Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Champion and Lord Vaizey of Didcot

Thursday 13th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

I acknowledge the hon. Lady’s point that we rely very much on the quality of local journalism to hold local councils to account, and it is important that, where possible, savings are made and money continues to be invested in local journalism. My local newspaper group, which publishes the Oxford Mail and the Herald, tries to invest as much as it can in local journalism because it recognises that that is what sells its papers.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)]

13. What steps she is taking to support contemporary arts. [R]

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

The Arts Council invests funding to nurture and champion talented artists across the country. Over the life of this Parliament, this Government are investing nearly £3 billion in the arts.

[Sarah Champion]

The film maker, Steve McQueen, learned his craft with the support of small-scale contemporary arts organisations, as do the majority of our artists. Does the Minister agree that for our internationally regarded arts scene to flourish, grass-roots contemporary arts organisations need the security of Government funding to maintain the significant contribution that they make both to our economy and to our culture?

[Mr Vaizey]

I certainly do, and I am pleased to see the amount of funding that is going to the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, which the hon. Lady used to run. Further to my earlier reference to my visit to Thurrock, I was delighted to see the new artists’ studios that have opened there to support artists from the local area.