HC Deb 17 December 1970 vol 808 cc1543-4
10. Mr. St. John-Stevas

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will make a statement of Government policy on grants to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Mrs. Thatcher

Grants to the Royal Opera House are made by the Arts Council. The council decides on the allocation of its grants and on subsidies to individual companies.

Mr. St. John-Stevas

If my right hon. Friend can hear me through the baying of the Philistines opposite, may I ask her whether she will consider the very necessary reform of making quinquennial grants, so that standards of production planning could be raised and the standards of this important national asset be raised even higher?

Mrs. Thatcher

I have not so far considered that, but I shall put the point to my noble Friend the Paymaster-General.

Mr. Faulds

What are the Governments reactions to the proposition mooted in the latest report of the Royal Opera House that once the fruit and vegetables have been removed elsewhere, a second smaller building should be provided in which smaller-scale productions could be put on ready for regional tours? Would not this largely offset the present Metropolitan monopoly of really first-class opera productions?

Mrs. Thatcher

Although I am a great opera fan, we shall have to look carefully at that project in the light of the resources available. In the meantime, the annual grant to the Royal Opera Company this year is £1,390,000, which is considerably up on 1965–66.

Mr. Maude

If my right hon. Friend is thinking of recommending a change from annual to quinquennial grants, will she bear in mind that the Royal Opera House is not the only recipient which would benefit, and that there are other places, for example, in Stratford-on-Avon, which could do with it, too?

Mrs. Thatcher

I shall draw my hon. Friend's remarks to the attention of my noble Friend.

Mrs. Renée Short

As the Question is about opera, will the right hon. Lady bear in mind that, while the Royal Opera House does a great deal to raise the standard of opera in this country, we have other opera companies in the British Isles which are in a less favourable position than the Royal Opera Company and need additional help from the Arts Council? I have in mind especially the Welsh National Opera Company, which have done superb work not only in Wales but in the rest of the country. Such companies need greater help from the Arts Council, and I ask the right hon. Lady to use her good offices with the Arts Council to that end.

Mrs. Thatcher

There are considerable calls on the Arts Council's grants. There is a Question about the grant later on the Order Paper.