The Royal Shakespeare Company: Funding (Hansard, 14 March 1990)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Lord Hesketh)
My Lords, this issue was debated in another place on 20th February. My right honourable friend the Minister for the Arts explained that it was for the Arts Council to allocate funding to individual arts organisations, including the Royal Shakespeare Company.

§ Lord Willoughby de Broke
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that reply. Is he aware that a substantial part of the RSC's revenue comes from its two West End hits, "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and "Les Misérables" and that that revenue must be regarded as exceptional? When those productions close, as they must in due course, the company will be put in an even more difficult position than the one it now faces. In the light of that situation, can my noble friend enlarge on the Government's view as to how the Priestley Report of 1984 may be implemented? In particular I refer to the assurance that, provision will be made for future years.

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, I can assure my noble friend that provision will be made. I draw your Lordships' attention to the three recommendations in the Priestley Report. The Government accepted the first two, but there was a further element in the third recommendation concerning linkage to the RP1. The Government felt that they could not accept that element. The Arts Council funding for the Royal Shakespeare Company will rise to about £6 million this year—an increase of 11 per cent., which, of course, is above inflation.

§ Lord Jenkins of Putney
My Lords, the City Corporation is also among those who help to finance the Royal Shakespeare Company. If the City Corporation increased its input, can the Minister say whether it would be possible that the Arts Council would match any such increase? Does the Minister agree that if those two provisions were to take place, they would go a long way towards solving the problem?

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, I am sure that if the Government began issuing directives to the Arts Council, the noble Lord, Lord Jenkins, would be among the first of noble Lords on the Benches opposite to protest.

§ The Earl of Kimberley
My Lords, does my noble friend realise that, on the occasion of Shakespeare's birthday last year, at Stratford-on-Avon the entire theatre was given a political lecture by the chief actor? After that occurrence, about half of the audience walked out. If we are to have lectures given by actors of the Royal Shakespeare Company I hope that we shall not subsidise them.

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, I regret that last year I was unable to visit Stratford——

Noble Lords
Ah!

§ Lord Hesketh
—and thus I was not present on the occasion that my noble friend has mentioned.

§ Baroness Birk
My Lords, the Minister has rather brushed aside the Question and the present plight of the RSC. Is the Minister aware that the 11 per cent. increase which he spoke about rather glibly represents only 3.3 per cent. above the rate of inflation? The Priestley Report mentioned index linking but that has not been taken up. That report, together with the Cork Report and the recent Wilding Report, have all stressed the palpable underfunding of the national company. Is the Minister also aware that the chief executive of Royal Insurance—which has given more than £1 million since 1988 to the RSC—has complained that as its private sponsorship increases so the rate of Government subsidy decreases?

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, the fact of the matter is that since this Government came into office, expenditure on the arts has increased by a third in real terms after allowing for inflation.

§ Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge
My Lords, the Minister speaks about the facts of the matter, but the important fact of the matter is that one of our most splendid dramatic companies is in very serious trouble. I should be very much more encouraged if the noble Lord took that into account and told us what he, or anybody else, believes can be done to help.

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, I take very seriously the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Donaldson. It is important to remember that the Government take the matter seriously because, via the Arts Council, they are handing over £6 million this year.

§ Lord Hutchinson of Lullington
My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that the only relevant statistic is that over the past five years the subsidy to the RSC has increased by 11 per cent. while inflation has increased by over 30 per cent.? Does the noble Lord further agree that the RSC is only one of the national companies, and that all of them are in a 1543 state of financial crisis at the moment? Can the Minister say whether that situation is as a result of the Government's economic policy in that they cannot afford to keep these companies afloat or is it the direct policy of the Government to keep them underfunded in that way?

§ Lord Hesketh
My Lords, the fact of the matter is—and it is not glib to call it the fact of the matter because it is the facts that count—that expenditure has increased by a third in real terms. My right honourable friend the Minister of State has recently stated the simple fact that a 22 per cent. increase in expenditure over the next three years will be available to the Arts Council. It is also a fact that that is the decision of the Arts Council. I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Hutchinson, would also be extremely unhappy if the Government intervened in decisions made by the Arts Council.