Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support infrastructure for visual artists, including the retention and capital development of artists' studios.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government acknowledges the economic significance of visual artists and is committed to providing support, including addressing infrastructure requirements. The £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund incorporates the £245 million Creative Foundations Fund, which is dedicated to supporting arts and cultural venues, including galleries and artists' studios, in addressing critical capital needs.
Arts Council England (ACE) provides support for artist spaces through both direct funding and the facilitation of strategic partnerships. This includes significant investments, such as co-founding the Creative Land Trust, which ensures long-term, affordable space for artists and creatives in London by bringing together a number of key funding partners and networks. ACE has supported the organisation with £2 million since 2019, and their goal is to build a portfolio of more than 1,000 studios across London, offering spaces to creatives at affordable rates, equipping those that use them to have greater impact and benefit within communities.
Furthermore, ACE funds numerous workspaces that are part of its National Portfolio Organisation Investment Programme, such as The Auxiliary in Middlesbrough which has received funding of £542,898 since 2022.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the net annual benefit to the UK economy of recording studios.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK’s network of recording studios are central to our position as the world’s third-largest music market and play an important role in ensuring the continuation of our talent pipeline. The creative industries, and music within that, are a priority growth sector in the government’s Industrial Strategy.
Up to now, recording studios have been classified by a four-digit SIC code that combined sound recording with music publishing. While this broader group contributed £1.9 billion to the UK economy in 2024, we are not able to disaggregate the contribution of recording studios specifically. Given these long running data limitations, we have in the past commissioned bespoke research to better understand this part of the sector, including a Music Studio Market Assessment in 2021.
Since then, we’ve worked with industry trade bodies to improve the accuracy of industrial classifications, in particular to make the case for revisions to the ONS's proposed SIC 2026 framework. Several of the recommendations have been accepted and once in place, future economic estimates will be available for both music publishing and sound recording separately.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to form a cross-departmental group for craft drawing together the responsibilities in this area of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Education and the Department for Business and Trade.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to supporting the creative industries, including the craft sector, which is why we put them front and centre of our Industrial Strategy, including publishing the Creative Industries Sector Plan last year. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is working closely with all other relevant government departments to support the craft sector and deliver on the Sector Plan. DCMS currently has no plans to form a cross-departmental group for craft, however DCMS and Skills England jointly run a Creative Sector Skills Forum, which has a rolling cast list and includes representation for the crafts sector depending on the agenda. This includes the Crafts Council, Heritage Crafts and Officials from DWP and DfE as needed.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government which departments have responsibility for the heritage crafts sector and associated skills; and whether they plan to consider the appointment of an expert to coordinate policy in that area.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Department of Education, and the Department for Works and Pension have overall responsibility for devising and delivering skills policy across Government. The Department for Culture Media and Sport works across Government to ensure heritage crafts and skills are appropriately considered in policy.
Historic England, Government’s advisor on heritage and Arms Length Body of DCMS, advises the Government on heritage skills and craft policy and contributes to a number of cross Government working groups, including the Construction Skills Delivery Group. DCMS has no plans to appoint further experts.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will provide an update on the status of the listed places of worship grant scheme.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme will close on 31 March 2026 or when the budget for the year is spent.. As we look towards a new fiscal period and the evolving needs of our community, it is essential that government support is deployed to the areas where it can have the greatest impact and where it is needed most. Our evaluation of the Scheme showed that while it had many benefits, 80% of respondents said that they would still have carried out the work without the rebate. There will therefore not be further funding rounds of the current scheme.
However, on 21 January we announced the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund. This will have an annual budget of £23m starting in 2026/27. This provides certainty for the remaining years of the Spending Review until 2029/30, providing £92m over the period. Support will be targeted at places of most need. Further details regarding the eligibility criteria and application process, will be published in due course.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce measures addressing AI-generated digital replicas of an individual's likeness or voice, particularly in relation to the entertainment industry.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises that individuals, including those in the entertainment industry, wish to have control over the use of their voice or likeness in AI-generated content.
Government intervention requires careful consideration given the complex legal landscape.
The Government sought views on the issue in its copyright and AI consultation. It is considering all feedback received through the consultation and will publish a formal response in due course.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of rejoining Creative Europe on financial growth.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has no plans to rejoin Creative Europe. This position is informed by indicative analysis of the value for money of associating with the programme.
We are working with our world-leading sectors to ensure that they can continue to promote growth and enrich lives, at home and abroad. This includes through the Creative Industries Sector Plan, which is key to driving long-term economic growth across the United Kingdom; the new £75 million Screen Growth Package; the scaled up £18 million per year UK Global Screen Fund (2026–2029); and by committing up to £30 million for our Music Growth Package.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Twycross on 12 June (HL Deb col 306GC), where the figures that the crafts subsector generated around £400 million in gross value added and employed around 7000 highly skilled artisans were originally sourced from; and how these these figures have been computed.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
These figures are sourced from accredited official statistics published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as part of the DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates series.
Our annual gross value added (GVA) statistics, based on data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), provisionally estimate that the crafts subsector contributed £400 million to the UK economy in 2023. Our employment statistics, based on data from the ONS Annual Population Survey, estimate that there were 7,000 filled jobs in the crafts subsector in 2023.
Detailed methodological information about these statistics is available in the accompanying technical report published in each statistics release.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Arts Council England's report Leading the Crowd published on 15 May.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government works closely with Arts Council England who support arts and cultural organisations to develop their fundraising skills and capacity to attract more private investment.
We welcome this report, and are committed to ensuring that the UK has the best framework for philanthropy, and that partnerships between government, philanthropists, businesses and civil society are maximised.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to negotiate rejoining Creative Europe.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government does not have any plans to rejoin Creative Europe, though we are committed to finding constructive ways to work with the EU and deliver for the British people on shared priorities and global challenges.
We recognise the UK’s creative and cultural sectors provide a unique and valuable contribution to Europe’s diverse cultural landscape. We are working with our world-leading sectors to ensure that they can continue to promote growth and enrich lives, at home and abroad, including through initiatives such as the £7 million UK Global Screen Fund, and the £1.6 million Music Export Growth Scheme.