HC Deb 21 April 1980 vol 983 cc22-3
18. Mr. Freud

asked the Lord Privy Seal how many British orchestras have toured the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under Arts Council or British Council sponsorship; what has been the cost of this sponsorship; and how many Soviet cultural visits have been arranged in each of the last four months.

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Peter Blaker)

No British orchestras have toured the USSR and no Soviet cultural visits have been arranged under Arts Council or British Council sponsorship in the last four months. Under the terms of the charter, the Arts Council is not permitted to provide funds for cultural visits and tours outside Britain.

Mr. Freud

The House will be pleased with that reply, because the Minister will know that it is different from the reply that he would have given three months ago. Can he tell us how many tours have been cancelled?

Mr. Blaker

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will table a question on that point. I cannot answer it off the cuff.

Mr. Greville Janner

Will the Minister take such opportunities as he gets to inform the Soviet authorities that cultural contacts with their country would be much more welcome if they were to grant human rights to people who live there and in particular if they allowed Andrei Sakharov, Ida Nudel and Vladimir Slepak out of exile?

Mr. Blaker

We have made our position clear a number of times on that subject to the Soviet authorities. We particularly deplore the fact that the Soviet authorities are conducting a "clean-up", as they describe it, of the places in which various events connected with the Olympic Games are intended to occur, so that there is no contact between people they regard as undesirable and visitors to the Soviet Union.

Mr. Dalyell

Will the Foreign Office make it clear that the Soviet swimmers who are here at present are welcome?

Mr. Blaker

We take the view that we should set ourselves against events which would enhance Soviet prestige or give the impression that nothing in our relationship with the Soviet Union had changed. That is why we have taken our position on the Olympic Games. The Soviet Government have made it perfectly clear that they intend, if they possibly can, to make a big propaganda bonanza out of the Games.

Mr. English

While the Minister is getting his civil servants to give him a proper brief to answer the hon. Member for Isle of Ely (Mr. Freud), will he include in his comments the orchestras that are sponsored by other organisations and are receiving public money, such as from the BBC?

Mr. Blaker

I am not aware that any orchestras sponsored by the BBC have toured the Soviet Union in recent months. Perhaps the hon. Member for Isle of Ely (Mr. Freud) had in mind the proposed tour by the English Chamber Orchestra. On our advice, that tour was cancelled after the intervention of the British Council. With the assistance of the British Council, the English Chamber Orchestra was able to find other engagements in order to avoid any loss of revenue.

Mr. Faulds rose

——

Mr. Speaker

Order. I shall allow an extra minute at the end of the next series of questions in order to call the Front Bench on this question.

Mr. Faulds

Thank you for accommodating me, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister accept that this is an area in which we on the Labour side of the House feel that displeasure at Soviet aggression should be made clear by keeping the Soviet Union culturally at arm's length, for a while?

Mr. Blaker

I believe that the Government's policies have had that effect. The Soviet authorities can have no doubt that we have demonstrated to them our displeasure at the events in Afghanistan by terminating various contracts in the cultural field and in other areas.