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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Sport, Media and Creative Industries on 21 January (HC Deb, col 56WH) that “it is essential that free movement is protected for artists post 2020”, how they intend to protect such free movement; and whether such protection will cover freelance workers in other creative and specialist fields.

The UK’s creative industries deliver around 12 per cent of the UK’s total exports in services, and have grown rapidly in recent years. The government is committed to ensuring this growth continues.

DCMS has engaged extensively with union bodies, artists and cultural organisations to help understand the needs of the creative and cultural sector, including freelancers who make up a significant proportion of people in these sectors.

Recognising the depth of the UK-EU relationship, the UK is seeking reciprocal mobility arrangements with the EU in a defined number of areas. For example, to allow business professionals to provide services, or tourists to continue to travel visa-free. This is in line with the arrangements that the UK might want to offer other close trading partners in future, where they support new and deep trade deals. This is subject to wider negotiations with the EU.