Arts Council (Hansard, 30 March 1981)

§ 21. Mr. Neubert
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will ask the chairman of the Arts Council to include in his annual report an account of the volume and nature of the complaints received each year and any action taken in consequence.

§ Mr. Channon
It is for the Arts Council to determine the contents of its annual report but I shall naturally pass on to the chairman my hon. Friend's suggestion.

§ Mr. Neubert
As the Home Secretary imposes such a condition on the BBC and the IBA, would it not be entirely appropriate for a similar condition to be put on the Arts Council which, in many ways, plays a similar role? Would that not be a salutary reminder of its obligations to the wider public, which pays through its rates and taxes for Arts Council grant-aided activities, compared with the much smaller numbers who directly benefit from State support of the arts?

§ Mr. Channon
A great number of people, far more than the House may realise, benefit from State support for the arts, through museums, music, theatre, drama, pictures and all sorts of activities. However, I am not unsympathetic to my hon. Friend's suggestion, which has a great deal of good sense in it.

§ Mr. Faulds
Perhaps there is some merit in the suggestion of the hon. Member for Romford (Mr. Neubert) and perhaps that matter should be considered, but, since there appears to be a general campaign of vilification against the Arts Council, primarily by the supposed quality 18 papers, will the right hon. Gentleman take an opportunity of standing up for the Arts Council and explaining that it is the best way of organising the arm's-length funding of arts activities throughout the country?

§ Mr. Channon
I certainly believe it to be the best way, and that has been the view of all my predecessors from both parties. The public gets extremely good value for money, in the variety of ways that we have been discussing, from support for the arts.

§ Mr. Dudley Smith
Will my right hon. Friend have a word with the chairman of the Arts Council about entirely inappropriate expenditure and will he take on hoard the suggestion that the Arts Council may have given some money towards a Marxist bookshop in Mid-Warwickshire?

§ Mr. Channon
I do not know about that case. If my hon. Friend gives me details I shall take up the matter. I reiterate that there will be cases at the margin that may give rise to legitimate concern. I understand my hon. Friend's feeling. In general, however, people get very good value for money. The amount of interest and growth of activity in the arts over the last few years has been remarkable.