§ 2. Mr. Kelvin Hopkins (Luton, North)If he will make a statement on the implications of the Budget for performing arts industries. [158137]
§ The Minister for the Arts (Mr. Alan Howarth)It is anticipated that the Government's plans, which were announced as part of the Budget, to replace income-spreading rules with a simpler profits averaging system for creative artists will be of assistance to more people in the performing arts.
§ Mr. HopkinsI thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. I want to draw his attention to jazz. He will know that thejazz audience is similar in size to that of opera, but that arts funding for jazz is a small fraction of opera funding. Britain is arguably the second greatest jazz nation in the world after the United States, but jazz receives a tiny proportion of funding. Arts Council allocations have improved, but will he use his influence to ensure that jazz funding at all levels, including schools, will increase substantially to ensure that jazz receives its fair share of the arts budget?
§ Mr. HowarthJazz musicians will benefit from the new tax provisions to which I referred. On my hon. Friend's comments about Arts Council support, he himself is a notable performer not only at Question Time, but as a saxophonist and as leader of the all-party 629 parliamentary jazz appreciation group, where he is a dynamic force. I, too, am a member of that group, so I hope that he will share my pleasure in the fact that the Arts Council has just announced a 27.5 per cent. uplift for the national youth jazz orchestra in the current year. That will rise to 135 per cent, above the present level by 2002–03, and there will be a 49 per cent. increase for the Jazz Development Trust by 2002–03. The trust is a new beneficiary, which will receive £40,000 in 2002–03. The Arts Council's national touring programme has greatly increased, and there is every reason to hope that jazz will benefit. Jazz is a very important musical tradition. I am delighted that, under this Government, the Arts Council has chosen to increase significantly its support for jazz, and I shall encourage it to continue to do so.
§ Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield)Will the Minister confirm that, between 1997 and 2000, payments by the lottery to the Arts Council of England were reduced by £97 million because of the siphoning off of moneys into health and education? What does he say to that?
§ Mr. HowarthWe said that lottery funds would total £8 billion, but it will be very much more.
§ Mr. Tony McWalter (Hemel Hempstead)Does my right hon. Friend accept that an integral part of the Budget was continuing pressure on local authorities, which, even though they have had a small real increase in funding, have a large number of duties to perform to match it? Particular difficulties have been created for those who want to keep regional and local theatres and concert halls open. Will he ensure that, for the next Budget, Ministers with responsibility for local government are made aware of the importance for the arts of the local government budget?
§ Mr. HowarthIt is important that we have a partnership in funding and that local authorities give the support to the arts that they wish to give. We have asked all local authorities to develop a local authority cultural strategy by the end of next year. The signs from the pilot authorities that have been engaged in the project suggest that it has focused their minds and that other local authority departments, apart from leisure departments, have increasingly recognised how much the arts can contribute to an authority's wider objectives. I hope that the trend that we have seen for far too many years of real-terms decline in local authority support for the arts will be reversed.
§ Mr. Edward Leigh (Gainsborough)One of our most successful industries is our popular music industry, which receives not a penny in public support. Will the Minister please resist the siren voices and claptrap coming from the hon. Member for Luton, North (Mr. Hopkins) and others on public subsidy for jazz? I have a photograph in my office of the no-turning back team of rowers. The right hon. Gentleman stands proudly with me, my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Mr. Howarth), Michael Forsyth—now Lord Forsyth—and my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope). In those days, he banged the drum for free enterprise. He should return to his roots and say no to such suggestions.
§ Mr. HowarthI continue to bang the drum for free enterprise, but I am very glad to be a member of a 630 Government who take an intelligent and responsible view of their scope to support private enterprise, so that we can create conditions in which private enterprise can truly flourish. From that point of view, none of my views has changed. I am glad to associate myself with my old and hon. Friend on the Conservative Benches.