HC Deb 13 December 1993 vol 234 cc681-2
19. Mr. Sheldon

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage when he next expects to meet the chairman of the Arts Council to discuss funding.

Mr. Brooke

I regularly meet the chairman of the Arts Council to discuss a range of issues.

Mr. Sheldon

In reply to an earlier question, the right hon. Gentleman said that the task of the Arts Council was to provide a stable framework. Does not he agree that the thing that is clear about the Arts Council is its unpredictability? Are not the regional theatres, and Manchester in particular, suffering from that unpredictability, as are the orchestras in London?

Mr. Brooke

The Arts Council has the overall responsibility for the allocation of funds to various art forms and, when the decision is taken about which art forms, to particular institutions. It cannot be the case that those proportions are always set in concrete. The Arts Council made a decision at its recent meeting at Woodstock to allocate a larger proportion of funds in certain areas and a smaller one in other areas.