HC Deb 02 July 1953 vol 517 cc563-4
7. Mr. Vane

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the grant to Covent Garden made by the Arts Council has steadily risen from £25,000 in 1945–46 to about £150,000 and now represents half the total grants made in support of opera, ballet and music throughout the whole country; and whether he will in future make it a condition of his grant that it should be more fairly distributed.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

My right, hon. Friend is aware of the heavy cost of maintaining an opera house of international standard and that the Arts Council's grant to Covent Garden represents more than half of its total expenditure on opera, ballet and music. But it would not be appropriate, or in accordance with the Arts Council's charter, for him to make conditions as to the apportionment of the Council's grant-in-aid.

Mr. Vane

Will my hon. Friend look into this again? Surely he cannot support the trend that more and more of this grant should be spent in London and less and less in the provinces. Does he really think it right that if the mass choirs at a county musical festival want to sing the "Messiah" they are turned down by the Arts Council on that score alone—although what the Arts Council has against the "Messiah," I do not know—whereas if Covent Garden want to perform "Gloriana" the financial support they receive seems almost unlimited?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

To my mind, both the examples to which my hon. Friend has referred reinforce the desirability of leaving these matters to the Arts Council and of not expecting Ministers to indulge in aesthetic judgments.

Mr. K. Robinson

Will the hon. Gentleman resist any pressure to reduce the grant to Covent Garden, which is now barely adequate and considerably smaller than the subsidies granted to the major opera houses on the Continent?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

Speaking from memory, I think the hon. Gentleman is quite right in the latter part of his question in as much as Continental operas are very heavily subsidised. As regards the first part of his Question, I do not think that my hon. Friend was suggesting any such reduction.