On Wednesday last week just before the Parliament was closed for Easter, Steve Bassam, the Lord for Brighton raised three questions all of which are focused on the requirements for Music Venues and one of his questions did refer to a Brighton location. The questions were responded by two of the Conservative Minister members of the House of Lords. They were Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport who answered two of the questions with one response and Baroness Penn from the HM Treasury Department who answered the other question. Lord Parkinson is Stephen Parkinson and Baroness Penn is JoJo Penn. It would be helpful to find out if these answers are sufficient from Steve Bassam’s point of view and indeed for the people in the Music Venue settings?

The first two questions are here

Lord Bassam: To ask His Majesty’s Government

what assessment they have made of the benefits of applying a levy on ticket sales for large music events and at large arenas for investment in grassroots music.

what funding they will offer to grassroots music venues, such as Brighton Concorde 2, to prevent them from closing down.

Lord Parkinson: HM Government is committed to supporting our grassroots music venues, which are the backbone of our world-leading music sector.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is in regular discussions with all parts of the music industry, including live venues across the country of all sizes. We work with the industry and across Government to improve the sector’s resilience, as demonstrated through the £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the £18 billion Energy Bills Relief Scheme.

We will continue to engage with the sector on the impact of current pressures. As part of this engagement, the Minister for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries, Julia Lopez MP, is meeting Music Venues Trust shortly to discuss issues facing the live music sector, and further ways to support the growth of the music sector and wider creative industries.

And the other question is here

Lord Bassam: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for granting tax relief for grassroots music venues to grant them parity with theatres, orchestras and other cultural institutions.

Baroness Penn: The Government recognises the value of the UK’s world leading creative industries and arts sectors.

The objective of the creative industry tax reliefs is to support and incentivise production rather than to support venues themselves.

The Government keeps all tax policy under review and regularly receives proposals for new tax reliefs. When considering a new tax relief, the Government must ensure it supports businesses in a fair way and that taxpayer money is effectively targeted. A tax relief for grassroots music venues is not currently under consideration.