Arts Funding in North-East England
The Earl of Clancarty
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Newcastle City Council’s plans to remove funding for the arts, what plans they have to safeguard arts funding in north-east England.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Local authorities have to make difficult decisions on behalf of local taxpayers about how to deploy their budget. Sustained investment in culture has made Newcastle a centre of culture, contributing to the regional economy and quality of life. This Government are working hard to safeguard our arts infrastructure in a difficult spending review settlement where we have limited cuts to protect front-line organisations. We have increased the arts’ share of lottery proceeds from 16% to 20% and invested £100 million in helping arts organisations increase their fundraising capability, including organisations in the north-east.
The Earl of Clancarty
My Lords, do the Government accept that local authority funding of the arts, which has no statutory provision and is irreplaceable, is at best a hugely effective, proven means of providing arts services throughout the country and a significant factor in regional regeneration and the national economy? Witness the support given to Tyneside’s Live Theatre, which premiered “The Pitmen Painters” which went on to international success. When will the Government understand that such funding of the arts is not an add-on to be then easily removed at a stroke, but an important and necessary stimulus to the nation’s financial as well as creative growth?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
I applaud the noble Earl’s tenacity in again raising protection of the arts. He is right to do so, against continuing challenging economic conditions and particularly with his focus on Newcastle. Newcastle City Council’s plans are still consultative, and it will be up to local taxpayers to give a response. The Arts Council, which already supports 42 out of the 700 national portfolio organisations in the north-east, is working closely with Newcastle City Council to achieve a positive outcome. Finally, it is encouraging to report from the recent annual local authority arts survey that, contrary to adverse publicity, there is some stabilisation of local arts spending. For the 2012-13 year, the budgets reflect an average of £384,900 per local authority compared with £381,600 for 2011-12.
Lord Beecham
My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of Newcastle City Council and director of Newcastle’s Theatre Royal. Is not the best way to safeguard arts funding in Newcastle for the Government to reduce the requirement on the city council to cut its budget by more than a third, or £90 million a year, with devastating consequences for vital services such as adult social care and children’s services? Will the Minister use his best endeavours to persuade the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to ensure that the forthcoming local government finance settlement allows for a significant abatement in the expected cut?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
The point that the noble Lord makes is noted. The funding settlement for councils, as has been mentioned, will be announced later this year, but, given that councils account for a quarter of all public spending, it is vital that they continue to play their part in tackling the inherited budget deficit by making sensible savings through better procurement, greater transparency and sharing back offices. The main general grant from the Government to local authorities was on average £300 per head more in the north-east than in the south-east, with Newcastle receiving £653 per head compared to, for example, £150 per head in Windsor and Maidenhead.
Lord Shipley
My Lords, can I draw the attention of the Minister to the latest annual report from Arts Council England, which confirms that just over half of its support to regularly funded organisations went to organisations in London? Does he agree that just a small percentage switch in the balance of funding could have a profoundly beneficial effect on the English regions and should therefore be made?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My noble friend makes a good point, and much is being done to encourage funding in the arts outside London. I am delighted to report today that a report has been produced called Philanthropy Beyond London, written by the chair of the Birmingham Opera Company. The report makes 19 recommendations to regional cultural organisations, the Government and Arts Council England to take matters forward.
Lord Howarth of Newport
My Lords, will the Minister accept that not only culture but the economy and democracy in the north-east and all across England would flourish more if Whitehall would abandon its jealous and rigid controls over what local authorities are permitted to raise, spend and do? I encourage him to have a conversation on the subject with his noble friend Lord Heseltine.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
As mentioned before, it is not our business to interfere with how local authorities spend their funds. Arts Council England is working extremely closely with Newcastle City Council at the moment to find a way forward through the problems highlighted today by the noble Earl. The Government have a number of initiatives on the go, including the Catalyst programme which is designed to release endowments and to encourage legacy giving. There are many initiatives afoot to help the arts and culture sector.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
My Lords, the Minister chose very different areas for his comparison in Maidenhead and Windsor and Newcastle upon Tyne. Will he go back and look at the disproportionate cuts for areas in the north of England as opposed to the south of England? Will he look at the apparent reported failure of many of those seeking to get young people into work, particularly in areas where the Government, contrary to the Minister’s statement, are telling local authorities what to spend, and where? If local authorities would take on, particularly, young unemployed people from an arts background, in the parks and gardens, in housing and a lot of other areas, the Government would be able to let their right hand know what their left hand was undoing.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Funding for the arts sector is still dependent on a growing economy and while we have some way to go, we are on the right track. The economy shows signs of healing and in two years the Government have cut the deficit by a quarter. To take up the noble Baroness point, more than a million new jobs have been created in the private sector, the economy is growing and this can only be beneficial to the arts sector.