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Written Question
Musicians: Immigration Controls
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the number of (a) musicians and (b) music groups that were scheduled to play in the UK that were refused entry due to immigration rules in the last 12 months.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Border Force does not hold the data requested.

The UK’s rules for touring creative professionals are comparatively more generous than in many EU Member States. The UK’s domestic rules allow musicians, entertainers and artists from non-visa national countries, such as EU Member States and the US, to perform in the UK without requiring a visa, and the UK does not have work permits.

The Government is committed to supporting the UK’s creative industries, including musicians, to adapt to new arrangements with the EU.

Sector specific guidance on creative professionals from non-visa national countries, including the EU and the US, visiting the UK for performance and work has been published by DCMS on GOV.UK can be found in the ‘Visiting the UK as a creative professional from a non-visa national country guidance’ on GOV.UK.

DCMS has worked across government and in collaboration with the music and wider creative industries to support working and touring with confidence in the EU. Ongoing industry engagement continues at ministerial and official level. This includes several recent events with the sector focused on touring and export support, hosted in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade. These events help to provide tailored guidance to stakeholders within the music sector, alongside an opportunity for the sector to discuss with Ministers and officials touring challenges and opportunities.


Written Question
Entertainers: Travel
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on what dates her Department's working group on creative and cultural touring has met since June 2022; and how many times a Minister has attended those meetings.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Border Force does not hold the data requested.

The UK’s rules for touring creative professionals are comparatively more generous than in many EU Member States. The UK’s domestic rules allow musicians, entertainers and artists from non-visa national countries, such as EU Member States and the US, to perform in the UK without requiring a visa, and the UK does not have work permits.

The Government is committed to supporting the UK’s creative industries, including musicians, to adapt to new arrangements with the EU.

Sector specific guidance on creative professionals from non-visa national countries, including the EU and the US, visiting the UK for performance and work has been published by DCMS on GOV.UK can be found in the ‘Visiting the UK as a creative professional from a non-visa national country guidance’ on GOV.UK.

DCMS has worked across government and in collaboration with the music and wider creative industries to support working and touring with confidence in the EU. Ongoing industry engagement continues at ministerial and official level. This includes several recent events with the sector focused on touring and export support, hosted in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade. These events help to provide tailored guidance to stakeholders within the music sector, alongside an opportunity for the sector to discuss with Ministers and officials touring challenges and opportunities.


Written Question
Music
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department holds data on the number of music rehearsal spaces there were in England in (a) 2003, (b) 2010, (c) 2013, (d) 2019 and (e) 2023.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The Department does not hold data on the numbers of music rehearsal spaces or on community choirs in England.

Estimates of the numbers of community choirs in England may be available from Arts Council England’s Investment Principles Support Organisation Making Music, which represents voluntary and leisure-time music organisations in the UK – although its membership will likely not represent the total number of community choirs in England.

Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 Investment Programme, more money is going to more music organisations in more parts of the country than ever before, supporting 139 organisations classed as ‘music’ by investing c.£65 million of public funding per annum.

Separately, HM Government funds a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes which are designed to improve participation in the arts for all children. The National Plan for Music Education and the upcoming Cultural Education Plan will encourage more young people to take up music lessons, attend local cultural events, and consider careers in the music sector.


Written Question
Choirs
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department holds data on the number of community choirs there were in England in (a) 2003, (b) 2010, (c) 2013, (d) 2019 and (e) 2023.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The Department does not hold data on the numbers of music rehearsal spaces or on community choirs in England.

Estimates of the numbers of community choirs in England may be available from Arts Council England’s Investment Principles Support Organisation Making Music, which represents voluntary and leisure-time music organisations in the UK – although its membership will likely not represent the total number of community choirs in England.

Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 Investment Programme, more money is going to more music organisations in more parts of the country than ever before, supporting 139 organisations classed as ‘music’ by investing c.£65 million of public funding per annum.

Separately, HM Government funds a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes which are designed to improve participation in the arts for all children. The National Plan for Music Education and the upcoming Cultural Education Plan will encourage more young people to take up music lessons, attend local cultural events, and consider careers in the music sector.


Written Question
Brass Bands
Tuesday 12th December 2023

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department holds data on the number of community brass bands in England in (a) 2003, (b) 2010, (c) 2013, (d) 2019 and (e) 2023.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The Department does not hold data on the numbers of community brass bands in England. Our arm’s-length body Arts Council England funds a number of brass band organisations, but does not maintain a category solely for ‘community brass bands’. The brass band organisations it funds includes two nationwide organisations: the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, and Brass Bands England. Brass Bands England promotes, represents, and supports brass bands across England, and will be able to provide information about the number of community brass bands operating.


