Dan Jarvis
Main Page: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)Department Debates - View all Dan Jarvis's debates with the Ministry of Justice
(11 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe Minister recently claimed that the Government’s funding cuts had had no impact on new writing in regional theatre, but the report “In Battalions” tells a very different story. Over the past 12 months, 62% of theatres have had to cancel one or more new plays, and 54% are commissioning fewer of them. The Minister must surely agree that that is significantly different from what he claimed. Does he therefore accept that the Government’s policies are hitting regional theatre, and will he tell the House what he is going to do about it?
We have responded to the “In Battalions” report. I note that, of the 20 or so theatres that took part in the survey, about half had actually received an increase in their funding. We continue to support new writing, and theatre cuts amount to less than about 3% overall, so theatre has been well protected. The report concentrated on a few theatres whose funding had been impacted and did not concentrate on those that had had their funding increased or had received new funding. It ill behoves the hon. Gentleman, who supported Newcastle’s arts cuts, to complain about arts cuts.