ian Murray, who is the Minister in the other place responsible for the creative industries, will hold a round table with freelancers’ representatives in the sector to finalise discussions. We will make an appointment as swiftly as possible after that.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

I thank the Minister for her response. As she says, freelancers are an essential part of our creative industries and these Benches have been asking for a freelance commissioner for a long time. We thank the Government for the champion. The Covid pandemic exposed the truth: a financial and benefits system that does not take into consideration the fragmented employment practices of the creative sector. Can the Minister assure us that not only the remit but the powers of the champion will be significant enough to work across government to enable change and end the discrimination that freelancers experience; in particular, in access to mortgages, loans, credit and pensions?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The champion-type role appointed by the Government is designed exactly for the purpose of making sure that these conversations are had and action is taken across government. We are very keen for the person who is appointed to this role to be involved in developing their own work plan, in discussion with the department, the Minister and the sector. The appointee will produce a work plan in their first months in the role, which will set out their priorities and planned actions. I might suggest that they have a conversation with the noble Baroness in that first period, so that she can be assured that they are looking at the right things that will support what is a vital part of the creative industries, but also one that has particular issues, as she outlined.

Broadcasting: Recent Developments

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Thursday 8th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome this debate and thank the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, a truly great man and great politician. As the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, said, he led on the cause of AIDS and has always championed our PSBs. I believe he was the chair of the first committee I sat on when I came here; I think the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, and the previous Bishop of Manchester were also on that committee, and the subject was—guess what—BBC charter renewal. Today, the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, has characteristically initiated a debate of crucial importance. In the times we live in, our UK broadcasters are essential not just to the UK but in their role across the world.

It all started with the BBC in 1922, when, as the noble Lord, Lord Hacking, said, it was audio only, and the only choice for listeners appears to have been in the sole gift of a Captain Eckersley, who would,

“trundle his piano from his local pub to an equally local army hut from which he would perform to the nation”.

The days when choice for listeners was confined to one man’s piano repertoire are long, long gone.

As the noble Lords, Lord Fowler and Lord Vaizey, have mentioned, we are now fortunate to have a variety of other vibrant and diverse public service broadcasters. ITV, Channel 4, Sky and Channel 5 all make brilliant programmes, setting the standard for accurate and responsible news coverage. In return for privileges such as free spectrum use and top positions on EPGs, these commercial channels have public interest obligations, which has resulted in high-quality competition for the BBC, as the noble Lord, Lord Young of Old Windsor, mentioned.

Collectively, the PSBs invest in talent across the UK and in stories which are important to us as a nation, such as, “Mr Bates vs The Post Office”, “It’s a Sin”, “Patrick Melrose”, “Milkshake!” and huge international successes such as “Downton Abbey” and “Peaky Blinders”. I have not even mentioned the unscripted category. They are central, as the noble Lord, Lord Grade, said, to our hugely successful creative industries and creative workforce, which has drawn the American streamers to our shores, while making UK-centred alternatives to the programmes of the said streamers.

However, as viewers increasingly move towards streamers and on-demand and online TV viewing, those privileges become less valuable, and we need to find new ways of helping and incentivising those broadcasters. I think the noble Lord, Lord Black, mentioned this. Does the Minister agree that that is why it has become ever more important that the provisions of the Media Act around prominence and discoverability are both properly enforced and strengthened?

Still central to broadcasting in the UK, as everyone has said, is the BBC. The highly respected Reuters Institute updated its data on news and trust in November. The BBC remains the most trusted source, not just for the UK but for the world where news is concerned. In an era of disinformation and social media silos, the BBC stands as a beacon of accuracy and impartiality.

A lot of what I am about to say noble Lords will already have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Hall, but I want to repeat it. The BBC is not just the news—and it is important to remind people of this, as my noble friend Lord Razzall said, particularly politicians—but radio stations, podcasts, orchestras, BBC Bitesize, BBC online, iPlayer, BBC Sounds and the World Service. I hope that might, in a way, respond a little to what the noble Lord, Lord Bailey, said. It develops and invests in talent and in local creative hubs across the UK, not to mention a network of local radio and TV. Through its mission to educate, inform and entertain, it has made culture, news, and other people’s experiences and lives available to all.

