Lords
Debate
11 September 2026
Creative Education Access Bill [HL]
My Lords, I look forward to the maiden speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Mackenzie of Sherwood. I note that a DCMS Minister is answering an education debate; I hope that is a sign that joined-up thinking is finally going to be a thing. I very much support every part of the Bill and congratulate the…
Lords
Proceedings
7 September 2026
Creative and Performing Arts Teaching Grants
My Lords, far from being “challenging”, as the previous Secretary of State put it, this is a disastrous decision that will further imperil higher education arts courses already under threat from closure. It is at odds with the industrial strategy’s commitment to the creative industries and the conce…
Lords
Proceedings
1 September 2026
Touring: Impact of EU Exit
My Lords, I give all credit to the Government for commissioning what is a devastating report, if predictably so. Will the Government use the detail of this report to inform the next UK-EU summit, including especially the significant effect of Brexit on the creative economies of EU member states? Cle…
Lords
Proceedings
22 July 2026
2 contributions
Performing Artists and Musicians: Access to the EU
My Lords—
My Lords, perhaps the most intractable problem is that of work for artists in Europe, whether temporary or permanent. As the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, said, this is affecting not just musicians but dancers and actors, who often fall at the first hurdle because they do not possess an EU passport. Fo…
Lords
Proceedings
21 July 2026
Domestic Travel and Holidays: Visitor Levy
My Lords, we see from the polls that have been done that the use of a visitor levy for the support of museums, theatres and other tourist attractions would be popular, not least because most visitors to our cities, whether domestic or international, come for the arts and culture. I hear what the Min…
Lords
Proceedings
20 July 2026
Music Teachers: Recruitment
My Lords, further to the supplementary question from the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, does the Minister agree that what is needed most urgently, given that the Government are not taking into account the long-term decline in arts education, is a review of the way in which recruitment targets and IT b…
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…