Private Sponsorship (Hansard, 4 March 1985)

§ 24. Mr. Chapman
asked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State answering in respect of the Arts if he will report progress in the encouragement of private sponsorship of the arts.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. William Waldegrave)
Business sponsorship has increased from £500,000 in 1976 to £15 million and is still increasing. I am glad to say that the business sponsorship incentive scheme launched by my noble Friend the Minister is proving extremely popular. Awards made during its first six months will reflect £2.5 million of new sponsorships.

§ Mr. Chapman
I am grateful for those figures, but does my hon. Friend agree that the recent diatribes of Sir Peter Hall et al—

§ Mr. Cormack
What did Al say?

§ Mr. Chapman
He is to be found among others—underline the need for the Government to stay out, as far as possible, from the politics of arts funding? Might not that best be achieved by the Government encouraging, through tax concessions, donations to arts funding?

§ Mr. Waldegrave
The Government have made various concessions on the tax side for funding, but it is important 651 to recognise that it is no part of the Government's view that private donations could ever wholly replace the need for subsidy. However, they are a very useful adjunct to it.

§ Mr. Freud
What is the total sum of private sponsorship for which the Minister is looking? Will the hon. Gentleman promise that if any theatre raises an especially large amount of money by private funding, it will not be harmed by a cut in grant?

§ Mr. Waldegrave
It is not for me or for my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister to answer for Arts Council funding policies. However, I am sure that it is no part of the Arts Council's policy to penalise anybody who raises money from private sources.

§ Mr. Cormack
Does my hon. Friend agree that neither Sir Peter Hall, nor Al, nor even any fresco would have had quite the problems that we have had in recent years if the Government had taken on board the excellent, unanimous, all-party Select Committee report of 1983?

§ Mr. Waldegrave
My hon. Friend will want to remember that the Government have done very well by the arts since 1979, with an increase in funding in real terms of about 18 per cent.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
Is it not surprising that Sir Peter Hall should find it surprising that the Arts Council is a political body, given that it is run by two Tories and that the Minister for the Arts worships at the altar of monetarism? Do the Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have any proposals in hand for tax concessions for businesses that give money to the arts?

§ Mr. Waldegrave
The Arts Council is not a political organisation, much though the hon. Gentleman would like it to be. I think that he would be unwise to predict exactly how Sir William Rees-Mogg votes or has voted. As I have said, the Government have taken various steps to make it easier for companies and individuals to give, and we keep the whole area under review.