§ 48. Mr. JannerTo ask the Minister for the Arts when he next proposes to visit the city of Leicester to discuss the effects of Government arts policy there.
§ The Minister for the Arts (Mr. Richard Luce)I have no immediate plans to visit Leicester, which I last visited on 8 September this year.
§ Mr. JannerIs the Minister aware that Leicester city council applied for additional funding for five workers for its arts action project in accordance with the Minister's own pronouncements that arts are important for inner city regeneration? Is he aware that the Secretary of State for the Environment saw fit to turn down that application and would not allow one additional person? He said that he did not consider the funding of arts promotion activities to be a priority for regeneration resources. Is the Secretary of State trying to sabotage the Arts Minister's efforts to help?
§ Mr. LuceThe hon. Gentleman should pursue that point with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment. In the past few weeks there has been a great deal of interest in the role that arts and heritage can play in the regeneration of inner cities. It is because of that that three useful seminars have been held, in Glasgow, Kent and Halifax. All those were based on practical evidence on the ground that arts and heritage play a leading part in the regeneration process, but it must be up to the local authorities and the Government to decide whether certain projects fall within the required criteria.