Charitable and Voluntary Sector

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Excerpts

Thursday 30th April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Lab)]

My Lords, I remind the House of my registered interests, including as deputy chair of the Royal Shakespeare Company; and that the noble Lord, Lord Addington, said in his excellent opening remarks that many arts organisations are also charities.

Companies such as the RSC, the Roundhouse in Camden and Chickenshed focus their education and outreach efforts on young people who are at economic and/or social disadvantage. The work that they do has been shown to have a significant impact on the attainment of these young people. This work has never been more important than now; it will be even more vital once lockdown is eased and we begin to see clearly the impact that isolation has had on mental health and well-being. The RSC, for example, reports from its youth advisory board and its partner schools that many children and young people are feeling profoundly disconnected, losing motivation and experiencing inconsistent levels of support. The companies I have mentioned, and others like them, are of course doing all they can to develop online programmes to sustain this support and contact. But they are doing so while struggling with enormous threats to their ability to survive, as it seems increasingly likely that theatres will be among the last types of business to be allowed to resume their core activities.

Will the Minister please assure the House that DCMS and the Department for Education will work together to ensure that the vital educational work of arts organisations, which can have such a profoundly positive impact on learning, communication skills, confidence, empathy, agency and resilience, is not lost or forgotten as we recover from this crisis? This generation of children and young people are already losing so much. We owe them special attention over the coming years and months.