Scotland (Expenditure) (Hansard, 9 March 1987)

§ 34. Dr. Godman
asked the Minister for the Arts what is the current level of expenditure on the arts in Scotland.

§ The Minister for the Arts (Mr. Richard Luce)
The Arts Council of Great Britain has allocated £13.52 million to the Scottish Arts Council in 1986–87. In addition, the programme of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland provides for £80 million expenditure on arts and libraries this year.

§ Dr. Godman
The Glasgow citizens theatre is anxious to extend its season from 35 to 52 weeks at an additional cost of £250,000. This will help tourism and jobs in terms of the garden festival in 1989 and the city of culture in 1990. Will the Government and the Arts Council help in this laudable endeavour?

§ Mr. Luce
I acknowledge the remarkable range of arts facilities in Glasgow, including the citizens theatre, and I am glad that in 1990 Glasgow will be the cultural city of Europe. I hope that will bring many tourists and give much help to Glasgow. The allocations of funds is a matter for the Scottish Arts Council, which this year will receive a 4.6 per cent. increase in its overall grant. It is for the council to decide how precisely to allocate that money.

§ Mr. Maclennan
Has the Minister made any assessment of the effect upon expenditure on the arts of the transfer of responsibility for leisure and recreation from the regions to the districts? Has central Government funding taken any account of that effect, especially to offset the damage that has been suffered in rural areas because of the withdrawal of funding from the arts?

§ Mr. Luce
What I can say—I can only speak for the arts—is that the Scottish Office has provided an extra £600,000 for this financial year and the coming financial year to help the national arts organisations for Scotland. A formula has been operating for many years to allocate the total sum of money to the Scottish Arts Council, whose policy is to spread the money as widely as it can and to make the arts as accessible as possible to as many people in Scotland as possible.

§ Mr. Fisher
Does the Minister understand that the feebleness of his answer will greatly disappoint people in Glasgow and in Scotland in general? The Glasgow garden festival and the year of culture will need positive investment by the Government if their potential for the arts and for the people of Scotland is to be realised. Is the Minister aware of the possibility of a substantial Scottish arts presence at the 1989 Toronto arts festival, and does he accept that the Government must invest in that if the potential is to be realised? Will he again allow these opportunities to slip because of the feebleness of the Government's arts policy?

§ Mr. Luce
The hon. Gentleman is talking absolute nonsense. When the cities made their bids to become the culture city, it was made quite clear that there would not be funding from central Government, that we would look to them to take the lead, and that it was a test of their good 14 intent and plans to do a good job in providing arts facilities in their city as a cultural centre. It was precisely on that understanding that Glasgow was chosen and Glaswegians have shown their confidence in their city by saying that they can set aside, to add to local government and private sector money, enough resources to enable the city to be a great success in 1990.