Autumn Budget 2024

Debate between Earl of Clancarty and Lord Fox

Monday 11th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Booth-Smith, on his excellent maiden speech. I will speak on the arts and creative industries. I thank the Campaign for the Arts and the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society for their briefings. There is, of course, a one-hour debate on the effect of the Budget on this sector on Thursday, but this area is certainly important enough that both the Treasury and the DCMS should be addressed on the concerns that this sector has, not least because the Budget is a mixed bag for the arts and creative industries. Perhaps worse than that, the areas where funding is most urgently needed after so many years of underfunding have not been addressed and indeed could go backwards, which is disappointing for a Government who say they will support the arts.

There is good news, hopefully, for the national museums and galleries, but questions remain: how much additional funding will be made available and when will this happen? Will the Government further help other struggling arts and cultural organisations— the plight of Welsh National Opera immediately springs to mind—through the Arts Council and other funding bodies? I thank the Government for listening to concerns about VAT on specialist performing arts schools and confirming that courses covering the Music and Dance Scheme and the Dance and Drama Awards scheme will not attract VAT. I think that will be music to the ears of the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley.

[Lord Fox (LD)]

Literally.

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

Literally—yes, indeed. However, as the Campaign for the Arts says:

“Realising the full ambition and potential of”


Labour’s growth plan, including for the creative industries,

“will take a level of resourcing and commitment beyond that which we have seen at this Budget”.

Starting with the noble Lord, Lord Fox, earlier in this debate, we have had numerous references to concerns about the survival of SMEs. Will the Government promise to keep an eye on, or even formally assess, the effects of their measures on SMEs? This is hugely important for the creative industries after being hit so hard by both Brexit and Covid.

The director of the Museums Association, Sharon Heal, said that

“the urgent needs of local and regional museums and galleries have not been addressed in this budget”,

and the Minister should be aware that the situation for civic museums is sufficiently urgent that a programme of emergency funding was asked for before the Budget. Birmingham Museums Trust said that

“this budget leaves us worse off and we are already in a dire financial situation in Birmingham”.

Similar arguments can be made about our libraries across the country, as the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, referred to, and I agree with everything that the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, said about a new basis for local authority funding. For authors, there is disappointment that the public lending right has not been addressed, seeing that there has been no increase in PLR in the last 10 years. Our own £6 million fund pales in comparison to Germany’s £14 million annual pot. Will the Government increase the fund to ameliorate these significant discrepancies?

The Government intend to cancel levelling up culture projects affecting the International Slavery Museum, the National Railway Museum, V&A Dundee and Venue Cymru. Why do the Government not consider these investments to be sufficiently, in their own words, “focused on the growth mission”? Have they assessed the impact of cancelling these investments?

The reduction in business rates relief will adversely affect the arts. The Music Venue Trust has calculated that this reduction will place an additional £7 million burden on 350 grass-roots music venues, put at risk more than 12,000 jobs and cost more than £250 million in economic activity. I understand there will be a consultation on business rates reform in 2026, but this will not help the hundreds of already struggling music venues that will undoubtedly be lost unless the Government rethink their decision or intervene with a ticket levy on big arena gigs that can help the small venues. While of course it is good news that the arts tax reliefs remain unchanged, it is disappointing that this has not been extended to choirs. Will the Government look again at this?

Finally, Creative Europe was a huge help to our arts and culture, yet we have never had any proper replacement for that funding; indeed, we ought to rejoin Creative Europe, which the rules allow us to do. On top of that, we now hear that the UK shared prosperity fund is to be reduced and phased out. Have the Government assessed the impact of this? Why is it happening before reforms have been completed?