Event support a case of ‘too little, too late’ for many
It has been nice to see a further return to some sort of normality over the last month or two, and it is nice to see that some outdoor events have even started returning in the latter part of the summer.
Nevertheless, the sheer number of events which would normally have taken place across Perthshire has been greatly reduced this year and I know that they have been missed.
This disproportionately impacts my constituency more than many, given the sheer number of Highland Games and other outdoor festivals that would normally take place across Perthshire in an average year.
It has not been an average year, though.
Given the forward planning and financial commitment that goes into many festivals and events, organisers have been forced to pull the plug many weeks and months ahead of planned events.
One of the suggested workarounds which could have helped was a UK-wide event insurance scheme backed by the UK government.
It is something that many European countries have had in place for months now and it is something which I have been trying to convince minsters to back for quite some time.
Thankfully, after much delay, the UK government has announced a £750m scheme which will help to protect live events against financial loss incurred as a direct result of Covid restrictions.
Sadly, I think for many, especially events in Scotland and Wales, where restrictions have eased more slowly, it will be too little too late.
We have already seen a number of large events across Perthshire cancel for 2021, and the scheme doesn’t go live until September, when most of the outdoor live events have long since passed.
I had hoped that people across Perthshire would be able to enjoy more outdoor events as the restrictions eased, but I can fully understand why organisers have not been able to wait on the relevant support and guarantees from government before taking the risk of going ahead.
I hope that this support will ensure that organisers and those people who rely on summer events to make their yearly income, can be confident that events in 2022 will have the financial backing of government should they be forced to cancel.
We need to ensure that support like this can be agreed quickly should it be needed in the future.
I was hearing from event organisers back in 2020 who wanted this support to be put in place and here we are at the end of the summer in 2021 still waiting on the first policy to be issued.
While the idea of government backing insurance for private events like this is not common, the last 17 months should have taught us that being fleet of foot is needed if we are to protect as many industries and jobs as we possibly can.
You can contact me by email at pete.wishart.mp@ parliament.uk or call 01250 876576.