HC Deb 22 January 1990 vol 165 c616
28. Mrs. Golding

To ask the Minister for the Arts how many responses he has received to the Wilding report on funding of the arts.

Mr. Luce

I have received almost 6,000 responses, of which approximately 4,500 are preprinted postcards.

Mrs. Golding

Following the representations from many people, including constituents of mine, will the Minister reject the proposal to merge the West Midlands regional arts association with the East Midlands regional arts association, to form a massive and unwieldy regional body that would attempt to serve more than 9 million people? He will agree that that would be an impossible task.

Mr. Luce

Of course, I take note of what the hon. Lady says. She probably knows that the chairmen of the East Midlands and West Midlands regional arts associations have been to see me and expressed views similar to hers. I shall take very seriously the views of the chairmen and directors of the regional arts associations, as well as the views of hon. Members. My concern is to achieve an arrangement and a structure for funding of the arts that makes sense in terms not only of efficiency but of coherence of funding and management.