Arts and Culture: Economic Regeneration

Debate between Baroness Quin and Baroness Northover

Tuesday 29th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Quin]

My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to introduce this debate on a subject which I feel strongly about but which also has great topicality, given the cuts to arts budgets which are taking place, both nationally and in many regions and localities. These are, not surprisingly, the subject of widespread concern.

First of all, may I say what a pleasure it is that the Minister is replying to this debate? I have not previously had the chance to congratulate him publicly on his appointment but I now do so warmly. We have made common cause in the past on agricultural issues, not least in our concern for the survival of the red squirrel. Given that he will have to defend the Government’s record in the area we are discussing, I have a feeling that our former harmony might be temporarily dissonant—but I very much hope that that will, indeed, be only temporary. I am also delighted that my noble friend Lady Jones is on the Front Bench for the Opposition, as I know how much she cares about the issue being raised this evening.

I do not have any financial interests to declare but the register of interests does list that I am president of the Northumbrian Pipers’ Society, an important cultural organisation in the north-east which promotes the playing and appreciation of our own regional musical instrument. I have also for many years been a volunteer tourist guide for the great city of Newcastle upon Tyne and, perhaps most relevantly to this debate, I was also a Member of the other place representing Gateshead. The arts and culture have been hugely significant in that town’s economic regeneration but—through projects such as the “Angel of the North”, the Baltic art gallery, the Sage music complex and the award-winning Gateshead Millennium Bridge; this is not an exhaustive list—the benefits have also been felt throughout the whole of Tyneside, the north-east and the country. I feel hugely proud of Gateshead Council and the remarkable way that its members, many of whom come from a traditional industrial background, grasped early on the cultural agenda in the way that they did. I therefore take every opportunity to pay tribute to them and the way that they worked in partnership with other parts of the public and private sectors in the many projects that they pursued.

Indeed, given Gateshead’s record, it is frustrating that in the important Newcastle-Gateshead partnership of recent years, Gateshead’s achievements are often ascribed to Newcastle by those who do not come from the area. I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, as a former leader of Newcastle City Council, will understand my frustration, while none the less recognising, as we both do, how important the Gateshead-Newcastle partnership has been in recent years, and how it has promoted economic regeneration..

The wording of the Question for Short Debate speaks of the contribution of the arts to regional and economic regeneration more generally in order to bring in the wider national and UK dimensions to the subject. Many of us believe that the arts, culture and the creative industries are a crucial part of our national economy, and it is my contention this evening, therefore, that supporting the arts and cultural projects nationally and regionally has to be a vital part of our economic growth strategy and policies for national economic recovery.

In documentation produced by the Arts Council, it is pointed out that our creative economy, as a proportion of GDP, is the largest in the world. Our cultural sector accounts for nearly 70,000 businesses and contributes £28 billion each year to the UK economy. The creative industries provide 1.5 million jobs and our arts and culture attract millions of overseas tourists, helping to promote Britain as a world hub of creative talent. However, if arts and culture are important to our economy nationally, they are also vital to our regions and localities and have played a crucial part in the economic successes of many towns and cities in recent years. Examples that come to mind include Liverpool, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol and east London. Cultural projects and initiatives have also revitalised and reversed the decline of some of our traditional seaside resorts such as Folkestone and Margate, where the Turner Contemporary has attracted approaching half a million visitors since it opened in 2011. In the north-east, the Sage Gateshead has contributed £146 million to the north-east economy since it opened and currently supports 660 or more jobs. In 2011, the entries for the Turner Prize that were exhibited in the Baltic art gallery attracted a record number of visitors and had a positive economic effect. Overall, culture and the arts have contributed to a dramatic growth in the tourist industry in the north-east—a growth rate that has by far outperformed any other sector and brought our tourism industry right into the economic mainstream.

