European Union (Future Relationship) Bill

Baroness Bull Excerpts

3rd reading & 2nd reading & Committee negatived & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 30th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, I share the dilemma expressed so often today, faced with an agreement that is far from the one I would like to see but far better than no deal at all. I particularly regret those places where even the Prime Minister concedes that the deal does not go far enough, and I make no apologies for revisiting my familiar theme of services, which contribute so much to the economy, exports and employment but which are so poorly served by this deal. Its service provisions are not only limited but are subject to a vast list of exceptions, varied by sector and member state. Crucial issues such as data adequacy, passporting rights and financial equivalence are unresolved, and the end of mutual recognition of qualifications is a serious blow.

Services were always going to be hit hard by the determination to end freedom of movement. So, although the deal allows short-term business visitors to enter the EU visa-free for 90 days in any six months, the activities they can undertake are limited—more a case of networking than work. Meetings, trade exhibitions, conferences, consultation and market research are all fine, but any selling of goods or services directly to the public is subject to a work visa, the requirements for which will vary across each member state.

The cultural sector is particularly ill served, with visa-free travel seemingly denied to working performers, artists and musicians, who now face new burdens of admin, carnets and costs. The absence of any creative, cultural or media services and occupations in the SERVIN 3 and 4 lists of suppliers and independent professionals will impact across music, film and TV, dance, theatre, journalism, gigging, photography, fashion and more.

The Prime Minister spoke this morning of

“restoring a great British industry”—

he meant fishing—

“to the eminence that it deserves”,

but one cost of this has been the sacrifice of services, including the creative industries, which really are one of the truly great British industries of today. The Minister assured me in yesterday’s very helpful briefing that performing artists and musicians are in fact covered in the deal, but I still struggle to understand how. Perhaps he could clarify this on the record today and, subsequently, in writing to the House.

This deal denies the next generation the freedoms that we have enjoyed, and I believe that it will have economic, social and cultural consequences. But today we are all Henry Hobson—we face Hobson’s choice—and I cannot support no deal. This agreement will at least delay divergence. It carries the promise of further agreements and, at five-year intervals, it gives us the chance to review and improve. It offers a framework on which our future relationship with our nearest neighbours can be built. For those reasons, and despite my reservations, I will be voting to implement it in law.

Finance Bill

Baroness Bull Excerpts

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 17th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, recognising the vastly changed landscape in which we discuss this Bill, I want to focus on the measures related to research and development and their potential to support the UK’s economic recovery. The extra tax relief is welcome, as is the annual increase in government spend on R&D to £22 billion by 2024—an additional £1.5 billion per year. It is not yet clear whether this will be distributed through existing or new structures, and perhaps the Minister can shed some light on that, but it is a strong acknowledgment of R&D’s importance to the economy and to post-Covid recovery.

The £22 billion is part of a broader commitment to raise UK investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Most R&D comes from the private sector in roughly a 2:1 ratio, but we know that

“British business invests less in R&D compared to similar nations, and this investment is concentrated in major players in just a few sectors.”


Therefore, can the Minister say what the Government will do to persuade businesses, both UK and overseas-owned, to spend the extra £18 billion a year on R&D in the UK that would be required to meet their target?

One area in which the Government might consider measures to increase R&D is in the creative industries. Creative businesses undertake almost as much R&D as manufacturing but, as much of it relies on arts, humanities and social sciences research, it is explicitly excluded from HMRC definitions and therefore from R&D tax relief. This rules out legitimate innovation in what has for some time been one of the fastest-growing parts of the UK economy, but it misses the opportunity to build behavioural insights into technological innovations, which would increase the likelihood of wider adoption.

Thus far the UK has been

“bound by the Frascati convention of the OECD definition”

of R&D,

“which is tilted primarily towards technology and science”.—[Official Report, 8/1/20; col. 181.]

