(11 years, 10 months ago)
Lords ChamberThe noble Lord is absolutely right that what we have to do at the end of this is learn the important lessons. I entirely agree with him on that.
Is my noble friend aware of this problem arising elsewhere in the world—in other words, outside the European Union?
That is an interesting question. I am sure that countries in the rest of the world have their own problems. I am not aware of this specific problem arising elsewhere.
I quite agree with my noble friend. Training is at least as important as the dropping of the well in the first place.
Does my noble friend agree that water is already, and will increasingly become, the most valuable commodity that the world has and that its conservation is vital?
My Lords, let me say, if I may be so bold, that that was not what the Question was about. The Question was about union recognition ballots. The Government’s position on that is, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
My Lords, for the avoidance of doubt, is the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, not slightly misinformed? We are not voting for a change in the constitution on 5 May. We are voting as to whether we should have such a change.
I cannot disagree with anything the noble Earl has said. It is very important to us to encourage and foster culture in our country. Foreign artists and performers are extremely welcome here, but the system has to be conducted in a robust but fair way.
My Lords, where an artist—let us say for reasons of health—has to drop out of a performance at very short notice and the only suitable replacement artist is from abroad, is my noble friend aware of the potential difficulty in obtaining a visa for the artist coming in as a subsidiary?
My Lords, yes, I am aware of that. As I have tried to explain, there are certain routes to facilitate an artist in that situation, but they have to be used with a system of undertaking proper checks of documentation.