Today, 22nd November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his Autumn Statement to Parliament.
As widely trailed, there were tax cuts for business, reductions in national insurance, along with extensions in business rates reductions for hospitality and leisure businesses and full expensing on business investment – all of which will be welcomed by businesses of all shapes and sizes.
But, when it comes specifically to the events sector, was there anything specific?
Well, not much, but we did pick up on two things that are very relevant to the development of our Policy Agenda, and our overriding objective of further unlocking the potential of the UK events sector;
Inward Investment Concierge Service
While we must wait for the details to be published, this seemed quite an interesting announcement which could, potentially, help in connecting with organisations that are looking to invest in the UK and therefore might be disposed to bring, or at least attend, sector specific events here.
From what we can see, the plan would be to provide a dedicated advice and connection service, and that could be something that the business events sector could be involved with. It’s not clear as to which department would be leading on this, but we assume it would be the Department for Business and Trade.
Call for Evidence on Film & TV Tax Credit Scheme
Many people will know that this scheme, managed by DCMS, was introduced in the latter stages on the pandemic, and essentially provides tax breaks for studios and production companies looking to film and produce content here in the UK. We have, along with others, have been lobbying both DCMS and the Treasury to expand this scheme to include business events, and while they have been sympathetic to the argument, have made it clear that more evidence is needed before that happens. The announcement of the call for evidence provides us with another opportunity to reopen those discussions, and certainly our recent policy consultation highlights support for this from across the industry.
In the weeks and months ahead, we will continue to provide evidence and briefings to our colleagues in DCMS, and already have meetings scheduled with the Department for Business and Trade, who we worked very closely with on our UK Policy Forum.
We will also be briefing members of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Events, who have also lobbied Ministers on these points over recent months, to continue to put the case forward for further support for the industry.
Picture by Rory Arnold, licensing information here.