The Stage

Labour has failed arts, says MU/BACS report

Published Tuesday 31 October 2006 at 15:05 by Nuala Calvi

Labour has consistently failed to consider the effects of its legislation and policy making on Britain’s artists, despite an expressed aim to make the UK the “creative hub” of the world, according to a major new report.

Policy that affects the creative industries is all too often made ‘ad hoc’, while politicians regard it as an indulgence to meet with industry leaders to try to understand their point of view, the research for the Musicians’ Union and British Academy of Composers and Songwriters concluded.

As a result, the sector has frequently run into problems with licensing, tax and competition laws in recent years - as demonstrated by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s battle with the taxman last month over cultural exemption from VAT.

MU general secretary John Smith said the decision by the Office of Fair Trading to regard collective agreements by the union on behalf of its members as contrary to the terms of the Competition Act was another prime example of the problem.

Smith said: “The Competition Act issue is probably one of the most serious examples of how things have got worse in this period. The first response of government is always: ‘Why are you special?’

“Most recently, the Performers’ Alliance went to see the culture minister about the serious funding situation facing the arts, and the minister said: ‘Well, you’ve got to be mature about this’. And he’s the one that’s supposed to be making our case to the treasury.”

BACS chair David Ferguson added: “I see government frequently being obstructive in our neck of the woods. We go in and see the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and they say: ‘Oh it’s terrible isn’t it’, and they do nothing. What’s the point of having a department for culture, then?”

The new report, entitled Status Quo…?, recommends the creation of a central online portal holding all available information about tax, employment law and social security provision as it relates to the creative industries, in order to provide guidance to professionals and encourage a more joined-up approach by government.

It calls for artists to be included from the start in every decision-making process that has a cultural dimension or affects the cultural sector.

Report author Andrew Missingham commented: “Government talks an awful lot about how creative the UK is and how we’re going to build the creative economy, but there is scant knowledge of the creative sector in government and very poor communication between government departments when legislation that effects the creative industries is put together.”