HC Deb 14 December 1998 vol 322 cc593-4
8. Mr. Michael Jack (Fylde)

How much the current closure of the Royal Opera house is costing public funds. [62134]

The Minister for Arts (Mr. Alan Howarth)

The Arts Council of England awarded a grant of £20 million to the Royal Opera house from the national lottery towards the costs of closure while the theatre is being redeveloped.

Mr. Jack

This morning the Secretary of State said on "Today"—yet another media briefing before any statement to this House—that he wanted every pound of his budget to be spent efficiently and effectively. I am sure that he and the Minister will have read the December edition of the magazineEquity Journal, which recounted a tale of financial incompetence in the running of the Royal Opera house. The possibility of more public funding for that sorry institution is being discussed. Before that is paid over, will the Secretary of State assure me that he will follow the example of his right hon. Friend the Chancellor and subject the way in which the Royal Opera house project has been run to date, and will be run in the future, to the scrutiny of the National Audit Office, so that we may be assured that it is using public money effectively and efficiently? If he will not do that, will he tell the House why not?

Mr. Howarth

The right hon. Gentleman was a Treasury Minister in the previous Administration when the finances of the Royal Opera house were allowed to get out of hand. Under the previous Government, the arts had the worst of all worlds, as they not only cut the funding but failed properly to invigilate the use of publicly provided money at the Royal Opera house. We have put in a new board, which has negotiated new agreements on working practices, and we have secured renewed commitment from the donors and the Arts Council. As a condition of any addition in funding that the Arts Council will announce, we are insisting that there must be proper administration and management standards at the Royal Opera house. That is in stark contrast to the standards over which the previous Government, of which the right hon. Gentleman was a member, presided.

Mr. Huw Edwards (Monmouth)

Does my hon. Friend agree that there has been a culture of elitism in the Royal Opera house that has excluded many opera lovers, but that the principles of access and excellence are entirely compatible? What guarantee can he give that, when the Royal Opera house reopens, there will be a fair proportion of affordable seats?

Mr. Howarth

My hon. Friend will agree that we must make a distinction between artistic elitism, which we whole-heartedly support—we are fully committed to ensuring that world-class opera and ballet continue to be performed in Britain, and I think that we all share that objective—and social exclusivity, which has characterised the Royal Opera house far too much. It will be a condition of any increase in Arts Council funding that there must be, for example, a revised ticket pricing structure, to ensure that people of average and modest means have the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful experiences that will be available in the newly reopened opera house next year.

Mr. Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey)

Before the Minister gets carried away by his vision of the people's opera, will he confirm that all future arrangements for the Royal Opera house lie with the Arts Council, however much it has been damaged in recent months, and not with interfering Ministers? Would not he consider it bizarre if, at the end of the redevelopment programme, there were more subsidy and fewer performances?

Mr. Howarth

The right hon. Member for Fylde (Mr. Jack) has just castigated us for—in his view—having insufficient regard to ensuring that there was proper management at the Royal Opera house, while the hon. Gentleman seems to think that we should take an entirely hands-off approach. I hope that he will accept that the Government have a responsibility for stewardship of public money, albeit that decisions on public funding are taken in particular instances by the Arts Council. I am satisfied that arrangements will be announced and policies pursued at the opera house that will enable its finances to be stabilised and excellence to flourish. In future, lyric theatre at the opera house will be available to more and more people, and that is surely something for which we should all aim.

Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham)

Is the Minister aware that Labour Members who are opera lovers do not really care whether Covent Garden is open or shut, because we cannot afford to go there unless we have a second job, as the Tories do, or we are an arts Minister and get freebies? If he is taking a policy line on opera, could he have a word with English National Opera and suggest that it changes its name to European National Opera and starts staging operas in the language in which they were written? Whenever I go to the ENO, where I have seen some marvellous productions over the years, I cannot understand a word that is sung in English in Mozart and Puccini operas. If the fat ladies and thin gentlemen were to start singing in German and Italian, we would all enjoy it a lot more.

Mr. Howarth

The whole House always enjoys my hon. Friend's arias.