It also plays a hugely important role in promoting the UK around the world—soft power—through both the programmes it exports and the World Service, as mentioned by the noble Lords, Lord Londesborough, Lord Hall, Lord Hannay and Lord Bailey. That is ever more important now that President Trump has cut off funds to Voice of America. That is not all he has done. The erosion and destruction of public service broadcasting in the USA extends to all direct and indirect funding to NPR and PBS being terminated. Having had its funding withdrawn, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a lifeline to hundreds of radio and TV stations that serve their local communities, decided this week to close down. That is a cautionary tale; this cannot be allowed to happen in the UK, but Donald Trump’s disciple Nigel Farage has repeatedly vowed to “defund” a “slimmed-down” BBC.

As the noble Lord, Lord Grade, mentioned, the charter renewal process is upon us and we on these Benches welcome the Green Paper as the starting point in this process, in particular the Secretary of State’s vision for the BBC:

“Sustainably funded, with a strong presence in every nation and region so that all of us can see ourselves reflected in our national story”.


As the noble Lord, Lord Hall, mentioned, she sees the BBC as having the same level of importance as the NHS; I could not agree more. But this 10-year event, charter renewal—why do we not just start by getting rid of it, ending the straitjacket in which the BBC, unlike other organisations established by royal charter, is in a never-ending cycle of having to make the case for its own existence? Does the Minister not agree that we should give the BBC a forever charter? Without that, and in the wrong hands—Trump-like hands—the charter can simply be terminated on its last day: no negotiations, no BBC.

We on these Benches believe that all non-executives of the BBC board should be independently appointed—no government appointees. We do not think this is appropriate for a body which oversees the BBC’s day-to-day editorial and strategic decisions.

The Government should maintain stable, secure and long-term funding for the BBC through the continuation of the licence fee until the end of the current charter period, and ensure equivalent public funding beyond that; crucially, protecting the principle of universality, as the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, said.

Does the Minister not agree that future decisions about funding must be made transparently by an independent body? George Osborne now admits that when Chancellor he was “somewhat shocked” to discover the power that the Government, specifically the Treasury, had over the BBC. He said:

“You think of the BBC as being this big, independent organisation with lots of protection against the government … but the chancellor can basically boss the BBC around on its finances because the government sets the licence fee in the charter”—


and boss it around he did, into paying for the over-75s. That was wrong, as it is a social cost and is disastrous for BBC finances.

As the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, and the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, said, we need a sufficient and durable funding settlement for the World Service. We on these Benches would increase FCDO funding by an additional £100 million per year. What are the Government’s intentions?

Finally, Ofcom’s record in upholding standards of impartiality is a cornerstone of our broadcasting system. As the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, mentioned, it recently seems to have concluded that politicians can present news programmes—I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey—via a clumsy attempt to distinguish between news and current affairs; a decision that, particularly where GB News is concerned, risks undermining public trust in broadcast news. The Secretary of State appears uncomfortable and has said that she is

“looking … at what we can do as a government to deal with this. We can’t continue with a situation where people can’t trust what they see”.

Can the Minister expand on what actions the Government intend to take to ensure that Ofcom fulfils Parliament’s intentions?

I end as I began, in celebrating our UK broadcasters: long may they thrive. In our previous debate on this subject, I concluded by quoting Joni Mitchell. This time, I offer the same sentiment, but with Lisa Nandy speaking directly about the BBC:

“An institution founded to bring the best that has been thought and known to every home—if it didn’t exist today we would have to invent it”.

Arts and Creative Industries: Social Mobility

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I recognise what an important role my noble friend has had in inspiring young people to take up creative careers through her role and career as a teacher. We welcome the £2 million investment committed by Bad Wolf at the Wales Investment Summit last week, which is set to bring £30 million to the Welsh economy. Bad Wolf is a UK success story, having created thousands of jobs in Wales, and a key driver of the success of the Cardiff creative cluster, one of the largest film and TV hubs in the UK. It is really great to see that this investment will further grow this thriving cluster.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (LD)]

My Lords, to follow up on what the noble Baroness said, increasing the take-up of apprenticeships could help the many with aspiration and aptitude, but no financial net, to get into the creative industries. As the Minister is aware, the present apprenticeship system does not fit well with the sector, given the prominence of SMEs and freelancers. Can she give us an update on reform in this area? How is her department progressing with Skills England to consider industry proposals on how a reformed growth and skills levy could better work with this industry?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

We are working with the DWP and Skills England to refine and develop the growth and skills offer to deliver apprenticeships and skills training that recognise the particular needs of the creative industries. We will introduce short courses in areas such as digital, artificial intelligence and engineering to support industrial strategy sectors such as the creative industries from April 2026. The first wave of these courses will be called apprenticeship units.