HC Deb 20 February 1958 vol 582 cc1387-8
36. Mr. Vane

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proposal has been put to him to the effect that the continued and increasing subsidy to the Arts Council for supporting opera and ballet in London in two widely separated and unsatisfactory buildings should be discontinued and that London's needs would be more justifiably and less extravagantly achieved by disposing of the existing obsolete buildings with their valuable sites and constructing instead one building containing both an opera house and a smaller theatre.

Mr. Simon

No such proposal has been put to my right hon. Friend.

Mr. Vane

Would not my hon. and learned Friend regard this suggestion as a serious one towards a very necessary improvement, particularly for opera?

Mr. Simon

I do not dissent at all about the seriousness of the suggestion, but it is not for my right hon. Friend to determine how the money which he gives to the Arts Council is distributed. That is a matter for the Arts Council itself.