Arts Funding in North-East England

Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton Excerpts

Wednesday 28th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[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.