My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her Question. Is the Minister aware that the Department for Education is cutting the strategic priorities grant in higher education that supports media and journalism? It is also excluding them from new maintenance grants and the lifelong learning entitlement…
My Lords, we welcome the Green Paper, which rightly recognises the severe financial challenges facing our PSBs, vividly exposed by the recent devastating cuts at the BBC. We have long proposed on these Benches that the BBC World Service should be fully funded directly from an FCDO budget, freeing up…
I thank the Minister for his reply. I am particularly concerned about the world of dance. Despite the fact that dancers and choreographers spend years training, their qualifications are assessed as being below degree level, and consequently they are eligible for sponsorship to work in the UK via the…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her introduction to the Sporting Events Bill. My noble friend Lord Addington will be leading on this from our Benches and may occasionally hand me the baton. We welcome this Bill, which creates a legislative framework that will attract international sporting events…
My Lords, I welcome culture being part of today’s debate and the acknowledgment by the noble Lord, Lord Whitehead, of its importance—and, if I might say so, its wonderful celebration by the noble Baroness, Lady Rebuck. Culture and our consequent creative industries provide social glue and are an eng…
I am delighted, as I know the noble Baroness is, that the UK has been able to agree the loan with France of the Bayeux Tapestry. The noble Baroness correctly identified that skills are at the heart of any future policy. Every single conversation I have at every single institution I visit focuses on …
Freelancers play a vital role in the creative industries, which is why we committed to appoint a freelance champion in the creative industries sector plan. Since then, we have been working closely with industry to develop the scope of the role. In two weeks’ time, my colleague, Ian Murray, who is th…
The champion-type role appointed by the Government is designed exactly for the purpose of making sure that these conversations are had and action is taken across government. We are very keen for the person who is appointed to this role to be involved in developing their own work plan, in discussion …
My Lords, like all others, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, for giving us the opportunity of today’s debate. It has proved to be a timely one, because it is the first opportunity that we have had to discuss the Government’s Green Paper on the BBC, published in the week before the C…
My Lords, we welcome the Secretary of State’s Statement and her robust defence of the BBC, but let us not mince words: it is under attack as never before. A free press is the foundation stone of freedom and democracy, and the BBC is the foundation stone of our free press. The highly respected Reuter…
The UK Government are currently consulting on reforms to the UK’s convention on international trade, which includes musical instruments, certificates, goods and services. The noble Baroness makes an extremely valid point. It is one of the consequences of Brexit, but we cannot relive that debate now.…
The Secretary of State is clear that, when she talks about “arts everywhere”, this genuinely means that every part of the country should have access to arts and theatre not just here in London but around the country. I can reassure the noble Baroness that this principle is at the heart of our plans.
The noble Baroness is absolutely right, but I would make one correction—the figure is 70%. The point is that, prior to 2010, all the BBC World Service was independent, and it was the settlement the previous Government made as a consequence that shifted the responsibility on to the BBC. However, we d…
The noble Baroness touches on an issue very close to my heart. I find it absolutely fascinating that, as a high-profile industry, the film industry is not more attractive to young people coming through the system. There has to be much greater awareness of what is involved. We also want to make sure …
I thank the noble Baroness. We have discussed cabotage in this Chamber before. It is extremely complex. I do not know how it could have come about that it was not foreseen that having to stop at all the different borders of EU countries would not present an enormous problem.
This issue is certainly…