§ 2.43 p.m.
§ Lord PLATTMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Committee of the recently formed Association for Business Sponsorship of the Arts (ABSA) will have powers to prevent the advertising of undesirable products; and whether a code of practice will be negotiated with the sponsors.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION and SCIENCE (Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge)No, my Lords. The Association will not have preventive powers of this kind. Its purpose is to encourage commercial and industrial organisations to assist the arts. It will not normally be involved in the detailed arrangements which may be made between individual concerns and the promoters of artistic enterprises. It is for the promoters to determine, with their sponsors, whether any advertising which may be agreed upon is appropriate, always subject to the law of the land, and whether any of the voluntary codes on advertising are relevant. The Association will, of course, be in a position to give advice on these points.
§ Lord PLATTMy Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply which I find a little 973 disappointing, but I am sure that that is not his fault. May I ask him one or two supplementary questions? Does he agree that any negotiations to establish some kind of code of practice—which he says cannot be done by this Committee—should take place early rather than late? Does he also agree that the method of promotion is important? Finally, does he think that the advertising of cigarettes will conflict with the Government's antismoking campaign? May I say that I am all in favour of sponsorship of the arts, if these safeguards exist.
§ Lord DONALDSON of KINGSBRIDGEMy Lords, the morality, as it were, of advertising is normally controlled, as the noble Lord, Lord Drumalbyn, knows very well, by the organisation of which I think he is chairman, where there is a voluntary code of procedure. The people brought together by ABSA, this new organisation—that is to say, some body who wishes to give money towards art and some artistic enterprise which wishes to receive money—will be subject to this in the ordinary way. I cannot pronounce on whether any particular instance will conflict with the Government's anti-smoking policy. There is a fairly carefully laid down code on the advertising of smoking—I think through the television companies—and I believe that there is even some talk of making this more rigid, but I am not quite clear how far this has gone. But, once again, any transaction entered into by ABSA would be subject, as would everybody else, to that.
§ Lord ROBBINSMy Lords, will the Minister agree that, on the whole, the business sponsorship of the arts up to date in this country has been more or less unexceptionable, and indeed admirable?
§ Lord DONALDSON of KINGSBRIDGEMy Lords, with the greatest of pleasure, I should agree.