Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2026
Arts Education
My Lords, we need a full debate on the important Hodge review, but, out of the many recommendations, do the Government support the recommendation that the government indemnity scheme, which saves a lot of money, could nevertheless be made more effective to allow more items to be shown more widely ac…
Lords
Proceedings
2 July 2026
Live Music
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, on an excellent speech. In policy terms, the guidance provided for culture as an area of competence for the mayoral strategic authorities—we discussed this at length during the passage of the devolution Bill—is that it needs to be a consultation…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
University Student Finance
My Lords, bearing student finance in mind, what criteria are the Government using to define what they call “poor-quality” university courses?
Lords
Proceedings
22 June 2026
Master’s Level History Scholarships
My Lords, the wider, hugely worrying trend is the loss of humanities and arts courses more generally at the higher education level, one effect of which, as has been said, has been to widen the class divide in the study of those subjects. Do the Government have a strategy to reverse those long-term t…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Russian Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure
My Lords, further to what the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, said about infrastructure, Russia is a signatory to the 1954 convention on the protection of culture in time of war, and its recent attacks have been absolutely appalling and need to be called out very strongly.
Lords
Debate
27 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I support Motion E1. The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, has explained the agent of change principle with characteristic clarity. I would have preferred the broader amendment that we passed on Report, which reflected the full range of ways in which new development can harm existing business…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
2 contributions
National Museums and Galleries
I am sure all noble Lords will agree that our national museums are truly exceptional. I can confirm that we are not considering any changes to free entry for UK nationals and residents. In response to the independent review of the Arts Council by my noble friend Lady Hodge, DCMS is working with the …
We are committed to supporting our national museums and to ensuring that art and culture are accessible, representative and shared across the country. Our £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere package ensures everyone has access to world-class culture. There are no current plans to reduce grant in aid, altho…
Lords
Debate
23 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I am grateful for the Minister’s statement a moment ago. We have debated this issue several times. I still believe that the case I have been making, with colleagues, remains the right one.
I was interested in the fact that the Minister cited in evidence a moment ago research done by CIPFA…
Lords
Oral Questions
21 April 2026
Electricity: Domestic Pricing
The noble Earl treads a fine distinction between the possible daylight robbery of standing charges and the fact that some charges need to be levied collectively because of the various fixed costs that the system has, which have to be contributed to in order to deliver the service to individual consu…
Lords
Debate
13 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly to my amendments in this group, concerned with cultural assets of community value—the same amendments I tabled in Committee. I am grateful for the support of my noble friend Lord Freyberg for these amendments. I have done so primarily to allow me to thank the Minister …
Lords
Oral Questions
26 March 2026
Curriculum and Assessment Review
My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, on securing this short debate and introducing it so well. I thank the ISM—the Independent Society of Musicians—Dr Anthony Anderson and Professor Adam Whittaker of Birmingham City University, and Dr Robert Gardiner of the RNCM, for their a…
Lords
Debate
24 March 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I congratulate the Government on introducing their Amendment 2, adding culture to the list of areas of competence, and say at the outset that I have no intention of taking my own amendment to a vote. The Minister has listened to many of our arguments in Committee and I think this will make…
My Lords, in this group I have Amendment 186, which would allow a separate cultural ecosystem plan to be put in place to sit beside the local growth plan. I was very heartened by the support for this amendment in Committee from the noble Lord, Lord Shipley. He said this amendment
“really matters … …
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
UK Domestic Visitor Levy
I always appreciate the noble Earl’s championing of culture and leisure, including the impact that that has on tourism, and I am grateful to him for the work that he does in that area. I am afraid the consideration that he asked about is very much the responsibility of His Majesty’s Treasury and not…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
Iran and the Middle East
I am an archaeology graduate and I completely understand why the noble Earl asks that question. He is right to draw our attention to this. It is tragic that, alongside women and children, the cultural heritage in many conflict zones suffers. It becomes a target because adversaries understand just ho…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 March 2026
2 contributions
Class Inequality in the Arts
As the report highlights, it is considerably harder for someone from a working-class background to access the arts and pursue an artistic career. This is clearly not acceptable. Our £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere fund will prioritise areas previously undersupported, ensuring the arts should be for eve…
The Government are already investing in arts and culture, and over the course of this Parliament they will invest £1.5 billion in capital funding for arts and culture. We are also investing in making sure that opportunities should never depend on background or schooling, and we are committed to ensu…
Lords
Proceedings
5 March 2026
Arrangement of Business
I apologise for the noble Baroness, Lady Freeman, who is unable to be here today.
Lords
Oral Questions
2 March 2026
UK Streaming and Cinema Sector
Anticipating that this question might come up, I asked whether I was able to give a definitive date for when the freelance champion will be appointed. Unfortunately, my wording is still just “as swiftly as possible”. I can report to your Lordships’ House that the Minister for Creative Industries, my…
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
Resetting the UK-EU Relationship (European Affairs Committee Report)
My Lords, as the 29th speaker, I fear that many of my original points have disappeared, but the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, in particular, has inspired me to make a few more. I join others in commending the noble Lord who chaired this committee, and the committee itself, on getting over the refighting…
Lords
Committee Stage
11 February 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I have a number of amendments in this group relating to assets of cultural value and I am grateful for the support of my noble friend Lord Freyberg.
Between them, the amendments do just two things. First, Amendment 233 tells us more precisely what cultural interests are by giving specific…
Lords
Committee Stage
10 February 2026
2 contributions
Local Government Finance Act 1988 (Prescription of Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers) (England) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I, too, add my thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, for setting out the issues surrounding these regulations with such clarity. Like the noble Earl and the noble Lord, I wish to express my gratitude to the Music Venue Trust, UK Music and the Music Producers Guild for their helpful…
As I said, I cannot commit to introducing any specific targeted relief, but we keep all taxes under review.
Lords
Oral Questions
5 February 2026
2 contributions
Youth Unemployment
My Lords—
Yes, I do. That is why, through the curriculum and assessment review, we have ensured that young people are getting the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life and in work. We will continue to ensure that that is the case throughout our schools.
Lords
Committee Stage
4 February 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I will be fairly brief, because last week we had a considerable discussion on cultural concerns. I support all the amendments in this group and have put my name to the amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering.
The noble Baroness rightly points to cultural infras…
Lords
Committee Stage
29 January 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, this group of amendments is, broadly speaking, about collaboration in its various forms—not just between mayors but between mayors of other parties, as well as other forms of collaboration.
I am grateful for the support of the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, as well as that of…
I thank the Minister for her reply and will be very brief. I thank noble Lords for their support for my amendment.
The point about the word “cultural” is that it has an important integrity. If we do not have it then something significant will be lost, because what it embraces will get shared out am…
Lords
Oral Questions
28 January 2026
Schools: Music and Dance Scheme
If every department in government was able to immediately come up with the money for everything that everybody argued was not a great amount of money in the scheme of things, it would be gratifying for those asking for it and bankrupting to the Government. I hope I have made clear today this Governm…