Covid-19: Orchestras and Cultural Venues

Lord McNally Excerpts
Wednesday 1st July 2020

(4 years, 4 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Barran Portrait Baroness Barran
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We absolutely recognise the nature and important role of freelancers in these sectors. They are in the region of 72% of the workforce, compared with 16% across the rest of the economy, so the noble Lord raises an important point. Colleagues are working night and day to get the guidelines out.

Lord McNally Portrait Lord McNally (LD) [V]
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My Lords, my own town Blackpool has a “Know Before You Go” campaign that sets out for visitors what is open, what they should not do and how they should go into some venues. But a whole part of this sector—including the most iconic visitor attractions—still has no timeline, road map or long-term financial assistance, as said by the noble Baroness, Lady Bull. This is crippling to the industry and putting it in grave danger. There is a question there.

Baroness Barran Portrait Baroness Barran
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The “Know Before You Go” scheme that the noble Lord mentioned sounds very sensible. I can only repeat what I already said: active work is going on with all the key sector stakeholders to understand how we can build back better for our cultural sector.