Education: Conservatoires

Lord Maclennan of Rogart Excerpts

Wednesday 10th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Maclennan of Rogart]

My Lords, I, too, wish to congratulate and felicitate the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, on obtaining this important debate, which I believe is very timely. It appears that the conservatoires have almost inadvertently been overlooked in the structure of higher education; there has been a real-terms reduction in expenditure on them since 2008-09. The importance of these bodies is beyond challenge, and the number of people applying to speak in this debate is an indication of the width of support that the conservatoires enjoy. I speak as a Scot and recognise that the cultural life of Scotland is of massive importance; there is nothing outside the Olympic Games that attracts more people to this country than the Edinburgh International Festival, and our efforts in promoting the work, talent and creativity of the individuals who are now artists known worldwide are of significant importance.

In the very short time that is available, I ask the Government to recognise that what is required is a new structure for the funding of the conservatoires that recognises their legitimately very high costs and the length of training that they require. These are not spendthrift institutions but they have expensive requirements, and that needs to be taken into account in determining our policy.