There is no doubt that arts and culture have made a great contribution nationally and locally in recent years. However, there is now considerable concern about the future arising from the Government’s current approach. I, like my party, am concerned that with the arts, as with the rest of the economy—as we have been discussing this afternoon—the cuts are too deep and too fast. To begin with, the Arts Council itself has had its budget cut by 30% since 2010. While I applaud the Arts Council in its work and recognise that, in implementing these reductions, it has sought to protect the artistic front line—by which we mean support for cultural projects and productions in some of the least well-off parts of our country—none the less, cuts of the order demanded now and for the future, on top of the economies already made, threaten the front line in my view. This is a view that is shared by many in the cultural sector both nationally and regionally.

My noble friend Lord Beecham had a Written Question on arts funding which was answered by the noble Viscount, Lord Younger, on 8 January, and I would like to ask the Minister some questions about it. My noble friend asked what proportion of central government funding for the arts in 2011-12 and 2012-13 was for capital funding, and what proportion was for revenue funding. The Answer surprisingly began by saying that the Government were unable to provide information on potential funding for the arts across central government because they did not hold the information centrally; it said that the information could be provided only “at disproportionate cost”. This begs the question: if central government spending plans are not held centrally, where are they held? The Answer gave information about the reduction in Arts Council funding and about DCMS funding in addition to Arts Council funding. This showed that the additional funding was being reduced overall from £2.198 million to £1.025 million and that for this year, 2013, no capital funding was envisaged at all in that part of the DCMS budget. Can the Minister explain this?

The Government have claimed that philanthropic giving might help fill the funding gap. The Culture Secretary herself has expressed hopes that this might double over the coming years. However, the figures that I have seen—and I do not know whether the Minister can confirm them—which were released in 2011, show a reduction in corporate giving of 11% and a reduction in individual giving of 4%. Neither of these figures augurs well for the future. Also on this question, I refer the Minister to comments from Sir Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, who, writing in the Observer, said that,

“80% of philanthropic giving to the arts benefits London, and almost invariably private funding follows public funding”.

If Sir Nicholas is right—and he obviously speaks from great experience—then charitable giving will not fill the gap and will not, in any case, help the regions, about which I will now speak further.

If the reductions in funding at national level are causing concern then the situation is even worse at regional level. As we know, the local government spending review was debated in your Lordships’ House on 17 January. Considerable concern was expressed about the cuts that local authorities were facing overall. The cuts—the result of the squeeze in local government spending—have already been felt in the arts and culture sector, but the likely effect of current and future cuts are even worse. It is not that local authorities want to cut back spending on arts and culture or that they think that such money is unimportant, but they have their overriding responsibility to continue providing services such as social care and child protection, waste collection and all the other main areas of service which local authorities have an overriding duty to provide.

I express my sympathy with councils such as Newcastle in the current situation. I think that it really does find itself between a rock and hard place—although I note that the council is continuing to discuss ways forward with arts organisation locally. Instead of cutting Newcastle’s money further, I hope that the Government will work with the city, and with other cities in a similar situation, to ensure that arts spending is not reduced in the way that is currently proposed in the consultation that Newcastle City Council has embarked on. What I say about Newcastle also applies, surprisingly, to places like Westminster, where they are also suggesting a total cut in the arts budget.

Unfortunately, I am rapidly running out of time. I shall conclude by referring to the coalition Government’s recent mid-term review. It is both regrettable and astonishing that the creative industries and culture and the arts have played so little a part in the review. In particular, no goals seem to be set by the Government for arts and culture for the next two years. Of the five commitments that are mentioned by DCMS in the mid-term review document, not one of them mentions culture or the arts. I wonder how the Government can explain that.

It seems to me that the Government need to demonstrate through new words and deeds that the arts, culture and the creative industries are indeed an indispensable part of this country’s growth strategy and that such a growth strategy should extend to all parts of the country. Nothing less than a fundamental change of heart by the Government will do in the face of the current crisis.

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, I remind noble Lords that this is a time-limited debate. When the clock reaches 10, noble Lords have had their 10 minutes.