The Government is proud of the role of National Lottery funding, and it has generated over £53 billion for Good Causes across every postcode of the UK. That money has done remarkable things, with funding supporting people across the country to improve their communities and the lives of their neighbours.

The Government is promoting the positive impact of National Lottery Good Causes throughout the Government’s ongoing Call for Evidence on Good Causes Funding, through case studies, content on social media, and with the support of key partners. Allwyn, the current National Lottery operator, has also promoted the Call for Evidence through their own channels, highlighting the positive impact of Good Cause funding in communities across the UK, including directly with retailers.

The Call for Evidence is an opportunity to understand the extent to which the general public and organisations are aware of good cause funding in their local area and nationally, and how we can better explain the impact of that funding to the public and to players.

Following closure of the Call for Evidence on 23 September 2026, the Government will analyse all evidence, and respond in due course.

The changes to the Right to Work Scheme from 1 October extend checks beyond traditional employment to specified non-standard working arrangements. They do not alter the Immigration Rules governing visitors.

Professional artists, entertainers and musicians, including members of bands and theatre troupes, who enter the UK without a visa and undertake activities permitted under the Standard Visitor route, including a permitted paid engagement where the relevant requirements are met will not be subject to a right to work check solely by virtue of those activities. Therefore, the Government does not consider there to be an operational conflict, and a waiver is neither necessary nor planned.

Where a working arrangement falls within scope of the Right to Work Scheme, the responsible organisation must carry out a right to work check as prescribed in legislation and published guidance.

The Government has engaged with affected sectors in developing the regulations, statutory codes of practice and guidance, and will continue to engage with businesses and representative bodies, including the live entertainment sector where relevant, to support clear and proportionate implementation and address practical concerns.

Representatives from the arts and entertainment sector, including organisations representing performers and creative professionals, responded to the public consultation on extending the Right to Work Scheme. The Home Office considered stakeholder feedback from across affected sectors when developing the final guidance and implementation approach.

The changes to the Right to Work Scheme from 1 October extend checks beyond traditional employment to specified non-standard working arrangements. They do not alter the Immigration Rules governing visitors.

Professional artists, entertainers and musicians, including members of bands and theatre troupes, who enter the UK without a visa and undertake activities permitted under the Standard Visitor route, including a permitted paid engagement where the relevant requirements are met will not be subject to a right to work check solely by virtue of those activities. Therefore, the Government does not consider there to be an operational conflict, and a waiver is neither necessary nor planned.

Where a working arrangement falls within scope of the Right to Work Scheme, the responsible organisation must carry out a right to work check as prescribed in legislation and published guidance.

The Government has engaged with affected sectors in developing the regulations, statutory codes of practice and guidance, and will continue to engage with businesses and representative bodies, including the live entertainment sector where relevant, to support clear and proportionate implementation and address practical concerns.

Representatives from the arts and entertainment sector, including organisations representing performers and creative professionals, responded to the public consultation on extending the Right to Work Scheme. The Home Office considered stakeholder feedback from across affected sectors when developing the final guidance and implementation approach.

My Lords, decisions on the strategic priorities grant for academic year 2026-27 reflect the challenging fiscal position and not the value we place on creative and performing arts courses. We recognise the important contribution that the disciplines make to our cultural life and economy. We have had to prioritise funding towards the highest-cost subjects and areas facing the most acute skills shortages, while protecting £57.1 million of funding for world-leading specialist providers, including 12 arts institutions.

I understand the disappointment in this decision, but to be clear about the scale, we are talking about the removal of £130 per student for those taking some creative and arts subjects. That is roughly 1% of the contribution towards those subjects. A £6 billion increase in the income to higher education that comes from the decisions this Government have made about tuition fees is not insignificant; it is by far the biggest part of the funding for all higher education courses, including those in creative and performing arts.

The report provides important new evidence on the economic and practical impacts of EU exit on UK artists touring in the EU for both the UK and the EU. We remain committed to our manifesto pledge and will

use the report to strengthen the case that practical solutions will deliver benefits to both the UK and the EU alike. We are sharing the findings of European partners and the Cultural Exchange Coalition to allow them to be used in engagement with European counterparts.

The report does indeed provide evidence of an issue many noble Lords have raised with me, and the sector has raised with the Government: the impact of the post-Brexit restrictions on artists. The report provides new evidence of the impact on UK artists and on the EU itself—significant amounts of income are lost as a result. We will ensure that its findings inform our engagement with European partners as we continue to pursue practical improvements for touring artists. As the noble Earl will understand, the agenda for the UK-EU summit has not yet been finalised and it would not be appropriate to pre-empt discussions between the UK and the EU on its contents.

The government recognises the importance of creative and performing arts courses delivered by higher education (HE) institutions. However, funding decisions for the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) must prioritise subjects with the highest delivery costs.

