HC Deb 03 February 1997 vol 289 cc660-2
5. Mr. Butler

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what steps she has taken to make the arts more accessible to young people. [12220]

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

Increasing access to the arts, particularly for young people, is a top priority for my Department. In the last year, I have published "People Taking Part", a handbook of good practice on facilitating access; "Setting the Scene", containing a wide range of recommendations and commitments to encourage a greater involvement by the young in the arts; and "Treasures in Trust", which encouraged museums to look at new ways of reaching a wider audience. The national lottery has had an enormous impact in delivering the objectives, reviving the arts infrastructure throughout the country and now, through the new "arts for all" scheme, creating new revenue opportunities for a wide range of groups and organisations.

Mr. Butler

I thank my right hon. Friend for that compendious answer. May I add that there is never any need for her to warn of visits to my constituency? Notice would be sufficient.

May I ask whether my right hon. Friend enjoyed her visit to my constituency a couple of weeks ago, when she saw not only Olney rugby club and Olney tennis club but John Dankworth and Cleo Laine's "The Stables", which have received more than £2 million of lottery funds? In particular, may I ask what view my right hon. Friend formed of the young people's summer camps, where each year several hundred children go to learn from experts in all sorts of music? Finally, may I ask whether my right hon. Friend has yet used John Dankworth's excellent book to learn to play the saxophone, and, if not, whether she will lend it to me?

Mrs. Bottomley

I well remember my excellent visit to my hon. Friend's constituency. The lottery is bringing new opportunities to his constituency, as to so many other areas. There is the magnificent Wavendon project: I strongly commend its summer camps, which are involving more young people in a love of music and the arts. There is also the splendid £19 million project for the borough council, to promote its theatre. As my hon. Friends the Members for Milton Keynes, North-East (Mr. Butler) and for Worcester (Mr. Luff) are well aware, involving young people in worthwhile, constructive activity is extremely important.

Mr. Tony Banks

May I say to the Secretary of State that there is nothing more artistic than a 40 yd pinpoint pass from Ruud Gullit or a pirouette from Gianfranco Zola on the football field? It is little wonder that football has been described as working-class ballet. Will the Secretary of State ensure that the working-class ballet is brought to this country in 2006 for the World cup, and that, when she and her colleagues go to protest about the failure of UEFA to consider the English bid, she takes the Leader of the Opposition with her so that we can see that there is an all-party effort to secure the World cup for Britain in 2006?

Mrs. Bottomley

I do not think that I need reassure the House of the strength of feeling among all Ministers about the bid. The stadiums in this country are now formidable: they are of extremely high quality, thanks to substantial investment in them. Euro 96 was a great triumph, and I shall do all that I can to secure that long-term bid.

Mr. Dicks

Why is my right hon. Friend so concerned about making the arts more accessible to young people? Most of the kids I know would go bonkers if they had to sit through anything like that. Why subsidise this? Why spend taxpayers' money on such nonsense? If kids want to go to the ballet or the opera, or to see classical plays, either they or their parents ought to be made to pay the economic costs. This is not just a subsidy; we are worse than the lot on the other side.

Mrs. Bottomley

My hon. Friend has said that he will escort me to various arts events. We have not yet managed to arrange any such visits, but I am determined that he will join me at, for example, the National Youth Theatre. A £2 million lottery award enabled the theatre to buy its lease, and it provides opportunities for youngsters from all over the country. I know that, like me, my hon. Friend worries about young people who may be more bored than bad. Providing worthwhile activities, whether in sport or in art, is an excellent way of growing the citizens of tomorrow.

Mr. Fisher

If increasing access for young people really is the Secretary of State's top priority, how does she explain the fact that her Government, through their dogmatic hostility to local authorities, which she has demonstrated again this afternoon, have presided over the reduction to a rump of our theatre and education network in schools, the destruction of peripatetic music teaching and the virtual elimination of all individual instrument teaching in schools? Is that the way to increase access? Has she ever had a meeting with the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to discuss increasing access through education and, if not, why not?

Mrs. Bottomley

Once again, the Labour party is good at preaching to other people about homework, but it never does its own. I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman has actually read "Setting the Scene", in which he will find a programme of action to encourage more involvement by young people in the arts—despite my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (Mr. Dicks)—including the appointment of a schools governor, the involvement of the Office for Standards in Education, consideration of the school curriculum and consideration of all manner of practical ways in which to invest in the arts and young people.

For the Labour party to say that no money goes into the arts when, this year, there have already been more than 2,000 lottery awards and £734 million has gone into the arts, is extraordinary. About 87 brass bands have been funded and any number of theatres have been supported, as have dance groups and public arts projects. The lottery offers schools the opportunity to become involved in those projects under new directions, which I issued last year, which the Labour party seems suddenly to have discovered and thinks might be a good idea for the future, and which are already enabling revenue funding to promote access and education in the arts.