Written Question
Music: Finance
Monday 11th December 2023

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with Arts Council England on the finances of music organisations.

Answered by John Whittingdale

We do not hold data on the number of music recording studios that have closed in the last 10 years.

In August 2021, DCMS commissioned the consultancy firm, Sound Diplomacy, to assess the state of the music studio market in England.

Whilst the assessment found challenges, it showed the market is responding to changes, such as technological innovation, is maintaining or growing sources of income and has a healthy supply of music studios.

The Government does not currently have plans to publish an update report to the Music Studio Market Assessment.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has regular conversations with Arts Council England (ACE) on a range of issues, including financial support for music organisations.


Written Question
Music: Recording Studios
Monday 11th December 2023

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to publish an update to the report entitled Music Studio Market Assessment, published on 3 August 2021.

Answered by John Whittingdale

We do not hold data on the number of music recording studios that have closed in the last 10 years.

In August 2021, DCMS commissioned the consultancy firm, Sound Diplomacy, to assess the state of the music studio market in England.

Whilst the assessment found challenges, it showed the market is responding to changes, such as technological innovation, is maintaining or growing sources of income and has a healthy supply of music studios.

The Government does not currently have plans to publish an update report to the Music Studio Market Assessment.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has regular conversations with Arts Council England (ACE) on a range of issues, including financial support for music organisations.


Written Question
Music: Recording Studios
Monday 11th December 2023

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department holds data on the number of music recording studios that have closed in the last 10 years.

Answered by John Whittingdale

We do not hold data on the number of music recording studios that have closed in the last 10 years.

In August 2021, DCMS commissioned the consultancy firm, Sound Diplomacy, to assess the state of the music studio market in England.

Whilst the assessment found challenges, it showed the market is responding to changes, such as technological innovation, is maintaining or growing sources of income and has a healthy supply of music studios.

The Government does not currently have plans to publish an update report to the Music Studio Market Assessment.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has regular conversations with Arts Council England (ACE) on a range of issues, including financial support for music organisations.


Written Question
Culture: Children
Wednesday 6th December 2023

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what data her Department holds on the accessibility of arts and culture to children and young people under the age of 16.

Answered by John Whittingdale

Until 2020, DCMS collected data on participation by young people in arts and culture through its Taking Part Survey, and statistical releases from that survey are available on the gov.uk website. The last survey year (2019/20) showed that 96% of children aged 5–10 had engaged with the arts outside school in the 12 months prior to interview, and that 96% of 11–15 year olds had engaged with the arts, either inside or outside school.

In 2021, the Taking Part Survey was replaced by DCMS’s Participation Survey, moving from a face-to-face survey to a push-to-web survey with a larger sample. This captures participation data for people aged 16 and over in England. DCMS has recently undertaken a pilot survey for young people aged between 10 and 19, which will provide data on access to arts and culture for children and young people. We will publish data on this pilot survey next year.

Furthermore, Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Annual Data Survey (available on the Arts Council England website), also provides data on the number of attendances at activities carried out by Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations which is specifically for, by, or with children and young people (aged 0–19). For the most recent published year (2022/23), this shows that there were 3.1 million attendances at performances, 2.5 million attendances at film screenings, 112,000 visits to exhibitions, and 111,000 attendances at festivals. This includes only ‘known attendance’ (i.e. calculated using more precise methods such as ticket sales). Including ‘estimated attendance’ increases this figure significantly.


Written Question
Orchestras: Tax Allowances
Wednesday 6th December 2023

Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many meetings on changes to Orchestra Tax Relief she has had with representatives of the orchestra sector since 18 July 2023.

Answered by John Whittingdale

The extension to the higher rates of cultural tax reliefs announced at Spring Budget 2023 are collectively estimated to be worth £350 million to theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries over the five-year forecast period.

On 18 July 2023, HM Government published draft legislation for several administrative changes to creative industry tax reliefs, including orchestra tax relief, for the purpose of consultation. Since then, senior officials at the Department for Culture, Media & Sport have engaged with the Association of British Orchestras (ABO) and others to seek their feedback on draft changes to legislation on cultural tax reliefs proposed by HM Treasury. Officials from HM Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs have also met the ABO as the responsible Departments for this policy and its delivery. Details of Ministerial meetings can be found on the Gov.uk website here.