Decisions on SPG funding were taken in the context of a highly challenging fiscal environment. For the 2025/26 academic year, funding through the SPG for creative and performing arts courses was around £130 per full-time equivalent student, or just over 1% of total funding provided by government when tuition fees are considered. Arts courses will also benefit from increases in tuition fee limits in line with inflation.

The government’s support for HE arts provision is reflected by our continued investment in the 20 specialist providers identified by the Office for Students as world leading, which will receive £57 million via the SPG in the 2026/27 academic year. Of this group, 12 providers solely focus on the creative and performing arts.

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New multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) were announced at Budget 2024. Government has been clear that the intention was for their scope to broadly reflect the scope of the RHL relief, which was centred around RHL properties that are “reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public”. As recording studios are not generally open to members of the public, they were unlikely to be receiving RHL relief.

In recognition of the impact of the 2026 revaluation on bills, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion at Budget 2025 to protect ratepayers against large overnight increases in bills. Additionally, many recording studios are also likely to benefit from Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR). SBRR is available to businesses with a single property below a set rateable value. Eligible properties under £12,000 receive 100 per cent relief, which means around a third of properties in England pay no business rates at all. Tapered support is available to properties valued between £12,000 and £15,000.

The UK and EU agreed that we will work towards the establishment of a balanced Youth Experience Scheme.

We have agreed that any scheme will be capped, subject to a visa requirement and time-limited, but the exact parameters are subject to ongoing discussions.

We are working towards concluding negotiations on the Youth Experience Scheme by the time of the next EU-UK summit.

On 20 July, the Prime Minister spoke to António Costa, President of the European Council, and agreed their respective teams would work closely towards a UK-EU Summit later in the year; the agenda has not yet been agreed.

This Government is committed to supporting the Creative Industries, including the crafts sector. Our UK-wide Creative Industries Sector Plan features international engagement as a core component, recognising the importance of exports, inward investment and global collaboration to the sector’s continued success.

The Government is also committed to supporting more UK crafts businesses to become export-ready, access new markets and benefit from trade agreements, although we are alive to the barriers many face. We are continuing to work across government to explore how we can better support the sector's needs, including improving awareness of existing mobility schemes; identifying where clearer export guidance may be helpful; and considering opportunities for future engagement with our EU counterparts on issues such as cultural exchange.

On 20 July, the Prime Minister spoke to António Costa, President of the European Council, and agreed their respective teams would work closely towards a UK-EU Summit later in the year; the agenda has not yet been agreed.

Securing better access to the EU for our creative and cultural sectors is a priority for this Government, and helping touring artists is a manifesto commitment.

We have continued to build on the commitment made last May at the inaugural UK-EU Summit through sustained engagement with the European Commission and Member States, ensuring that the practical challenges for UK artists operating across the EU are well understood. Alongside tackling these operational challenges, we remain vocal supporters of the vast cultural and economic benefits our creative industries provide to audiences, venues, and regional economies across both areas. The Government is dedicated to pursuing pragmatic, dual-benefit solutions that serve both UK and EU sectors.

We committed in the Creative Industries Sector Plan to appoint a Freelance Champion, who will advocate for the creative sector’s freelancers within government and be a member of the Creative Industries Council. We will announce the appointment very soon.

Our priority has been that we take the time to get the role and appointment of the Freelance Champion right. As this is a new role, we have spent time working closely with the sector to develop the role’s remit, identify the priorities within that, and understand how the roleholder will engage with the sector once in post. We are working through the details and will be able to share more once the appointment has been announced.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) remains committed to recovering the loan when the British Council's finances allow, consistent with the requirements of the UK's subsidy control regime. We continue to work closely with the British Council and His Majesty's Treasury on the long-term restructuring of the loan and will update Parliament formally in due course. I also refer the Noble Lord to the evidence provided to the Public Accounts Committee on 2 July 2026 by the interim Permanent Under-Secretary, where these issues were discussed in greater depth.

I do recognise how some creative professionals have found it more difficult to take up opportunities in Europe, as practical barriers, including whether they have an EU passport, can have a disproportionate impact. That is why we are working with the European Commission and member states. The Government remain 100% committed to resolving this issue and to improving opportunities for UK artists of all ages to access European audiences and develop international experiences, recognising the cultural and economic value that those exchanges bring.

I absolutely agree with that, and I should declare my interest as a former chair of English Heritage, so I have first-hand experience of these matters. The costs of visitor attractions are what economists call externalities, and this visitor levy will help redress them.

Every year, we review the recruitment trajectory for different subjects. Given the need to safeguard public money and ensure we are spending it efficiently, and given that we have had a 55% increase in recruitment to initial music teacher training and the lowest leaving rate—8.7%—for music teachers at any point, apart from during the pandemic, I do not think it unreasonable to conclude that, at this point in time, the bursary is not required to bring about recruitment. As I said, we will of course review that every year. We will keep in mind the number of teachers needed to maintain the proportion of hours taught by specialist music teachers in our schools at above 90%, and we will, as we have already proved, pay more if necessary to get the teachers our children need.