The noble Lord, Lord Duncan of Springbank, who is now on the Woolsack, might recognise his own words there from the Dispatch Box on 8 January, in what feels like a very different lifetime. However, as we are leaving the EU, might the Minister press the Government to consider the possibility of the UK adopting its own, wider definition of R&D? This would help in moving towards the Government’s targets and, at the same time, support the post-Covid recovery of a sector that, over recent years, has contributed almost £102 billion annually in GVA.

I want to make one brief additional point as a supporter of the Government’s commitment to levelling up. Clearly, there is a pressing need to invest in areas left behind as our industrial landscape changes, but there are deep inequalities within our cities too—inequalities starkly exposed by this pandemic. Levelling up cannot just mean equalising between north and south; it must also address inequalities within cities, including those seen as affluent, such as London, where poverty rates in some inner-city boroughs are 10 percentage points higher than in many parts of the UK. If we do not tackle the inequalities within our cities at the same time as tackling the inequalities between the regions of the UK, unleashing the nation’s potential will never be anything more than a campaign slogan.

Covid-19: Economy

Baroness Bull Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, the UK’s creative industries are a major economic asset: before Covid hit, they were generating more than £111 billion in GVA, growing at five times the rate of the UK economy, employing more than 2 million people and adding jobs at over three times the rate of the national average.

As other noble Lords have highlighted, this pandemic has demonstrated the sector’s value beyond the economic, with arts, culture and creativity sustaining and connecting us, giving us reasons to hope and supporting mental health and well-being. This is despite the sector being among those most affected by the pandemic. An ONS survey found that just 17% of arts and entertainment businesses were still operating, 42% of creative organisations say that income has dried up completely and 63% predict annual turnover will be cut by half by the end of the year. In line with the broader UK economy, 95% of creative enterprises are SMEs with fewer than nine employees. Studies have found that these microbusinesses are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of this crisis.

The creative economy faces a specific challenge, in that a third of its workforce is self-employed, compared to 15% of the economy overall. Many operate as limited companies, taking taxable dividends alongside a small salary. This renders them ineligible for both the SEISS and the job retention scheme, despite losing 100% of their contracts overnight.

Creative, cultural and entertainment businesses face significant challenges to economic recovery, with the workforce decimated and income streams closed down. The sector will be among the last to come out of lockdown, given the impossibility of operating fully while social distancing is in place. Brexit and the loss of EU funding pots present additional challenges on the looming horizon. Can the Minister say when and how the UK shared prosperity fund will be allocated, given its role in replacing EU structural funds, which have been so vital to the infrastructure and local growth of the creative industries? Can he also say what the Government are doing to provide urgent support, tailored to the needs of the creative industries, so that they can be swiftly restored as a major driver of the UK’s cultural, social and economic success?

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, I remind noble Lords of the time-limited nature of this debate and the limit for Back-Bench contributions at two minutes to allow the Minister to give the fullest possible response.

Covid-19: Self-employed

Baroness Bull Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, the Government are making sure that people and businesses have access to the support they need as quickly as possible. We have tried to design measures that can be made operational quickly and effectively. Lenders have increased the number of loans they are approving every day and staff are working to process applications as quickly as possible. Over 12,000 CBILS loans have been made to businesses so far, meaning benefits of some £2 billion in finance and the rate of approvals is accelerating.

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, large numbers of freelance and self-employed workers operate as personal service companies. Indeed, employers demand this of them. This means that they receive the majority of their remuneration as dividends not salary, which disbars them from the SEISS. Will the Government consider accepting proof of dividend incomes from dividend certificates and self-assessment tax returns so that freelancers can fairly claim compensation on income earned through dividends from their own personal service companies?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, the policy for the proprietor of a business to take a dividend is a personal one. It is done largely to mitigate employers’ national insurance, so I do not believe that it is right for the Government to look at that as a form of income. A dividend is defined as the surplus of a business after all its expenses have been paid, profits retained and taxes paid. While we will keep an open mind, I do not think this is something we will be dealing with urgently.