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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of compensating musicians for the additional costs incurred through travelling to the EU with instruments and equipment in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Our cultural and creative sectors are one of the UK’s greatest success stories. We will ensure that these sectors continue to thrive and that collaboration with our European partners continues to flourish beyond our exit from the EU. Journeys and routes around the EU are varied and unique to each musician.

However, we have engaged extensively with the cultural sector, and understand the diverse circumstances of companies, organisations and individual practitioners and how they may need to adapt as we leave the EU. These include changes for visas, social security and movement of equipment, including instruments when moving around the EU. We are working with other colleagues across government to ensure these are factored into our preparations and future negotiations.

The Government has now agreed the Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. We believe this is the best outcome for all UK sectors.