§ 25. Mr. Jesselasked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State answering in respect of the Arts if he will make a statement on the Arts Council review entitled "The Glory of the Garden".
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy noble Friend congratulates the council on undertaking such a comprehensive review of its strategy and welcomes its decision to free resources for innovation and development, particularly in the regions.
§ Mr. JesselAs the review was published before the Government statement on 11 April that the Arts Council will receive substantial extra funding to provide for the arts in the Greater London and metropolitan counties after the abolition of those authorities, will my hon. Friend give an assurance that the amount assigned will stick and cannot be diverted later from Greater London to the provinces?
§ Mr. WaldegraveNo. When making that announcement my noble Friend assumed that in the early years in particular the Arts Council would want to spend the great majority of those resources in the abolition areas to deal with the transitional problems of abolition. However, I do not think that the Arts Council would want to be tied down for ever by our saying that all that money should necessarily go to the abolition areas.