HC Deb 15 December 1986 vol 107 cc769-71
43. Mr. Chapman

asked the Minister for the Arts if he will make a statement on the progress of encouraging business sponsorship of the arts.

Mr. Luce

Business sponsorship of the arts continues to increase. Under the Government's business sponsorship incentive scheme a total of £10.7 million new money for the arts has been raised and over 370 businesses have sponsored the arts for the first time.

Mr. Chapman

I welcome very much the initiatives taken by the Government, including the business sponsorship incentive scheme and tax relief on one-year deeds of covenant. Does my right hon. Friend agree that £10 million, although welcome, is a relatively small amount, and that the potential for much greater sponsorship is very great? Will he keep those initiatives open and make sure that many more businesses are made aware of the tax advantages and opportunities that they have?

Mr. Luce

I am grateful for my hon. Friend's continuing interest in the problem and the support that he gives to sponsorship. He is right that, although the business sponsorship incentive scheme has allowed 370 new businesses to sponsor, there is scope for a much larger number of businesses to sponsor. This is the time to get across, nationally and in our constituencies, the fact that the scheme exists and that a wide range of tax incentives and reliefs are available to businesses, so that they can give their support to the arts.

Mr. Heffer

No one is opposed to business interests giving more support and assistance to the arts. However, as one who was on an arts committee in my city for many years and who learnt that business interests were not usually very interested in helping the arts, I ask this question: is it not clear that the only way forward is for the Government and the local authorities to give every support possible so that the arts can flourish on a public basis?

Mr. Luce

Only recently I presented an award under the business sponsorship incentive scheme to a firm which had given solid support in Liverpool last year. I am pleased to have been able to do that. I hope that more firms will do the same. We should view the arts, not in a very narrow sense, but as part of a broad strategy whereby the public sector, the taxpayer and the ratepayer; through the local authorities, and, above all, the private sector, through businesses and private individuals, in partnership give their support to the arts. That is how I see sponsorship developing.

Mr. Cormack

Will my hon. Friend take time during what I hope will be an enjoyable recess to write to all chambers of commerce drawing their attention to the schemes available for business sponsorship of the arts? Will he also write a special note to Sid telling him what British Gas might be able to do?

Mr. Luce

I am not sure about which Sid my hon. Friend is talking. I have written to 500 managing directors of the top firms, drawing their attention to the range of tax incentives available for giving to charitable bodies, and I hope that that will help. I shall certainly bear in mind the suggestion about chambers of commerce.

Mr. Freud

Will the Minister consider providing some incentive to American theatregoers, who have such deep affection for the British theatre, so that they can contribute to theatre sponsorship and get some contribution from the Government?

Mr. Luce

The best contribution that American tourists can make is by coming here and going to the theatre. I hope that I understood the hon. Gentleman correctly.

Mr. Greenway

Is my right hon. Friend aware that, for some years, local business in my area sponsored concerts for pensioners, at my request, as a post-Christmas activity for them? Those concerts were always held in a public hall, which was loaned by Ealing Council at no charge. The new Ealing Labour council is now charging for the hire of the hall, but business has come to my aid and is putting up the money for pensioners—many of whom are poor and disabled—something which the Ealing Labour council refuses to do.

Mr. Luce

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for drawing that matter to my attention. That is yet another illustration of what businesses can do to support the arts. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his efforts.

Mr. Buchan

Does the Minister stick by his proposition that all future expansion or development must come from private sources, as he has repeated three times in the past 12 months? Is that still his position? Will that not force arts directors and administrators into becoming fund raisers? Is not the main consequence a collapse in basic public funding? For example, does the right hon. Gentleman defend the situation in which he announced on Friday last week a standstill in cash terms, and therefore a cut in the amount of money going to national museums and galleries, which meant that the National Gallery, if faced in the past fortnight with the cost of purchasing a Manet or Rembrandt in the salerooms, could not have afforded even one third of the canvas space?

Mr. Luce

The hon. Gentleman looks at the arts in a very narrow sense and appears not to know what is going on in the arts. There is an increase in attendance at theatres and in the number of arts centres. I have always made it plain that the Government's commitment is to keep up our support for the arts, but that our broad strategy is to fuel expansion of the arts by encouraging the private sector to play a much more prominent role.