Liz Truss and her new government must take the events industry’s role in creating growth more seriously, the Business Visits and Events Partnership (BVEP) has said.
Speaking to Conference News, Michael Hirst, leader of the BVEP’s advocacy and government relations working group, has said that Whitehall is currently “working in silos” and that the events industry recovery plan currently being worked on is becoming a ‘survival plan’.
“My fear is that the recovery plan that we have been working on is now more of a survival plan. The emphasis needs to be on trying to sustain the sector, rather than to look for leaps and bounds,” said Hirst.
He added that despite the tough economic climate, there was a broad upside in the context of cheaper Sterling, which could make the UK a more attractive destination globally.
“I do think there are some areas of opportunity with this new government, with a strong focus on growth. We need to set out for them how we can help them deliver that growth. Certainly, from the trade and export perspective, the potential continuing weakness of the pound will offer greater value for money in holding events in the UK; it will be a cheaper destination in which to do it.
“For those event organisers and exhibition companies that trade overseas, and therefore export their services, there will be price advantage, too.”
Better representation for events within DCMS
Hirst expressed concern over whether the new government will listen to calls made previously to try and foster a more cohesive approach within the events sector, and hinted that a better structure within the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) would be beneficial. During press, Michelle Donelan was appointed culture secretary.
“Now, there’s a very siloed approach within government departments, and if we could get some of the event sectors more joined up within government, it would be a much more efficient way of managing some of the policy areas,” he said.
“Previously, we’ve had two ministers within the DCMS dealing with different aspects of events [culture secretary Nadine Dorries responsible for music and cultural events and tourism minister Nigel Huddleston overseeing sport and business events]. Sometimes we’ve had to repeat our case to both. That was very clear during the pandemic [when Oliver Dowden was culture secretary], that we were doing a lot of duplicate work. We are going to have to start again, telling our story about what we do and how we contribute not only economically and socially, but to the growth agenda, which seems to be important to the new prime minister.
“I think it’s important to the UK and the levelling up agenda also, which I think will still be front and centre Liz Truss’s policy agenda.”
Hirst said it was not yet clear what specific support could be expected, and that a BVEP working group meeting is planned imminently to articulate what might be needed.
“We welcome the promise of support to consumers and businesses to alleviate the high energy costs, which are impacting events businesses. I think we must expect more support to be considered to assist a cost-of-living crisis, which goes far beyond just energy costs. It’s affecting transport costs, material costs, reduction costs, provision of hospitality services. I’m hoping the government will look at other areas. Prime minister Truss has said she would look at corporate tax, whether they are open to a VAT reduction, which will certainly help cash flows for businesses.”
He expressed hope that the new government would not overlook the events industry in favour of more traditional ‘vote-winning’ sectors, as was implied repeatedly during the pandemic.
“The orchestra tends to create a cacophony of sounds; everybody’s going to be asking for help. The problem is if a government continues to play to the gallery, which means it’s going for votes, it just talks to the sectors that it knows the population wants to hear, and we go to the back bottom of the queue. If it wants to think this through and create a structured approach to economic growth, and then it really has to support those engines of growth, such as the events industry.”
The Business of Events
The Business of Events Forum will be taking place in London on 2 November, where matters of policy will be discussed. The DCMS and other government representatives will be present as the events industry looks to strengthen its position. Click here to download the latest report and review the prospectus.
