Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether their new right to work checks will apply to (1) artists, (2) bands, and (3) theatre troupes, undertaking short UK tours without visas; and, if so, what plans they have to waive the checks for these groups.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The changes to the Right to Work Scheme from 1 October extend checks beyond traditional employment to specified non-standard working arrangements. They do not alter the Immigration Rules governing visitors.
Professional artists, entertainers and musicians, including members of bands and theatre troupes, who enter the UK without a visa and undertake activities permitted under the Standard Visitor route, including a permitted paid engagement where the relevant requirements are met will not be subject to a right to work check solely by virtue of those activities. Therefore, the Government does not consider there to be an operational conflict, and a waiver is neither necessary nor planned.
Where a working arrangement falls within scope of the Right to Work Scheme, the responsible organisation must carry out a right to work check as prescribed in legislation and published guidance.
The Government has engaged with affected sectors in developing the regulations, statutory codes of practice and guidance, and will continue to engage with businesses and representative bodies, including the live entertainment sector where relevant, to support clear and proportionate implementation and address practical concerns.
Representatives from the arts and entertainment sector, including organisations representing performers and creative professionals, responded to the public consultation on extending the Right to Work Scheme. The Home Office considered stakeholder feedback from across affected sectors when developing the final guidance and implementation approach.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, following the changes to Right to Work checks on 1 October, performers touring the UK on the Permitted Paid Engagement or Permit Free Festival schemes are allowed to sell merchandise if it is related to their services as a performer.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Standard Visitor route permits creatives to undertake a wide range of activities in the UK.
However, artists, entertainers and musicians can only receive payment for their activities as a visitor under very specific circumstances, such as if they are performing at a festival on the Permit Free Festival (PFF) list or undertaking a Permitted Paid Engagement (PPE).
The Immigration Rules prohibit visitors from directly selling to the public; including the sale of merchandise related to their PFF or PPE activities.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of destructive scanning of books by or for tech companies; and whether they intend to take action to halt this practice.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The government is aware of reports of AI companies destructively scanning physical books as part of model training. As set out in our March report on copyright and AI, we are taking steps to help rightsholders control and license their work, including reviewing technical solutions, standards and best practice on input transparency.
This work will help inform whether Government intervention is needed, and if so, what a proportionate approach might look like.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much higher education subject courses cost for each of the strategic priority grant groups A, B, C and D; and what is the cut-off point between each group in monetary terms.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The subject price groups used for higher education funding derive from the former Higher Education Funding Council for England teaching funding methodology, which categorised subjects according to their relative delivery costs.
The framework was retained by the Office for Students (OfS) in 2018 and is currently used to determine the allocation of high-cost subject funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG).
The department is working together with the OfS to review and reform the SPG. The reform will ensure that high-cost subject funding is more effectively targeted towards priority provision that supports future skills needs and the Industrial Strategy, as well as ensuring that funding is targeted towards the most disadvantaged students accessing and participating in higher education.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are giving to Ukraine for the protection of Ukraine's civic records and cultural property, including for digitisation.
Answered by Lord Wood of Anfield - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is supporting Ukraine to protect its cultural heritage from Russia's attacks and attempts at cultural erasure. Through the UK-Ukraine 100 Year Partnership, we have committed £1.45 million for Ukrainian heritage protection between 2025 and 2029, alongside £450,000 for the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund. This support will help protect, preserve and restore cultural property, strengthen the capacity of heritage professionals and prevent illicit trafficking and looting. We are working with Ukraine and international partners to assess further needs, including support for the preservation and digitisation of civic and archival records.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, as part of their current review of National Lottery funding, to promote public awareness of the good causes that the National Lottery supports locally, including at points of purchase such as local retailers.
Answered by Baroness Mackenzie of Sherwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is proud of the role of National Lottery funding, and it has generated over £53 billion for Good Causes across every postcode of the UK. That money has done remarkable things, with funding supporting people across the country to improve their communities and the lives of their neighbours.
The Government is promoting the positive impact of National Lottery Good Causes throughout the Government’s ongoing Call for Evidence on Good Causes Funding, through case studies, content on social media, and with the support of key partners. Allwyn, the current National Lottery operator, has also promoted the Call for Evidence through their own channels, highlighting the positive impact of Good Cause funding in communities across the UK, including directly with retailers.
The Call for Evidence is an opportunity to understand the extent to which the general public and organisations are aware of good cause funding in their local area and nationally, and how we can better explain the impact of that funding to the public and to players.
Following closure of the Call for Evidence on 23 September 2026, the Government will analyse all evidence, and respond in due course.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether there is an operational conflict between their new right to work checks and the permitted paid engagement route for artists; and what plans they have to consult the live entertainment sector on any such conflict.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The changes to the Right to Work Scheme from 1 October extend checks beyond traditional employment to specified non-standard working arrangements. They do not alter the Immigration Rules governing visitors.
Professional artists, entertainers and musicians, including members of bands and theatre troupes, who enter the UK without a visa and undertake activities permitted under the Standard Visitor route, including a permitted paid engagement where the relevant requirements are met will not be subject to a right to work check solely by virtue of those activities. Therefore, the Government does not consider there to be an operational conflict, and a waiver is neither necessary nor planned.
Where a working arrangement falls within scope of the Right to Work Scheme, the responsible organisation must carry out a right to work check as prescribed in legislation and published guidance.
The Government has engaged with affected sectors in developing the regulations, statutory codes of practice and guidance, and will continue to engage with businesses and representative bodies, including the live entertainment sector where relevant, to support clear and proportionate implementation and address practical concerns.
Representatives from the arts and entertainment sector, including organisations representing performers and creative professionals, responded to the public consultation on extending the Right to Work Scheme. The Home Office considered stakeholder feedback from across affected sectors when developing the final guidance and implementation approach.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what basis they have removed Strategic Priorities Grant Funding for arts courses for the 2026–27 academic year.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government recognises the importance of creative and performing arts courses delivered by higher education (HE) institutions. However, funding decisions for the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) must prioritise subjects with the highest delivery costs.
Decisions on SPG funding were taken in the context of a highly challenging fiscal environment. For the 2025/26 academic year, funding through the SPG for creative and performing arts courses was around £130 per full-time equivalent student, or just over 1% of total funding provided by government when tuition fees are considered. Arts courses will also benefit from increases in tuition fee limits in line with inflation.
The government’s support for HE arts provision is reflected by our continued investment in the 20 specialist providers identified by the Office for Students as world leading, which will receive £57 million via the SPG in the 2026/27 academic year. Of this group, 12 providers solely focus on the creative and performing arts.
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Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing business rates relief for recording studios.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
New multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) were announced at Budget 2024. Government has been clear that the intention was for their scope to broadly reflect the scope of the RHL relief, which was centred around RHL properties that are “reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public”. As recording studios are not generally open to members of the public, they were unlikely to be receiving RHL relief.
In recognition of the impact of the 2026 revaluation on bills, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion at Budget 2025 to protect ratepayers against large overnight increases in bills. Additionally, many recording studios are also likely to benefit from Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR). SBRR is available to businesses with a single property below a set rateable value. Eligible properties under £12,000 receive 100 per cent relief, which means around a third of properties in England pay no business rates at all. Tapered support is available to properties valued between £12,000 and £15,000.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards agreeing the UK–EU Youth Experience Scheme.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK and EU agreed that we will work towards the establishment of a balanced Youth Experience Scheme.
We have agreed that any scheme will be capped, subject to a visa requirement and time-limited, but the exact parameters are subject to ongoing discussions.
We are working towards concluding negotiations on the Youth Experience Scheme by the time of the next EU-UK summit.