Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that employment data submitted to public regulators such as Companies House, the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and the Mutuals Public Register are standardised, include full-time equivalent figures, and are accessible in machine-readable formats.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All charities registered in England or Wales, regardless of their annual income, must send a digital annual return to the Charity Commission. These returns are publicly available in a machine readable PDF format on the Charity Commission's website.
The Charity Commission is committed to further digitalisation of the submission of annual accounts information and will continue to explore solutions which are proportionate, affordable and minimise the regulatory burden on charities.
Currently, there are no steps being taken to standardise full time equivalent employment data across companies, charities and mutuals filed with regulators/registrars.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (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 potential benefits of requiring all registered charities and non-profits with an annual turnover of over £25,000 to submit annual returns to the Charity Commission for England and Wales in machine-readable formats.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All charities registered in England or Wales, regardless of their annual income, must send a digital annual return to the Charity Commission. These returns are publicly available in a machine readable PDF format on the Charity Commission's website.
The Charity Commission is committed to further digitalisation of the submission of annual accounts information and will continue to explore solutions which are proportionate, affordable and minimise the regulatory burden on charities.
Currently, there are no steps being taken to standardise full time equivalent employment data across companies, charities and mutuals filed with regulators/registrars.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (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 role of administrative data and data intermediaries in improving understanding of employment patterns in the cultural and creative sectors.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
DCMS publishes official statistics on Culture and Creative Industries employment. These include statistics on the number of filled jobs using the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey and Labour Force Survey, both household surveys, and skills gaps and shortages from the Department for Education’s Employer Skills Survey.
The department also supports research into the creative industries and jointly with the Creative Industries Council has funded the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre to undertake the creative employers skills survey. This is a new survey of 1,300 businesses across the creative industries in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland that aims to add to our understanding of the skills challenges of today and the talent and skills that will be crucial to the success of the industry in the future.
The understanding that we gain from this data is important for informing our policy work on workforce practice, job quality, careers and training pathways in the creative industries. The main data sources that DCMS currently draw on in these areas are survey based and are not based on administrative data. However, DCMS keeps its statistics and research requirements under review to ensure decision making is based on the best available evidence, including exploring administrative and other data sources where relevant.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the case for requiring publicly funded arts councils in each of the four UK nations to publish per-organisation data on staffing costs, freelance volumes, and artistic expenditure on a consistent and comparable basis.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Arts Councils of each of the four UK nations are devolved responsibilities.
Ministers have not made an assessment of the case raised in the question. However, we are aware of the need for data collection to be consistent, proportionate, and manageable for publicly-funded arts organisations. Baroness Hodge of Barking has been appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to conduct a Review of Arts Council England. This includes in its terms of reference to consider how effective the relationships between ACE and the organisations it funds are; and how far ACE cooperates and shares knowledge with the United Kingdom’s Arts Councils in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Arts Council England publishes an Annual Data survey of its National Portfolio Organisations, which provides a breakdown of expenditure for those organisations. Data from this survey is available on line from the year 2016-17 onwards. ACE also publishes data on its own staff and expenditure in its Annual Report - the latest of which covering 2023-24 can be found on their website.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to supporting the development of national, machine-readable cultural data dashboards, such as those piloted in Bradford by MyCake, designed to identify financially at-risk cultural organisations using administrative data and predictive analytics.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
DCMS is looking more widely into the cultural sector's data needs as the digital data ecosystem grows and evolves. This includes supporting both the Bradford City of Culture team's work on cultural data dashboards and North East Culture Connect, an open access data platform, delivered in collaboration with Northumbria University, North East Combined Authority, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The platform brings together a subset of cultural data from across the North East in a series of dashboards that are intended to be expanded with new data. The data includes information on income streams, funding recipients, and sector economic characteristics, which can support analysis of the financial health of the sector. Furthermore, DCMS is on the Steering Group for the National Cultural Data Observatory project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, led by the Centre for Cultural Value at the University of Leeds, with partners including MyCake, and The Audience Agency. The project aims to develop a blueprint for a national cultural data observatory for the UK, incorporating a range of data.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings about artificial intelligence and copyright issues took place between Ministers and officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and representatives of the Tony Blair Institute between July 2024 and March 2025; and what the dates and outcomes were of those meetings.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No meetings took place between Ministers and officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and representatives of the Tony Blair Institute between July 2024 and March 2025.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (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 potential economic benefits of establishing a dedicated Cultural Heritage Zone in Stoke-on-Trent, similar to models employed in Jingdezhen, China, that might integrate pottery production with cultural tourism and educational opportunities.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises Stoke-on-Trent’s rich ceramics heritage and its potential for economic growth. While no formal assessment has been made of the potential economic benefits of a dedicated Cultural Heritage Zone, we are continuing to support the city’s creative and heritage sectors through a range of initiatives. Our support includes £370,000 to boost creative industry skills in Stoke-on-Trent College, alongside the Small Community and Heritage Assets Grants Programme which has supported creative businesses in the region.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what interdepartmental collaboration exists between the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to develop a comprehensive strategy for the sustainable growth of Stoke-on-Trent's pottery industry as both a manufacturing sector and a cultural asset.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises Stoke-on-Trent’s rich ceramics heritage and its potential for economic growth. While no formal assessment has been made of the potential economic benefits of a dedicated Cultural Heritage Zone, we are continuing to support the city’s creative and heritage sectors through a range of initiatives. Our support includes £370,000 to boost creative industry skills in Stoke-on-Trent College, alongside the Small Community and Heritage Assets Grants Programme which has supported creative businesses in the region.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is taking to support the creative arts sector in its discussions with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on artificial intelligence and copyright.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government recognises the importance of the UK’s copyright regime to the economic success of the creative industries, one of eight growth-driving sectors as identified in our Industrial Strategy. We are committed to supporting rights holders by ensuring they retain control over and receive fair payment for their work, especially as technology advances to include AI.
This is an area where the Department for Culture, Media and Sport works closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). We are actively working with stakeholders to ensure copyright protections remain robust and fit for purpose.
As part of this commitment, we have launched a public consultation on Copyright and AI, which opened on the 17 December and closed on the 25 February. This consultation sought to engage stakeholders across AI and the creative industries to assess and address the evolving challenges of copyright regulation.
We will now consider the full range of responses we have received through our consultation on any new approach. No decisions will be taken until we are absolutely confident we have a practical plan that delivers each of our objectives. We will continue to develop our policy approach with DSIT and the IPO in partnership with creative industries, media and AI stakeholders - supporting our brilliant artists and the creative industries to work together with the AI sector to harness the opportunities this technology provides.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to (1) reduce the costs of sponsoring foreign skilled makers, and (2) establish a centralised database to facilitate workshop exchanges and streamline short-term travel abroad for UK apprentices and craftspeople.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to supporting our heritage, culture and creative industries to thrive for years to come.
We recognise the value of cross-border exchanges for craftspeople, particularly in Europe. The UK has a number of visa routes suitable for people coming to work in skilled trades, or to do training or work experience. More broadly, the Government will work to improve the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU by tearing down unnecessary barriers to trade.
The Government recognises there are skills gaps and shortages in creative sectors and is working with industry to identify current and future skills needs. Across the economy, the people that create and work in businesses will be central to successful growth, and the Government has already taken some steps to support this, including establishing Skills England. We have heard calls from businesses for greater flexibility in our apprenticeships system, and greater flexibility in how employers spend levy funds. And we are acting. That’s why our reformed growth and skills levy will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers.