HC Deb 01 April 1996 vol 275 c10
10. Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what new proposals she has to improve the accountability of her Department. [21901]

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

My Department's aims and objectives, performance and future expenditure plans in the annual report were published on Monday 25 March. The content of that report is kept under review.

Mr. Flynn

Would not the Department be made more accountable if the Secretary of State discovered why places such as Hampton court and the Tower of London—unoccupied royal areas—are so popular? Would not there be an enormous boost to jobs and tourism if more royal palaces were unoccupied and freely open throughout the year to tourists? Will she follow the campaign of my hon. and, I understand, royal Friend the Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies), who has said that he is willing to live in Caerphilly castle and—when he is monarch or president—that he will be happy to rule under the campaign title, "One monarch, one palace"?

Mrs. Bottomley

The hon. Gentleman is right to identify the great popularity of royal palaces, and I commend Historic Royal Palaces for ensuring that they are more responsive, open and accessible.

Mr. Fisher

Will the Secretary of State now account to the House for one of the most damaging and self-destructive actions that she has taken—the Government's withdrawal last November from the Council of Europe's Eurimages scheme? Does she appreciate that the £2 million subscription leveraged between £45 million and £50 million a year of European co-production money to the advantage of our industry? In the absence of any Government policy for restarting and reinvigorating the feature film industry, will she now do a U-turn—one that we would welcome and support—and rejoin Eurimages?

Mrs. Bottomley

It is clear that Labour approaches every issue as if it were on a wish list—it never says no and says yes only to any spending commitment. The responsibility of the Government is to make difficult choices and to set priorities. Film has benefitted from 70 awards and £20 million from the national lottery, and that is an important boost to the industry. I shall take due note of the recommendations of Sir Peter Middleton's committee on film finance. We have no intention of changing our position on Eurimages, but we have every intention of pursuing that committee's recommendations.