Culture and Arts: Funding

Lord Bishop of Exeter Excerpts

Wednesday 7th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, the noble Earl makes several important points, and the Museums Association’s cuts survey in June 2011, which he mentioned, showed that many local authorities are still finding it possible to maintain museum services.

[The Lord Bishop of Exeter]

My Lords, I invite the noble Baroness to join me in welcoming the reopening next week, after a £24 million refurbishment, of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery in Exeter. We in Exeter are enormously proud of this flagship project, because it has been driven by an understanding of the wide contribution of the museum to the city’s quality of life. That includes cultural provision, community cohesion, individual well-being, civic identity, economic attractiveness and destination tourism. Will the Minister affirm the importance of ensuring that this broader impact of culture is embedded in a wide spectrum of cross-cutting policy-making, and will she say what Government can do proactively to secure this at both the national and the local level?

[Baroness Rawlings]

I congratulate the right reverend Prelate on what has been happening in Exeter and the reopening of the museum. I totally agree with him that quality of life will be enhanced by all that. I would like to stress what the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his autumn Statement: that the overall annual budget for the acceptance in lieu scheme will now be £30 million, an increase of 50 per cent, which will have an effect in Exeter as well.