National Arts Bank

Baroness Gill Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2026 Grand Committee

[Baroness Gill (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord John of Southwark on securing this debate and introducing the concept of a national arts bank—capital for our culture. He has already outlined his first-hand experience of implementing similar initiatives at a local level and I believe that he is well placed to lead on this project in your Lordships’ House.

It is widely acknowledged that our cultural institutions are starving for capital. Theatres, galleries and art colleges face a crisis. Commercial banks reject them as too risky and traditional grants offer only short-term relief. We need a permanent structural solution and I think that that solution is a national arts bank.

While I welcome the funding that the Government have outlined under the Arts Everywhere project, it is limited to five years and we need longer-term solutions. We know that artistic venues are vital public infrastructure, yet they are struggling to secure commercial loans. Older theatres require urgent structural modernisation, galleries need high-tech climate control systems and colleges require cutting-edge digital media equipment. Private lenders do not understand creative revenue. They see seasonal ticket sales as unstable. Consequently, as I said, our cultural foundations are crumbling.

I recognise that, 18 months ago, the Government set up the ACE review, under the leadership of my noble friend Lady Hodge. That report highlighted:

“The UK spends less on culture than most of the countries in Europe. In 2022, public investment in culture in the UK was 0.25% of GDP, the lowest across a … list of European countries for whom there is comparable data (including France, Germany, Italy, and all of Scandinavia), and only higher than Greece”.


The Campaign for the Arts has also reported that the UK ranks among the lowest spenders on culture, both as a percentage of GDP and per person, in comparison with various European countries. The sector reports that some local authorities have completely cut their spending on culture. The British Council has curtailed its investment in culture. Nesta, a research and innovation foundation, which had a £250 million government-funded endowment for the creative arts, has pulled out of funding the arts. As I said, local authorities have almost completely given up.

We need to expand our horizons and look for new solutions, and we also need to include the film sector in that. The capital gap that we are speaking about is not exclusive to live stages. Consider our booming, yet vulnerable, film sector: local production studios require massive upfront capital. I have some second-hand knowledge of this; my son is a screenwriter and director, so I hear a lot about this sector. They need virtual production walls and sound stages. Without advanced facilities, international investment tends to go elsewhere.

I believe an arts bank would secure loans for independent film infrastructure. It would allow local studios to compete on a global scale because, as we know, infrastructure is the foundation of modern storytelling. That is why countries such as France, where there is an institute for funding cinema and creative industries, operates two financial tasks: a bank guarantee and a loan, similar to what the noble Lord, Lord John of Southwark, outlined.

I wonder whether we could also link this to another topical question that we have all been tackling this week: the NEET crisis. I know that capital funding could directly impact our youth unemployment crisis. Thousands of young people are NEET—not in education, employment or training—but I have seen that the creative industries are a proven magnet for re­engagement. When I was in the West Midlands as an MEP, I visited a lot of FE colleges, and I saw the level of engagement for young people who did not want to continue studying. They were happy to go into a music studio, drama or anything to do with creative arts. So I think this could be a way of reaching that goal too. I again stress that we need state-of-the-art facilities to run apprenticeships, and we could benefit across the whole sector by having a skilled creative workforce.

By investing in capital, we also drive up educational enrolment. The infrastructure itself becomes a motivation to learn. A national arts bank would make a change. It would not replace commercial financial markets; it would act as a powerful guarantor. This would be an investment, not charity. This model protects hard-earned taxpayer money. Grants disappear once a venue spends them. Guaranteed loans must be paid back fully. Venues build sustainable, long-term business models. The arts generate massive economic ripple effects. Every pound invested would boost nearby hospitality. It would create jobs for technicians, builders and creatives.

To conclude, I believe it would bridge the gap between finance and culture. It would transform state funding from charity to investment. Let us secure our venues and colleges. Let us back the creators who inspire us.